Ole Miss CB Zamari Walton took advantage of the open week to evaluate and correct
The bye week for Ole Miss football came exactly at the halfway mark of the regular season – a perfect time for mid-season reflection, evaluation and correction.
That’s exactly what senior cornerback Zamari Walton did during the open week before the Auburn game on the Plains.
He was happy with the extra work he did and it paid off with an interception in the Rebel end zone that thwarted a Tiger scoring threat.
“I was able to evaluate everything I had done in the first half of the season and make an emphasis on correcting some things I wasn’t doing well,” said Walton, a transfer from Georgia Tech who starts opposite of fellow senior cornerback Deantre Prince. “I did better against Auburn as a result of those corrections.”
Indeed. Particularly with the interception.
Roughly midway through the fourth quarter, with Ole Miss holding on to a 28-14 lead, Auburn worked its way to the Rebel 27 yard-line where they attempted a pass into the end zone.
Walton leaped up to catch the ball and tumbled out of bounds while controlling the ball in his hand. A review confirmed the call on the field that Walton had caught the ball and it was indeed an interception.
“I believed I caught it. But when they reviewed it, I was a little nervous because you never know with reviews. I was relieved the call stood,” Walton said.
The pick ended up being an important play because Auburn eventually did score on Ole Miss and cut the lead to one touchdown, but thanks to that interception there was only time for them to have one more drive.
Walton says the Ole Miss defense is getting better little by little for a couple of reasons.
“We are more confident in knowing the system and we are playing faster,” he added. “We have also focused on getting more turnovers and giving the ball back to our offense so they can score a lot of points.
“We are also having good communication from the sidelines to each player and on the field.”
Besides Walton, senior safety John Saunders, Jr. had an interception in the first half as well.
“We are meshing as a defense and we are all playing more freely. Nobody is worried about going out there and messing up – it’s confidence in ourselves, confidence in each other and confidence in the system,” Walton explained. “We are playing fast and free. We have always been confident, but we are getting more confident as we go.”
Ole Miss now faces Vanderbilt in a night game in The Vaught.
“They have a pretty good offense with good receivers. The DBs will be challenged. They like to throw the ball and they are good at it,” Walton closed. “I think they have guys who have a shot the NFL out wide and in the slot.
“We will be challenged on defense and we look forward to it.”
The bye week was big for Walton to correct things from the first half of the season.
Now he wants to keep building on that as each game clicks by.
