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The University of Mississippi Athletics
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Football Practice Report: Good Morning, Oxford
10/13/2022 | Football
<i class="icon-paper"></i> Lane Kiffin Transcript<i class="icon-video"></i> Lane Kiffin Press Conference<i class="icon-video"></i> Ladarius Tennison Press Conference<i class="icon-video"></i> Jordan Watkins Press Conference<i class="icon-video"></i> Jonathan Mingo Press Conference<i class="icon-video"></i> JJ Pegues Press Conference
Kiffin Meets with Media as Rebels Prepare to Host Auburn
OXFORD, Miss. – The Ole Miss football team continued its hot start to the 2022 season, amassing 35 unanswered points to overcome an early deficit and secure a 52-28 road win at Vanderbilt. Now, Lane Kiffin and the Rebels return home for the next SEC test Saturday against Auburn at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN.
Kiffin met with the media this week, along with safety Ladarius Tennison, defensive lineman JJ Pegues and receivers Jordan Watkins and Jonathan Mingo, to look back at the win in Nashville and preview the meeting with the Tigers.
GOOD MORNING, OXFORD
The last time Kiffin's Rebels played at home, the Ole Miss head coach emplored his fan base to pack Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for an early 11 a.m. kick against Kentucky. The result was a phenomenal atmosphere and a top-10 win for the Rebels. With Auburn coming to town for another early kick, Kiffin hopes Rebel Nation will show up and impact the game once again.
"Huge game coming up, a team that has beat us twice and has really good players and has played really good at times," Kiffin said. "We're going to need to improve. We're going to need our fans to come with a lot of energy. When you watch football around the country, you see how fans matter. You saw false starts at the end of the Alabama game and the inability for people to hear when they're trying to use a verbal cadence. Saw the effect in the Kentucky game by our crowd. We need that again."
Kiffin is so far 0-2 against Auburn in his tenure at Ole Miss. Auburn came to Oxford in 2020, and after four lead changes in the second half, the visitors escaped Vaught-Hemingway Stadium with the 35-28 victory. The Rebels haven't lost at home since.
In 2021, the Rebels met with the Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium and again fell in a close contest, not able to overcome a 28-17 with an ailing quarterback in Matt Corral.
Auburn has been up and down through the first half of the 2022 season, notching wins over Mercer, San Jose State and Missouri, offset by losses to Penn State, LSU and Georgia for an even 3-3 record.
"I think they've got really good players and have given us problems. We haven't done really well offensively in either game. We've got to worry about what we can control, which is playing really well and playing a full game. Now we've shown we can do it backwards. Normally we were this first-half team and don't play great fourth quarters, and we were the opposite this week. The challenge is to put it all together."
ROCK, PAPER, STARTER
Ole Miss brought in two transfers from Auburn for the 2022 season in JJ Pegues and Ladarius Tennison. Both have made significant impacts in their respective position rooms, including some starting time at safety for Tennison.
The Rebel secondary made headlines last week when sideline reporter Alyssa Lang reported during the Vanderbilt game that the Rebel safety trio of Tennison, Tysheem Johnson and Isheem Young have a unique method for who gets to occupy two starting roles each week: rock, paper, scissors.
"That's just something that we were in a situation with three really good players that basically play two spots," Kiffin said. "We play a lot of plays on defense because of our offensive tempo. It's very hard for anybody to play the whole game and play really fast. Those guys, we knew would end up playing, if there's 80 plays, 60 between all of them. I just said, well, they can't hold it against us which one starts, so let them play rock, paper, scissors every week. They can only blame themselves. It's a classic. Because then they argue when one wins, they say best two out of three. It gets them arguing with each other, not us."
So far, Johnson has been the most prolific rock, paper, scissors artist, playing his way to five starts in four games. Tennison has started four and Young three. To this point, all three rank in the top seven on the team in tackles.
"It started before we even started the season," Tennison said. "We've got three stud safeties, so this allows us not to fight over who goes in, so it's pretty much fairness to who goes in."
Check the field at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium this Saturday at 11 a.m. CT to see which safeties won this week's rock, paper, scissors battle.
Kiffin met with the media this week, along with safety Ladarius Tennison, defensive lineman JJ Pegues and receivers Jordan Watkins and Jonathan Mingo, to look back at the win in Nashville and preview the meeting with the Tigers.
GOOD MORNING, OXFORD
The last time Kiffin's Rebels played at home, the Ole Miss head coach emplored his fan base to pack Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for an early 11 a.m. kick against Kentucky. The result was a phenomenal atmosphere and a top-10 win for the Rebels. With Auburn coming to town for another early kick, Kiffin hopes Rebel Nation will show up and impact the game once again.
"Huge game coming up, a team that has beat us twice and has really good players and has played really good at times," Kiffin said. "We're going to need to improve. We're going to need our fans to come with a lot of energy. When you watch football around the country, you see how fans matter. You saw false starts at the end of the Alabama game and the inability for people to hear when they're trying to use a verbal cadence. Saw the effect in the Kentucky game by our crowd. We need that again."
Kiffin is so far 0-2 against Auburn in his tenure at Ole Miss. Auburn came to Oxford in 2020, and after four lead changes in the second half, the visitors escaped Vaught-Hemingway Stadium with the 35-28 victory. The Rebels haven't lost at home since.
In 2021, the Rebels met with the Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium and again fell in a close contest, not able to overcome a 28-17 with an ailing quarterback in Matt Corral.
Auburn has been up and down through the first half of the 2022 season, notching wins over Mercer, San Jose State and Missouri, offset by losses to Penn State, LSU and Georgia for an even 3-3 record.
"I think they've got really good players and have given us problems. We haven't done really well offensively in either game. We've got to worry about what we can control, which is playing really well and playing a full game. Now we've shown we can do it backwards. Normally we were this first-half team and don't play great fourth quarters, and we were the opposite this week. The challenge is to put it all together."
ROCK, PAPER, STARTER
Ole Miss brought in two transfers from Auburn for the 2022 season in JJ Pegues and Ladarius Tennison. Both have made significant impacts in their respective position rooms, including some starting time at safety for Tennison.
The Rebel secondary made headlines last week when sideline reporter Alyssa Lang reported during the Vanderbilt game that the Rebel safety trio of Tennison, Tysheem Johnson and Isheem Young have a unique method for who gets to occupy two starting roles each week: rock, paper, scissors.
"That's just something that we were in a situation with three really good players that basically play two spots," Kiffin said. "We play a lot of plays on defense because of our offensive tempo. It's very hard for anybody to play the whole game and play really fast. Those guys, we knew would end up playing, if there's 80 plays, 60 between all of them. I just said, well, they can't hold it against us which one starts, so let them play rock, paper, scissors every week. They can only blame themselves. It's a classic. Because then they argue when one wins, they say best two out of three. It gets them arguing with each other, not us."
So far, Johnson has been the most prolific rock, paper, scissors artist, playing his way to five starts in four games. Tennison has started four and Young three. To this point, all three rank in the top seven on the team in tackles.
"It started before we even started the season," Tennison said. "We've got three stud safeties, so this allows us not to fight over who goes in, so it's pretty much fairness to who goes in."
Check the field at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium this Saturday at 11 a.m. CT to see which safeties won this week's rock, paper, scissors battle.
Players Mentioned
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