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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rain Forces Rebels Inside For Second Straight Day
8/20/2008 | Football
OXFORD, Miss. For the second consecutive day, the Ole Miss football team was forced to practice inside the Indoor Practice Facility due to heavy thunderstorms in and around the Oxford area.
Rebel head football coach Houston Nutt expressed how impressed he was with the progress of several Rebels who returned from injury this week.
"It's good to see Ted (Laurent) out there," Nutt said. "There are a lot of good things that he does for us that just come natural. Chris Bowers is back and getting better and it's good to have him back."
Junior Dexter McCluster, who continues to impress Nutt, was another bright spot for the Rebels Wednesday afternoon.
"He (McCluster) is a valuable force," Nutt said. "He has got to stay on the field for us."
Kicker Joshua Shene continues to make progress on special teams and continues to catch the eye of Nutt.
"He has been very consistent and I have been very proud of him," Nutt said. "We are going to put emphasis on being able to count on him when we get to the 30 yard line. There are going to be many times where we need three points or an extra point, and that is where the emphasis is."
Overall, the Rebels continue to work on all assets of the game, but Nutt also said that the team has begun to focus on getting ready for the opener against Memphis Aug. 30.
"We are just now getting into it," Nutt said. "We are starting to put it up on the board and get everything game-planned up. Hopefully in the next couple of days were can get in our certain game packages and get all 11 guys on the same page."
Although the Rebels continue to make progress in their drills, Nutt also addressed the need to have better practices at this point of the preseason.
"We were a little bit sloppy today," Nutt said. "When you hit that 20th or 21st practice, it's always that time of year where you are tired of banging on one another.You're looking forward to turning that corner and trying to get ready for game week, but there are still some things we have to get done. We have to practice better than we did today."
Ole Miss continues fall practice Thursday afternoon as the Rebels work toward their 6:00 p.m. kickoff against the Tigers Aug. 30 from Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
