Practice Report: The New NWO, Rodriguez’s Install

OXFORD, Miss. – Fall camp is rolling right along for Ole Miss football, and on the offensive end, it's all about the youth movement. The Rebels are breaking in young players from sideline to sideline while also learning a new offensive scheme brought by Rich Rodriguez.

The Rebel offensive coordinator met with the media Wednesday, along with a trio of freshmen in wide receiver Demarcus Gregory, offensive lineman Jeremy James and running back Snoop Conner.

THE NEW NWO
Ole Miss sent perhaps the best crop of receivers in college football off to the NFL. A.J. Brown, D.K. Metcalf and DaMarkus Lodge combined for 2,766 receiving yards a year ago, amounting to two-thirds of the Rebels' production through the air. With that trio gone, the next crop of Nasty Wide Outs is working to this fall to fill the void.

"None of us have really proven ourselves yet. The big names, D.K., A.J., Lodge, those boys are gone now, so it's on us," said redshirt freshman Demarcus Gregory. "It's a competition out there every day. You have to bring it. You know Peeler is going to bring the best players in, so you know you have to compete."

With that competition heating up, Gregory is getting healthy at just the right time. He tore his ACL his senior year of high school but nonetheless came to Ole Miss as a highly touted 4-star prospect. However, he tore his meniscus on the third day of fall camp last season leaving him out of the battle for time behind the big three. It has been a long road back, but the Duncan, South Carolina, native is finally back to 100 percent.

"It felt like one thing after another. But my parents always told me, if you don't give up and keep faith, it's always good at the end," Gregory said. "I'm just doing all I can, working every day to earn the coaches' trust."

OFFENSIVE INSTALL
Offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez brought positive reports from his offensive install in his first fall camp at Ole Miss.

"Four or five days in, we have probably 70 percent of what our offense will be," Rodriguez said. "It's not game-specific to Memphis or anything like that. I was a little nervous about that with so many freshmen in our two-deep, but we're trying to force feed it, and they're handling it pretty well."

The quarterback position still remains uncertain to an extent. Three true freshman continue to battle for the No. 2 spot, with John Rhys Plumlee, Grant Tisdale and Kinkead Dent splitting time and rotating continuously throughout camp. While the backup slot remains up in the air, and could even once the season begins, Matt Corral continues to improve in his role as the leader of the Rebel offense.

"One thing about Matt, he loves to play," Rodriguez said. "He's eager to learn. He makes a few mistakes. Sometimes I have to remember that he hasn't played a whole lot either. So there's some of that experience we still have to get, and we are still learning a new system. But he gets a little bit better every day, and I'm confident that Matt can have a good year for us."

YOUNG UP FRONT
There are new faces all around the field for the Rebels, particularly on the offensive side—and there might not be a younger position than the offensive front. The Ole Miss roster features 10 freshman blockers, as well as three sophomores.

"All of those freshmen are getting a lot of reps," Rodriguez said. "I think the whole second unit might be freshmen, which is a little scary, but it's a really good group."

As Rodriguez explained to the media Wednesday, that young group has the challenge of learning both the fundamentals, as well as an entirely new offensive scheme. However, they have one another to lean on through that process. And as newcomer Jeremy James pointed out, this experience will only make them stronger as they go forward.

"Coach Bicknell told us when he was recruiting us that he was going to need everyone to step up, so this is something we have been working toward for a while now," James said. "I think it's a good thing if a program can get freshmen going. It's a good step forward, we just have to step up and do what we're supposed to do."

RebelsCalendar

Players Mentioned

A.J. Brown

Snoop Conner

Matt Corral

Kinkead Dent

Jeremy James

DaMarkus Lodge

D.K. Metcalf

John Rhys Plumlee

The University of Mississippi Athletics