The University of Mississippi Athletics
Burdette Earns Starting Nod At Corner
8/26/2013 | Football, Blog
When asked about his confidence in regard to differentpositions, head coach Hugh Freeze said the area that concerns him the most isthe secondary.
Both cornerback positions were listed with co-starters-- junior Senquez Golson and sophomore Quintavius Burdette at Field corner, andseniors Dehendret Collins and Charles Sawyer at Boundary corner. With bothGolson (hamstring) and Sawyer (shoulder) returning from injury, cornerbackscoach Jason Jones feels confident about those four players at the position.
"Starting out at fall camp, we didn't have a lot ofdepth at the position, but we got some guys back the last couple of weeks, andthose guys are now practicing and executing the game plan," Jones said.
"I have four guys that are experienced and matureand can help us. I want to keep all of them fresh. It's supposed to hot onThursday night. And at times, Vanderbilt can tempo you. The more depth youhave, the more guys you can play, and so the fresher they will be."
Burdette, who ran with the first-team defense for mostof fall camp, earned the start at Field corner, Freeze said Monday.
"It makes me feel great," Burdette said ofgetting the start. "It makes me feel like I have to go out there and provemyself even more now."
"He improved his game a lot," Sawyer said ofBurdette. "He's making plays on the ball. He's getting the calls. He'sunderstanding the defense. He's just making plays."
A converted safety, Burdette said he feels morecomfortable with the defense. He also said he has learned a lot from facingjunior wide receiver Donte Moncrief every day in practice, whether it was he orMoncrief making a play.
"After a play, we would go back and talk about itand see what he was thinking during the play, or if I wasn't doing somethingright, he would tell me," he said. "It taught me to be more patientas a defensive back, and how to make plays against a wide receiver of his sizeand quality."
On the injury front, Freeze and staff are confidentabout the status of senior cornerback Charles Sawyer (shoulder) and juniorSenquez Golson (hamstring). Sawyer is prepared to play both cornerbackpositions, Freeze said, while Golson will come in at Field corner, and thenthey will see how the game goes.
"Charles, he's been going now for at least a coupleof weeks," Jones said. "We may practice non-contact to try and takecare of each. He's out there laying out for balls and banging around with Donteand things like that. I'm not concerned about him at all.
"Senquez, even though he was injured, he was stillgetting conditioning in with Coach Jackson on the side. His conditioningshouldn't be a big problem. Both of those guys should be good to go forThursday."
At the safety position, sophomores Trae Elston and ChiefBrown were listed as co-starters at Rover safety, with junior Cody Prewitt atfree safety. Defensive coordinator Dave Wommack said he thinks of all three asstarters who will all play about the same number of snaps.
"It's a battle between all three of them,"Wommack said. "I have called them all starters to them in person. Chiefhas the ability to play both sides. Hopefully, between the three of them, wecan keep them fresher than they were last year."
Crowded Backfield
Ole Miss has six players vying for playing time at therunning back, including three freshmen in Mark Dodson, Kailo Moore and JordanWilkins. Running backs coach Derrick Nix feels great about the overall depth ofthe position.
"We feel like we have choices at the position,which is always good," Nix said. "If something happens to Jeff(Scott), we have guys who are capable of going in and bringing some of the sameskill set that he brings to the table. But most importantly, we have guys withmore experience than last year.
Nix said they haven't finalized it all the way whichrunning backs will travel to Nashville, and that guys are still competing everyday.
What is probably set in stone, Nix said, is Scott, theteam's leading rusher last season, then sophomore running back Jaylen Walton.After that, he said, there is a question mark about what they are going to do.
Sophomore I'Tavius Mathers, who was listed as co-backupwith Walton behind Scott, has returned to practice since suffering an anklesprain, but his status for Thursday remains uncertain.
"He did well in practice yesterday," Nix said."We're going to evaluate him more today to see what he looks like. As theweek goes on, we'll see how he progresses and then determine if he will play ornot on Thursday."
That question mark also includes potentialredshirts, which Freeze said they're considering for sure, adding that there'sno way they can say at a position like running back exactly what will happen,such as injuries.
