Practice Report: Week 2

OXFORD, Miss. – One week of action is in the books for Ole Miss football, and this week, the Rebels hit the practice field once again, looking to make some improvements ahead of a key Southeastern Conference matchup this Saturday against Arkansas.

Ahead of the Rebels' season opener, offensive line coach Jack Bicknell, offensive lineman Alex Givens, cornerbacks coach Charles Clark and defensive back Keidron Smith met with the media to recap last week's meeting with Memphis, as well as preview this weekend's home opener.

LEARNING ON THE LINE
After missing fall camp recovering from back surgery, senior Alex Givens returned to the lineup Saturday in Memphis and gave the Rebels even more than they had hoped for. Givens expected to play roughly 20-30 snaps in the Liberty Bowl but ended up playing nearly 75 percent of Ole Miss' offensive snaps.

The Rebels will continue to monitor Givens' workload, adjusting for the flow of the game and the number of snaps the offense runs. However, Givens was happy to report that his conditioning was better than expected in his first game back. Feeling better and stronger each day, Givens is now focused on helping the O-Line unit improve from Week 1.

"We just need to come together," Givens said. "We've got the guys we need to do it. We just need to go in there day in and day out and do our job and work every day to get better. We're going to get it. We'll be good."

Meanwhile, offensive line coach Jack Bicknell is focused on finding the right combination on the offensive front. He revealed that true freshman Nick Broeker will play on Saturday against the Razorbacks, and his snap count will likely depend on his performance.

"He's going to get some snaps this week, no question," Bicknell said. "Depending on how he plays and how Michael Howard plays and how everyone else is playing, that's how many snaps he'll get. It's hard to make a prediction on a number of snaps, but he will be in there in the first half. If he's playing well, he'll get more snaps. I think he's ready to go, there's no question about it."

UNDER WRAPS
The defensive unit looked improved from top to bottom on Saturday at Memphis. Ole Miss tackled better than it did all of last season, but there was no surprise among the Rebels after stressing that point in their first fall camp under new defensive coordinator Mike MacIntyre.

"Coach Mac's main focus coming in was us tackling. We do tackling drills mostly every day," said sophomore cornerback Keidron Smith. "Just buying into Coach Mac's philosophy, and it showed out there on Saturday. It's just discipline, knowing Coach Mac gave us a game plan and going out there and executing."

The improved tackling was most noticeable out on the edge, where Smith tied for the team lead with seven tackles and also blew up a key third-down bubble screen, driving the receiver back and allowing the Landshark defense to swarm and get off the field.

Jaylon Jones had a similar performance, totaling four tackles and tying for a team-high with two tackles for a loss. He, too, had a similar play, in which he single-handedly erased a screen play on the outside, beating a blocker and taking Memphis' Damonte Coxie down for a loss on fourth down.

While the Rebel defense had a strong first outing overall, MacIntyre and his staff are still looking for ways to improve going forward.

"Defensively, there are a couple of things we have to fix in the secondary," said cornerbacks coach Charles Clark. "I thought the effort was great for us. Guys flew around, ran around. We got a number of guys in the game. The effort was really good. There were just a couple of plays that we could've made that we didn't Saturday."

This Saturday, the Rebels will put their work to the test once again as they host Arkansas for their home and SEC opener at 6:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network.

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Players Mentioned

Nick Broeker

Alex Givens

Michael Howard

Jaylon Jones

Keidron Smith

The University of Mississippi Athletics