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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Football Practice Report: Homecoming
10/25/2023 | Football
OXFORD, Miss. – Oxford welcomes home its family of Rebels this Saturday as the Ole Miss football team hosts Vanderbilt for its Homecoming weekend.
Ole Miss is looking to continue its 1-0 mindset after defeating the Auburn Tigers on The Plains for the first time since 2015. With pieces of the puzzles coming together, Ole Miss seems to be finding its groove on all sides of the ball heading into Saturday's game.
Kickoff between the No. 11 Rebels (6-1, 3-1 SEC) and Vanderbilt (2-6, 0-4 SEC) is set for 6:30 p.m. CT at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium and on SEC Network.
Head coach Lane Kiffin spoke with the media on Monday, and across Monday and Tuesday senior offensive lineman Victor Curne, senior defensive end Cedric Johnson, senior tight end Caden Prieskorn and senior cornerback Zamari Walton also took turns at the podium.
FOOTBALL … AT NIGHT
If you've been watching Ole Miss this season, you know that the real show doesn't start until the final 15 minutes begin to countdown. The Rebels are currently outscoring their opponents 89-44 in the fourth quarter with more than 30 percent of their total points coming out of the final minutes of the game.
"We're a fourth quarter program," said Co-Defensive Lineman of the Week Cedric Johnson. "We focus a lot on the fourth quarter. You can only win the game in the fourth quarter. That's what Coach Kiffin says all the time. You can't win the game in any other quarter. The fourth quarter is the quarter that matters most. We just feel like putting in all our effort, playing with our brotherhood and playing behind each other is the main way to go."
Additionally, Ole Miss has found success not only in the fourth quarter, but when the sun goes down and the lights turn on. The Rebels are 3-0 in night games this year, which includes capturing their first ever night win at Jordan-Hare Stadium last week, as they prep for their fourth night game coming up this Saturday.
"I don't know why we've had success at night," Kiffin said. "It's hard in this conference. I personally think, even though we had some false starts, that tempo offense helps playing on the road in really loud places versus the old-school huddle and cadence. I think it makes it harder for the fans to know when to be loud because you're going so fast. Now when you have some three and outs like we did in the game, it goes against you. I know it's really big. That's why I'm trying to encourage our fans so much to come out and be the way they were against Arkansas, and especially LSU. That's what they want our players to do. They want our players to show up every week, so we're hoping for the same thing from them."
SCOUTING THE COMMODORES
The Rebels will match up against the Commodores for their 98th all-time meeting, and the final in-season meeting between the two before the 2024 conference realignment occurs. Vanderbilt comes to Oxford well-disciplined this season, ranking second in the SEC and 27th nationally with a per-game average of just 4.8 penalties for 42.6 yards.
Even though the Commodores have struggled through their conference schedule, Kiffin emphasized to his players that the Southeastern Conference isn't easy to overlook.
"We showed them some upsets that just happened, especially a really big one over in the ACC," Kiffin said. "These guys were beating us at halftime last year. We've got a lot of work to put in, a lot of work to do, so it's a lot more about us than who we're playing."
"Any given Saturday, anybody can beat anybody," said offensive lineman Victor Curne. "I'm new to the SEC, but I think everybody in this conference is good. You've got to go 1-0 every week. It doesn't matter who it is or who we play. It can be a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. It doesn't matter. We want to go 1-0 against any team."
Offensively, Vanderbilt has been under the leadership of two quarterbacks, with AJ Swann leading most of the passing duties with 1,290 yards and 11 touchdowns before an injury forced backup Ken Seals into the starting role. Vandy has two rushers with at least 200 yards in Patrick Smith (257) and Sedrick Alexander (225), and are led in the passing attack by wideout Will Sheppard and his 574 yards and eight touchdowns. Sheppard's eight scores ranks third in the SEC and seventh nationally. Defensively, CJ Taylor has been a one-man wrecking crew, leading with 52 total tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks, two interceptions and two forced fumbles.
"I know they do have a pretty good offense and pretty good receivers on the outside," said cornerback Zamari Walton. "I think it'll be a pretty good matchup for the defensive backs and see what we can do. We know they pass the ball a lot and it'll be good for us. They have NFL draftable receivers on the outside and some in the slot. It'll be good for us to see them this week."
Ole Miss is looking to continue its 1-0 mindset after defeating the Auburn Tigers on The Plains for the first time since 2015. With pieces of the puzzles coming together, Ole Miss seems to be finding its groove on all sides of the ball heading into Saturday's game.
Kickoff between the No. 11 Rebels (6-1, 3-1 SEC) and Vanderbilt (2-6, 0-4 SEC) is set for 6:30 p.m. CT at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium and on SEC Network.
Head coach Lane Kiffin spoke with the media on Monday, and across Monday and Tuesday senior offensive lineman Victor Curne, senior defensive end Cedric Johnson, senior tight end Caden Prieskorn and senior cornerback Zamari Walton also took turns at the podium.
FOOTBALL … AT NIGHT
If you've been watching Ole Miss this season, you know that the real show doesn't start until the final 15 minutes begin to countdown. The Rebels are currently outscoring their opponents 89-44 in the fourth quarter with more than 30 percent of their total points coming out of the final minutes of the game.
"We're a fourth quarter program," said Co-Defensive Lineman of the Week Cedric Johnson. "We focus a lot on the fourth quarter. You can only win the game in the fourth quarter. That's what Coach Kiffin says all the time. You can't win the game in any other quarter. The fourth quarter is the quarter that matters most. We just feel like putting in all our effort, playing with our brotherhood and playing behind each other is the main way to go."
Additionally, Ole Miss has found success not only in the fourth quarter, but when the sun goes down and the lights turn on. The Rebels are 3-0 in night games this year, which includes capturing their first ever night win at Jordan-Hare Stadium last week, as they prep for their fourth night game coming up this Saturday.
"I don't know why we've had success at night," Kiffin said. "It's hard in this conference. I personally think, even though we had some false starts, that tempo offense helps playing on the road in really loud places versus the old-school huddle and cadence. I think it makes it harder for the fans to know when to be loud because you're going so fast. Now when you have some three and outs like we did in the game, it goes against you. I know it's really big. That's why I'm trying to encourage our fans so much to come out and be the way they were against Arkansas, and especially LSU. That's what they want our players to do. They want our players to show up every week, so we're hoping for the same thing from them."
SCOUTING THE COMMODORES
The Rebels will match up against the Commodores for their 98th all-time meeting, and the final in-season meeting between the two before the 2024 conference realignment occurs. Vanderbilt comes to Oxford well-disciplined this season, ranking second in the SEC and 27th nationally with a per-game average of just 4.8 penalties for 42.6 yards.
Even though the Commodores have struggled through their conference schedule, Kiffin emphasized to his players that the Southeastern Conference isn't easy to overlook.
"We showed them some upsets that just happened, especially a really big one over in the ACC," Kiffin said. "These guys were beating us at halftime last year. We've got a lot of work to put in, a lot of work to do, so it's a lot more about us than who we're playing."
"Any given Saturday, anybody can beat anybody," said offensive lineman Victor Curne. "I'm new to the SEC, but I think everybody in this conference is good. You've got to go 1-0 every week. It doesn't matter who it is or who we play. It can be a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. It doesn't matter. We want to go 1-0 against any team."
Offensively, Vanderbilt has been under the leadership of two quarterbacks, with AJ Swann leading most of the passing duties with 1,290 yards and 11 touchdowns before an injury forced backup Ken Seals into the starting role. Vandy has two rushers with at least 200 yards in Patrick Smith (257) and Sedrick Alexander (225), and are led in the passing attack by wideout Will Sheppard and his 574 yards and eight touchdowns. Sheppard's eight scores ranks third in the SEC and seventh nationally. Defensively, CJ Taylor has been a one-man wrecking crew, leading with 52 total tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks, two interceptions and two forced fumbles.
"I know they do have a pretty good offense and pretty good receivers on the outside," said cornerback Zamari Walton. "I think it'll be a pretty good matchup for the defensive backs and see what we can do. We know they pass the ball a lot and it'll be good for us. They have NFL draftable receivers on the outside and some in the slot. It'll be good for us to see them this week."
Players Mentioned
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