HOOVER, Alabama – Alex Givens, who now is the most experienced offensive lineman for Ole Miss, will look to fine-tune his craft this fall. At the same time, Givens wants to help three new starters that will line up next to him due to last season’s well-documented departures.
"It definitely is a little different not having all the guys that have been with me my whole career, but I have a lot of guys with me on the offensive line including Ben Brown, Royce Newman, Bryce Mathews and Eli Johnson," Givens said. “There’s a lot of great guys that are stepping up this year and are going to do a great job.”
Helping Givens along the way will be his position coach, Jack Bicknell, who is also adjusting to the new offensive system.
“He’s (Jack Bicknell) done a good job motivating the younger guys to step up and letting them know that they have a chance to be able to step into a bigger role and that they have to have a different mindset," Givens said. “Especially the incoming freshman. They got to have a different spark in them.”
According to Ole Miss coach Matt Luke, the seven true freshmen who the Rebels signed this past spring will wind up competing for key roles in the thin offensive line depth chart. Givens said, “We’ve been running a lot of drills this summer just as an offensive line. Just being able to help teach those guys techniques they haven’t seen in high school. It’s been a fun time.”
It will be every player, however, that will need to adjust to the new Rich Rodriguez system.
“It’s (the offense) a little more up-tempo,” Givens said. “We’ve been doing a lot more conditioning getting ready for it. This spring, it was a tough spring, but it was good to see what we needed to work on this summer.
“The coordinators he (Luke) has brought in, along with he himself, are all great motivators. We can play for a bowl game this season so that just brings a huge spark to our team. It’s just a great vibe around our locker room.”
Givens said Rodriguez’s high energy during practice is “different from what we had before and it’s something we needed and it’s really good for us, so we’re excited to have him.”
Givens, who could conceivably see time at any spot other than center, said he is most comfortable at the tackle spots where he should be tasked with keeping defenders away from the probable quarterback, Matt Corral.
“I am really excited about Matt,” Givens said. “He stepped up as a leader this spring. As you see, he is a very feisty player, which you love to see that as an offensive lineman. He fits in with Rich Rod’s offense. Very athletic. He can run and makes good decisions. He can throw the ball. We are super excited to have him in the huddle and be a voice for us and a leader at such a young age.”
Givens also stressed the importance of doing the little things right as Rodriguez does not take the small things for granted.
“We’re a high tempo offense so you have to be at the right place at the right time. The little things matter,” Givens said. “If you’re off an inch on your block, if you cross over your steps, just stuff like that.
“It has been a really good spring. Coach Rodriguez just came in with us this spring, so it has been awesome to just run his offense and get comfortable with it. The guys kind of adapted to it. A lot of conditioning goes into it because we are a very high tempo run-heavy offense, so it was a really good spring for us.”
