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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Preseason Report 08.22: Rebels Hold Scrimmage
8/22/2009 | Football
OXFORD, Miss. - Under absolutely perfect conditions, the Ole Miss Rebel football team scrimmaged for a little over two hours on Saturday on the practice fields adjacent to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. It was the Rebels', ranked No. 8 in the nation in the preseason Associated Press poll, final scrimmage before classes start on Monday.
The scrimmage was a chance for some of the younger players to receive reps and Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt was pleased with the progress.
"I thought we had a very good scrimmage. We got to see some things from our younger guys."
With most of the first-team defense sitting the scrimmage out, Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead found his mark early, leading the first-team offense to a pair of touchdowns.
First, Snead found senior Jacarious Lucas open over the middle on a slant for a 13-yard scoring strike, which was set up by a 37-yard completion to Shay Hodge. Snead later hooked up with Hodge again on a 25-yard catch down the sidelines on fourth down that set up a 3-yard touchdown pass to fullback Dan Hoffman out of the backfield.
"Jevan (Snead), Shay Hodge, Dexter McCluster and Lionel Beaux you know what they've got," Nutt said. "They are very, very good."
Snead spent most of the day behind different offensive lines as the coaching staff tried out different combinations along the line.
"We wanted to move some guys around a little bit and see what they can do," Nutt said. "We wanted to get them in a game-like atmosphere and get it on tape. Right now we have a first group that knows what we want to do offensively, but we are trying to build on that. "
The news was not all positive on the day as a pair of players, Gerald Harris and Alex Williams, went down with injury.
"We got a couple hurt today that I didn't want to," Nutt said. "Alex Williams, I think he broke his leg, and Gerald Harris pulled a hamstring. A hamstring is always worrisome, but the thing about Gerald is I know he'll work at it."
The Rebels will have a light workout tomorrow afternoon before taking Monday off for the first day of classes. Ole Miss will open to season against the Memphis Tigers on Sunday, Sept. 6, in Memphis. ESPN will televise the game live with a 2:30 p.m. kickoff.
