The University of Mississippi Athletics
Notes from Freeze's Press Conference
11/7/2016 | Football, Blog
Freeze said the team is excited to win a game. It was a tough one. They spent a lot of time working on Georgia Southern's option attack, but they didn't show a lot of it. They had to change on the fly. They were able to put it away though.รย
It's disappointing to see a senior's career end with injury. It's heartbreaking, and Ole Miss is indebted to them for their service to the university. John Youngblood has been a leader since he arrived. Chad Kelly wanted to rewrite his story, and he's done that. He's changed for the better. Freeze has watched him make an impact to others. They both played like they were indebted to this university. The way they played the game the right way and represented Ole Miss. Now they have to move on without them. It creates challenges and opportunities. Injuries have not been kind to Ole Miss this year, but that happens in football sometimes.
The team was good in the red zone, and they took care of the ball. There were few penalties, and they had explosive plays on offense. Defensively, there were too many explosive plays in the first half. The second half was the best half of the year. Ole Miss will need the defense to play well during the stretch. It was an outstanding game from Fadol Brown, who recorded 14 tackles.รย
The blocked punt has to be fixed, but the coverage on punts was the best it has been all year.รย
It was a slow start but solid effort. Now they have to play in a difficult place to play against Texas A&M. They'll face another SEC defensive front and they have playmakers on offense. It will be a difficult environment to play in without Chad or John.รย
It's difficult to pull a redshirt off a player like Shea Patterson with three games left. All options are on the table. Markell Pack, Evan Engram, Jeremy Liggins were all mentioned as emergency options. He wouldn't rule out taking the redshirt off yet, but he hasn't decided yet. Jason Pellerin will get most of the reps. Shea is one of the most complete QBs that Freeze has seen as a freshman.รย
Van Jefferson has a hip pointer. Robert Conyers is going to be what he is. He's suffered through a lot of injuries, and probably doesn't need to play a lot. Rod Taylor and Sean Rawlings are in a waiting game, but they couldn't go if the game was today.
With a week of practice, they can expand the offense more than it was on Saturday. However, it's not going to be like it was with Chad at QB.รย
Chad had a difficult day yesterday. It was tough to hear. He said that God has a plan for him, and he'll work hard to come back stronger. He wanted to finish his journey here in a different way.
Freeze thinks that Chad will be remembered as one of the best competitors that have ever played here. He led the team to the Sugar Bowl, and Ole Miss fans won't forget that.
Freeze isn't content or happy with the season, but he's at peace. Maybe it's because of his faith or the the people he's around or being at this university. When you're in the SEC and have some turnovers and injuries, these years can happen. The team has three opportunities left.รย
