OXFORD — Charlie Weis, Jr., is going into his third season with Lane Kiffin as his boss and Jaxson Dart as his starting quarterback.
The continuity allows for elite chemistry. Throw in new technology this season that will allow for in-helmet communication between Weis and Dart — with occasional input from Kiffin — up until 15 seconds left on the play clock and Ole Miss’ offense could be even more dangerous this fall.
“It's a really good process of working through it, because there's a balance between giving too much information, too little information, you know, timing it up before he snaps the ball,” Weis said Thursday following the Rebels’ practice earlier that morning. “So, you know, you're not saying something that split-second before he snaps it and now it kind of messes him up.
“So it's been really good to have the technology at practice to kind of work through those things. It's certainly something I think we're excited about that can definitely help. So it's been a really cool process.
“Jaxson and myself, Coach Kiffin, I think we all have a great relationship, the three of us together, of talking through that process, what he wants to hear, what he doesn’t. And so it's been great to work through that in training camp. It'll be really good to when we kind of get to scrimmages and some of those settings as well.”
Weis has seen Dart make major strides over his two seasons in Oxford, going from winning quarterback competitions versus Luke Altmyer and then Spencer Sanders to entering this season as a Heisman Trophy candidate.
“I think that's been one of the coolest things,” Weis said. “Working with Jaxson from the day he got here to where he's at now, it's every year I feel like there's jumps and improvements. I think for him it's just, you know, last year he really got down the footwork, the timing, the rhythm of the passing game.
“Now it's kind of getting to that next level of, you know, understanding defenses, coverage, recognition, making checks, and kind of getting to different things based on the looks that he sees. And so I think he's done a tremendous job thus far in camp and throughout spring football, of continuing to improve and learn and grow. … I think it's just that growth, that evolution of even more understanding of what we're trying to do and being able to see the whole picture and just kind of be very calm and focused in those moments at tempo to be able to be confident and get to some different things.”
Weis, of course, is working with more than just Dart this month as the Rebels get ready for the Aug. 31 season opener versus Furman. Ole Miss refurbished its offensive line in the offseason, adding three new linemen from the transfer portal.
“It’s been super exciting,” Kiffin said. “I think just the depth in that room, Coach Kiffin does a tremendous job with our practice format to be able to get it where all those guys are getting enough quality reps against really good competition. Thankfully, we're going against a great defensive line each and every day, too, which really helps for that evaluation because, you know, pretty much every single rep that a lot of those guys were taking against a really good player. So it's definitely challenging to work through it because you have so many guys with good experience.
“If you look at last year, we rotated about seven guys for most of the season, which I think helped us out a good bit. And then it kind of hurt when we got a couple injuries and we only were down to about five guys that could play. So I think the goal is definitely to play more than just five throughout the season, and we're fortunate to have a bunch of good candidates to play this year.”
Ole Miss is working this preseason to replace Quinshon Judkins, the two-time All-Southeastern Conference running back who departed for Ohio State in January. The Rebels return Ulysses Bentley IV from last year’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl champions but it’s more of a by-committee approach this season than it has been in the previous two years.
“I think it's definitely going to be a little bit different this year, but we're certainly fired up about our running back room,” Weis said. “I think we got great players in there with slightly different skill sets as well, home run ability and can make plays in the passing game and do a whole bunch of different things.
“So I think it's a great room and (Ole Miss running backs) Coach (Kevin) Smith is a great coach who does a great job from my whole time working with them, whether it was here at Ole Miss or at FAU, he's done a great job of rotating backs knowing who to go to at what point in the game.
“Henry Parrish Jr. has done a great job thus far in camp. I think he really hits it, for not being a huge guy. He's got that ability to play downhill and he's got really good hands. So he's a tremendous asset in the passing game. Rashad Amos, obviously a bigger back, has the physicality, the ability to run through people and could be very beneficial for us. And then Matt Jones, another guy that was here last year, has a tremendous skill set. He's able to get small, get through holes, get through windows, extremely savvy, willing blocker.
“So all those guys, I think, have a little bit different thing that they can do, but are all talented and, you know, we're going to need all of them.”
One thing Weis said the Rebels don’t want to do is lean too heavily on Dart’s legs. Dart is a willing and able runner, but he paid for that late last season after some nagging injuries took their toll on his overall health.
“Yeah, I think we definitely need to manage that,” Weis said. “This season, we obviously know how good of a passer he is and how good of a player he is, so his value is tremendous. So you got to pick your times right, to run the quarterback. But I think it's something that we've always had in our system that makes it hard on defense. So it'll be a piece of what we do. But I think we got to make sure that we take care of our quarterbacks and keep them healthy so that we can play, you know, the full length of the season.”
The Rebels also added to their receiver room, adding Juice Wells, Dae’Quan Wright and others to a strong returning group of targets
“It's really exciting to see the things that (Wells) can do in his potential down the line from being a downfield receiver but also a guy that you just want to get him touches and get him the ball early in the game,” Weis said.
It’s all led to incredibly high expectations in Oxford this fall. The Rebels will open the season No. 6 in the Coaches Poll, a prohibitive favorite to make the 12-team College Football Playoff. Weis said he and the rest of the coaching staff aren’t thinking about the big picture right now. Instead, the laser focus, he said, is on the day-to-day of preparing for the season.
“I think the biggest thing for us is just focusing on the process over the outcome,” Weis said. “So every single practice, every single rep, it's not, ‘Hey, what was the outcome of the rep?’ It’s ‘Hey, did we protect this the way that we were supposed to protect this? Did the receivers run the routes they were supposed to run with the detail that they were coached to do it? Did the quarterback go through his progression the way that he was supposed to go?’
“It’s not worrying about the outcome and, you know, worrying about future games and everything, just worrying about that next rep, coaching that next rep the best that you can. …Every single meeting and just focusing on the day to day just to get our guys as good as we possibly can be before we get going to the season. I think it's just really being focused on the process, on everything that we're doing each and every day.”
