Ole Miss' second fall scrimmage to put a cap on the 'preseason' portion of camp
The third week of fall camp is wrapping up for Ole Miss football on Saturday with its second scrimmage and with it the preseason training camp aspect will be ending.
Last Saturday saw the first scrimmage of camp occur and provided a good starting point for head coach Lane Kiffin and his staff to begin true evaluations of players.
When Ole Miss puts the pads and jerseys on for its second trip inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium this month there will be some of the same boxes Kiffin is looking to check off. But there will be a couple new points of emphasis as well.
“(It’ll be) very similar. We’re still in evaluation mode,” Kiffin said. “The next one after this really is more about situations. Especially special teams rotations and stuff like that. There’s not really an evaluation (the scrimmage) after this. This is really big, I guess our last preseason game.”
The pro mentality to fall camp Kiffin has been using has been evident, especially in last week’s scrimmage where very few starters saw much playing time. If preseason is the model Kiffin is going after then it would lead some to speculate the starters will see more snaps in the second scrimmage.
The Ole Miss defense looked fast and aggressive in the first scrimmage, but there was still room for improvement.
It was on that side of the ball where a lot of of the starters stay on the field past the first couple series. Linebacker Troy Brown is one who would like to see more snaps and continue to improve on his chemistry with fellow linebacker Austin Keys.
Brown also has a checklist in his head of what he wants the defense to hone in on in the scrimmage and continue to take strides of progress in.
“Situational details,” Brown said. “I feel like us as a defense, if we’re situational masters then it’s hard to beat us. So, on defense as far as two-minute, four-minute, end of game situations or when (the offense) is doing tempo. You’ve got to think about if they’re going to hard count us just to get a first down.
“As a defense, and personally as people, we have to hone in to those small details so we all can stay locked in and all get the job done.”
Related: Fall Camp Insider: Ole Miss’ Demon Clowney is the football definition of a hybrid
After two full weeks of fall camp — and half of another — the training portion is about to wrap up as game week closes in.
With just over two weeks until until the season opener against Troy on Sept. 3. narrowing in on preparation for the Trojans will begin after Saturday’s scrimmage.
Fundamentals and conditioning drills will not go away completely as they never do once the regular season arrives, but the evaluation periods will be taken over by game planning.
“We’ll do stuff as coaches Sunday,” Kiffin said. “(The players) won’t necessarily even realize that there will be stuff coming in and installed that has to do with the opener so that they can get a lot of reps on it. Especially with a lot of new players.”
