Hugh Freeze updates injuries and scrimmage results on Tuesday
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Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze spoke to reporters during the early portion of Tuesday's first practice. Below is that transcript detailing injuries, scrimmage results and more from the Rebels' first 10 days of fall camp.
On recent practices:
“Yesterday we had, really, our first scrimmage. It was a bit odd, really, because the offense, I thought, really controlled the scrimmage, which is not normal for this early in camp. So I was real pleased with (the offensive) side. Defensively we have a lot of things to clean up. That was a bit discouraging. We’ve got a lot of improving to do on both sides, but I did think there was some neat things offensively yesterday. Not sure with how much that had to do with the offense’s execution, tempo or the defense’s lack of execution on their side. It’s hard for me to ever feel great when you’re trying to look at the big picture. Special teams were pretty solid. Gary (Wunderlich) kicked the ball extremely well yesterday. So did Nathan (Noble). (Will) Gleason was OK. But it was a solid day.”
On safety C.J. Moore's surgery and prognosis:
“C.J. had surgery this week to repair a torn pec muscle. We’ll see how that rehab comes. I’m not ready to say how long that is; I don’t really know. He does have a redshirt year, so that will play into it, too, depending on what point of the season we’re in. We’ll do what’s best for the program and the kid once that time comes.”
On Moore's absence to the position:
“We’ve moved Jarrion Street to one of the safeties. Very athletic kid. Hasn’t been here this summer, so he’s a little behind, but we think he has the potential to be good. But we really haven’t juggled a whole lot of things around, it just hurts us on our depth. He was definitely in the two-deep, so that’s something that you never want to happen. It’s the constant struggle of how do you prepare your team for an opening game like we have? Be physical, get things done and try to keep as many healthy as you can. We’ve got some good young talent back there, but we haven’t really had to mess with the rotation too much yet. We’ll see how that goes.”
On the health of Markell Pack and Greg Eisworth:
“Eisworth has not been released to go yet. He’s still dealing with a hamstring. Pack’s had a really good camp. He has to have a pin put in his thumb (Wednesday), which will keep him out a little while. I’m always hesitant to say when they’re going to be back, but I’m told he should be back in a 10-day period.”
On the status of Jeremy Liggins:
“Everything looks good. I think everything’s proceeding nicely there.”
On the scrimmage performance of the offensive line:
“Real pleased with where they were. I thought there were a lot of good things. They played hard, fast, physical. I was pleased with the o-line yesterday."
On standouts from the scrimmage:
“D’Vaughn Pennamon keeps showing up at running back. Very physical. Runs downhill, hits the hole well, has good vision. I thought Deontay Anderson showed up. He had a couple of picks, actually, in the red zone. I think he’s getting more of a feel for things. D.K. Metcalf continues to show up in one-on-one situations; he’s so big and strong for a freshman. He doesn't have to win the route by a large margin to have a chance to have success. Those are a few.”
On DK's Metcalf's ability to play immediately on past Ole Miss teams:
“He sure would. A couple of years ago, no doubt. He may play this year if he keeps showing up. We need depth. These early games, we can complain about the difficulty of our early schedule. There are some positives. You really get, because of the home schedule and the non-conference combination and the on-the-road non-conference game, you can play more kids. You’ve got about five games there where you can really play a lot of kids and keep people fresh. That’s a good thing about the schedule. It’s very difficult, but it’s still a good thing.”
On ball protection:
“It has not shown up to be a deficiency. I wish it was none, but there have been a few. There were a couple of picks in the red zone yesterday and when we did our red zone competition. One was a tipped ball, but the other was a poor decision. We haven’t had many fumbles. Don’t like talking about that a lot, but we’ve protected it pretty well.”
On Tony Conner during the scrimmage:
“He went. The only time he sits out, really, is the two-a-day practices. Like today, he’ll go one. Same thing with (Robert) Conyers. It’s not that he’s wanting to, it’s just what we think is best. So he’ll go this morning and then won’t go tonight.”
On Fadol Brown's recovery:
“Fadol is moving around better. He’s going to have some pain, initially, with it. I expect him to go some one-on-ones and some (individual drills) today. We’ll see how it goes after today.”
On the quarterbacks from the scrimmage:
“Good. Shea (Patterson’s) pretty good. He’s pretty talented and has a good head. Pellerin, we put a red jersey on him yesterday and let him be live, and I was real pleased with what I saw there, too.”
On Deontay Anderson and what Freeze likes about him:
“His size. We need bigger safeties in this league. He and Street both look like two SEC safeties back there. There’s a lot of things they’ve got to learn; they’re still young, so let’s not rush them, let’s don’t project them to be there yet. But I sure like the way they’ve looked.”