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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Spring Practice Report 04.10
4/10/2010 | Football
A crowd of approximately 300 enjoyed a hot Saturday morning practice in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium and saw the Rebel defense jump out to a strong start with Ryan Campbell collecting an interception of Stanley followed by a Kentrell Lockett safety.
However, the offense got on track as Stanley fired a 19-yard touchdown to Lionel Breaux. After Charles Sawyer made a leaping interception in the endzone on the next drive, Stanley bounced back with a pair of 35-yard TD strikes to Markeith Summers and Melvin Harris.
"(The offense) started off slow, but if you watch the last three or four practices, we're getting a lot better rhythm and mechanics," said head coach Houston Nutt. "The footwork is better, and we're executing.
"Defensively, I still feel good, but I know we can do better than we showed today."
With Raymond Cotton slowed by a sore arm for much of the week, Stanley has gained an edge in the starting quarterback race, although Nutt saw room for improvement in his performance Saturday.
"I thought he made some good decisions today, but we weren't happy about the ones where he had the fade," Nutt said. "That ball has to be where the receiver gets it or no one gets it. He underthrew about two or three balls today on fades."
In the running game, Rodney Scott powered into the endzone late in the afternoon for a nine-yard touchdown, while Devin Thomas (50 yards), Korvic Neat (25 yards), Derrick Herman (5 yards) and H.R. Greer (10 yards) picked up scores against the backup defense.
"I thought our running game picked up a little bit today," said Nutt. "Our running backs ran hard. Brandon Bolden, Enrique Davis, Rodney Scott, Derrick Herman, Korvic Neat, all of those guys have had plays where they're getting better."
Nutt was frustrated with the inconsistency of his receiving corps after showing progress on Friday.
"We have to catch the ball better," he said. "We caught the ball excellent yesterday, and we came out today and had some tipped balls, some dropped balls. And then we threw too many interceptions. You can't do that."
With 27 lettermen and 16 starters lost from last year's squad, the Rebels are looking to some freshmen to help bolster the lineup and supply depth. Nutt has been pleased with the effort of some of these new faces, particularly in the secondary where a pair of redshirt freshmen supplied Saturday's defensive highlights.
"Charles Sawyer has had an excellent spring. We're going to count on him," Nutt said. "Ryan Campbell is really coming. He is hopefully going to provide us some depth.
"The last few practices, there have been a lot of guys making strides, like Emmanuel McCray, Corey Gaines, Mike Marry, Evan Swindall. Those guys have really taken steps. For throwing a whole playbook at them with a lot of offensive and defensive schemes, they've done really well, and I'm proud of that."
The Rebels return to the practice field Monday at 4 p.m. to open the final week of drills. Spring practices are open to the public, and times and locations are updated daily on OleMissSports.com and twitter.com/OleMissNow.
Spring drills will conclude with the annual Grove Bowl, April 17 at 1 p.m. at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Other events surrounding the weekend include the Chucky Mullins Courage Award Banquet April 15 at 7 p.m., and the Grove Stage program with Dexter McCluster the morning of the Grove Bowl at 11 a.m.
