Football Practice Report: Week 3

OXFORD, Miss. – The Ole Miss football team enjoyed two smooth wins at home in the first two weeks of the season, rolling past Furman and Middle Tennessee by a combined score of 128-3, and now Lane Kiffin and the Rebels will face their toughest test yet: a road trip to a power-conference opponent in Wake Forest.

Ole Miss has posted the highest point differential in the nation thus far this season, leading the country with 128 points scored and ranking third with just three points allowed. But the road only gets tougher from here, as the Rebels now hit the road to take on an ACC foe.

Kiffin held his weekly press conference Monday to break down the matchup and look at how the Rebels have performed thus far. That can be found below, along with interviews with Princely Umanmielen, Tre Harris, Jadon Canady, Jayden Williams and TJ Dottery.

“Excited about this week and going on the road for the first time this week and the challenges that are presented with that,” Kiffin said. “Excited to play an ACC opponent that is extremely well-coached, as played well in a lot of big games, beat Clemson 17-12 just a year ago. We’re going to have our hands full. These guys play really tough, aggressive. Excited about that challenge and our guys coming together and going on the road after a great week of practice.”

First Road Trip
Ole Miss cruised through the first two weeks of action without so much as a speed bump along the way, but the Rebels can expect a tougher test in Week 3 when they take on the Demon Deacons. Adding in the challenges of playing away from home, and Kiffin knows his team will have to be fully ready for everything coming its way.

“You’ve got to weather storms when you’re on the road, and it’s not what you’re used to,” Kiffin said. “You’re going to a total new place you haven’t been. Obviously the crowd plays into homefield advantages at certain places, but also it’s just familiarity. People are naturally more comfortable where they’re used to.”

The Rebels were in a similar situation in 2022, hitting the road for the first time to take on another ACC opponent in Georgia Tech. Going into that trip, Kiffin expressed similar concerns about how his team would come together away from home, and they responded with a 42-0 dismantling of the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta.

“We have to do a really good job preparing,” Kiffin said. “Every year every team is different. We’ve done this well before. A couple of years ago we went to an ACC opponent in Georgia Tech and were concerned about that and played really well—stopped the run and ran the ball. We need to continue to do what we’re doing in the turnover margin—plus-3 on the season and pitched a shutout the last two weeks—and go from there.

Same Mentality
Princely Umanmielen met with the media for the first time since making his Rebel debut. After an offseason surgery, fans were unsure how soon into the season they would see the star defensive end, but both fans and Umanmielen himself were thrilled that he was good to go for Week 1.

“I’ve felt great,” Umanmielen said. “It’s been a great experience playing at Ole Miss as an Ole Miss player because the last time I played here was with Florida in 2020. The first game when I ran out of the tunnel, the stadium was way louder than I expected.”

After getting comfortable at home, now Umanmielen will have to get comfortable away from The Vaught as the Rebels prepare for their first road test. The senior out of Austin, Texas, isn’t concerned and said Ole Miss will look to continue its run of dominance no matter the environment.

“It’s going to be a great test to see where we are,” Umanmielen said. “Week in and week out, we go into the game with the same mentality no matter who we’re playing. We’re going to go into Wake Forest and try to dominate them just like we have these past two weeks.”

Packing List: Run Game, Defense
While Vaught-Hemingway Stadium will sit quiet this weekend, the Rebels treated fans to a spectacular performance to tide them over. Jaxson Dart set the SEC record for consecutive completions with 24 on Saturday against Middle Tennessee and 30 dating back to the Furman game. Dart hit his favorite target, Tre Harris, to break the record. The methodical outing from Dart didn’t strike Harris by surprise—it’s simply the fruit of their labor.

“It doesn’t surprise me with all the preparation and the things we’ve been doing throughout the offseason,” Harris said. “That’s not just with me, that’s him with other guys, just constantly forming a good chemistry between the quarterback and the receivers. He constantly finds ways to get the chemistry where it’s supposed to be, and you saw Saturday that’s what happened.”

While the Dart and Harris aerial connection ended up stealing the headlines Saturday, the game was undoubtedly won terrestrially. Ole Miss ran Henry Parrish Jr. four times for 51 yards on the opening drive alone, and the Rebel defense didn’t allow a first down until the last play of the first quarter. The recipe for success this weekend on the road: more of the same.

“Going there with the mindset of we’re here, we’re going to set the run game first and foremost, then our defense has to come out and play. Those two things are the biggest things that are enforced for me and for the entire team,” Harris said. “We’re going to pack our run game, we’re going to pack our defense and make a mark on the game early.”

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