The University of Mississippi Athletics
Depth On The Offensive Line
8/20/2013 | Football, Blog
The story with the offensive line continues tobe its depth.
Earlier in fall practice,offensive line coach Matt Luke said they should have eight or nine playersready to go this season, and that depth is taking shape on the practice fields,as senior Patrick Junen returned to full-speed practice on Monday.
"Right now, we're probably looking atthree tackles and maybe four guards, so seven, then you always have got to haveanother center ready, so seven or eight is a fair number," Luke saidTuesday of the offensive line rotation.
Ole Miss returns both of its starting tacklesfrom last season, seniors Emmanuel McCray and Pierce Burton, at left tackle andright tackle, respectively. Luke said he expects them to be leaders thisseason, as they both enter year two as starters.
"For us to be good this year, our seniorshave to play like seniors," Luke said. "I expect them to be leadersand role models for those young guys. Laremy (Tunsil) is going to play some, sothey have to be able to handle that and help mentor him to be the player thathe can be.
With McCray out due to a family issue, Tunsil earnedfirst-team reps at left tackle in Saturday's scrimmage, and head coach HughFreeze said Monday that Luke said Tunsil graded out better than any freshman hehas ever coached in a scrimmage. Tunsil also drew similar praise from one ofhis teammates.
"Laremy is a class act," McCray said."He's definitely a talented kid. He has to keep a level head, learn how topractice harder and play hard when he's tired. As far as the fundamentals,there are little things here and there, but for him to be a freshman and astalented as he is, he will be just fine."
There has been a lot of competition at both guardpositions, with junior Aaron Morris, senior Jared Duke, sophomore Justin Bell, seniorPatrick Junen and freshman Austin Golson all getting reps there.
At right guard, Junen missed most of the spring and the first twoweeks of fall practice due to injury, so Bell got most of the first-team repsthere. On Tuesday, Junen got first-team reps due to Bell being held out with aminor back issue.
"He missed most of the spring and satout," Luke said of Junen. "That's always hard. The good thing is he'splayed a lot of football. I don't think it will take him long once we get intothe flow of the season. Obviously, conditioning is going to be an issue. He'snot ready to play a full game yet. Hopefully, by the third or fourth game, hewill be."
"Without a doubt," Luke said of Bellmaking a strong case to be the starting right guard. "He's been there, dayin and day out. He's a great kid. He's competing his butt off. It's very, veryimportant to him. I am very comfortable with Justin playing, if we had to starttoday."
Senior Evan Swindall returns at center, butbehind him, redshirt freshman Robert Conyers and sophomore Ben Still have splitreps there.
"I have still have got a few days todecide between (Robert) and Ben," Luke said. "They are going back andforth, splitting all those reps. It's a battle. I would say, right now, they'reabout even. I would feel comfortable with either going in there and fightingand competing. Obviously, we want Evan to get the majority of the reps, buthe's always one play away, so they have got to be ready to play."
'Back Into The Swing Of Things'
After missing most of the spring and first two weeks of fallpractice due to toe and wrist injuries, senior offensive guard Patrick Junen returnedto full-speed practice on Monday.
"It was very frustrating," Junen saidof missing practice. "Seeing my fellow seniors out there, guys who I havebeen here for four years with, going through it and not being out there with them,it's super frustrating. I'm finally getting back into the swing of things andtrying to get back on the line."
After losing seasons in 2010 and 2011, then last year's 7-6season, Junen said there's much more excitement going into this season.
"It's a great feeling seeing Coach Freezecome in and build a program that's winning," Junen said. "It's veryexciting to be a part of that and be able to be there at the beginning of thetransition and go through it."
Protecting Wallace, Increasing TheTempo
As Ole Miss prepares for Vanderbilt, senioroffensive tackle Emmanuel McCray said they're not letting the preseason hypeand expectations get in their mind at all, especially on the offensive line.
"We gave up too many sacks, and we had alot of little things that we could have fixed," McCray said. "Towardthe middle and end of the season, we honed in on the little things and did thembetter. We're trying to pick off where we left off and get better fromthere."
One of those things, McCray said, is protectingjunior quarterback Bo Wallace, who underwent offseason clavicle surgery.
"With him coming off the surgery, we'retaking it personal already, just because we already kind of feel responsiblefor last year's injury," McCray said. "You definitely don't want tosee your quarterback hurt. And with the quarterback situation that we have, wenever know who's next after Bo. We don't know that right now, so we need tokeep him healthy as possible."
Another of those things is tempo, which theoffensive linemen have talked about throughout fall practice.
"We feel faster," McCray said of thetempo. "We're still getting into tempo shape. It's looking pretty good.We're definitely ahead of schedule, but we're not where we want to be. We had acouple of guys who were out with injuries and surgeries, like (Patrick) Junenand Aaron (Morris) that still got to get in shape. But for the most part, we'removing faster and looking better."
