OXFORD | Lane Kiffin was pleased with his defense during a two-hour scrimmage inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday, a reversal of the defensive’s difficult day a week ago.

Kiffin, speaking to the media following the closed scrimmage, singled out senior edge rusher Sam Williams for his practice and said the defense had a much better effort compared to the first scrimmage of camp.

Ole Miss started the practice indoors before the rain held off enough to get back outside for the main part of the day. The Rebels ran ones versus ones and twos versus twos for the majority of the scrimmage and tackled to the ground for the first half.

“I thought our defense responded really well and played really well,” Kiffin said. “Much better job limiting explosive plays and not as many missed tackles… Overall a pretty good defensive day.

“Not giving up explosive plays, covering well. Playing a lot of deep zone and rushed well on third down, especially (Williams). It was great to see… The defensive line played well. Linebackers played more physical and fit runs. Lot of punts, not a lot of turnovers.”

During the stretch portion of practice, media were allowed to watch from then sideline. I didn’t see John Rhys Plumlee, Braylon Brown, Tavius Robinson, Ben Brown, Orlando Umana or Luke Altmyer on the field.

Afterward, Kiffin reiterated, as he has throughout camp, that there’s no long-term injury to a notable

[Related: What we're hearing about a couple injuries]

“I don’t think we’ve had any major injuries, guys of significant playing importance,” Kiffin said.

Kiffin did say Altmyer was limited on Saturday and Kinkead Dent threw two touchdowns with th second team. Kiffin also said three of the main receivers didn’t play in the second half. It seemed to be a pitch-count situation.

Ole Miss will take Monday off for the first day of fall classes and begin gradually inputting some of the plan for Louisville as the week moves on. The Rebels and Cardinals open on September 6.

“We’re still in training camp mode at the first of the week, but some will b geared toward the opponent, Kiffin said. “We’ll have a mock game at the end of next weekend.”