I spent most of my weekend driving, so this is going to be a pretty short 10 Weekend Thoughts.
Thanks to all who reached out to check on Caroline, my youngest daughter. She had surgery on her left shoulder on March 16. She’s in a sling for another five weeks but she’s doing great. I drove her to Fayetteville Saturday morning and helped her get all her stuff back into the Chi Omega house. I took her and her sister to dinner Saturday night and then crashed. I got up Sunday, got a long run in on the hotel treadmill, met her, made sure she was good and then drove back. Anyone who knows Caroline knows she’ll be fine. She can’t drive for a few weeks, so getting to and from her job as a dance instructor is going to cause some drama and she’s the sorority’s marketing director, so there will be challenges. Growth comes from discomfort, or something like that.
My intention was to work on 10 Thoughts when I arrived in Oxford, but when my wife, Laura, said it would be fun to go sit outside and have a drink, who was I to disagree?
So here I sit, at 6:19 a.m. on what will be a busy Monday, writing 10 Thoughts.
Oh, yeah, quick shoutout to the Florida Gators softball team. The coaches and players couldn’t have been nicer people. They’re great representatives of the UF. I just pulled up the score out of curiosity, and Sunday didn’t go well for them. Still, impressive people.
On to 10 Thoughts…
1. First, my thoughts and prayers are very much with the people of Rolling Fork and Amory and any other community impacted by Friday night’s tornadoes. We lost power at our house Friday night and when it looked like the storm was going south of Oxford, I fell asleep. When I woke, my first thought was wondering if Ole Miss’ women’s basketball team won its Sweet 16 game in Seattle.
I quickly shifted my thoughts to more real-life matters. The photos from Amory were just awful. I talked to my great friend, Corey Clark, who owns and operates Clark Ford in Amory, and I heard more details. I saw pictures of the basically destroyed Amory High School. It was a somber reminder that we all live at the mercy of Mother Nature.
I always think about how when we lived near the Gulf of Mexico, we were on alert for hurricanes. However, we’d have days to prepare and evacuate, if necessary, when a hurricane was charging toward us from the Atlantic and then into the Gulf. With tornadoes, all you know is conditions are ripe and then you just wait.
And nighttime tornadoes might be the scariest thing. They’re awful. For those impacted, I’m sorry and you’re in my prayers.
2. These are going to be quick today. Ole Miss football landed a couple of in-state commitments over the weekend, getting running back Chris Davis Jr. from Picayune and defensive lineman Jeffery Rush from Pascagoula.
The state is loaded with prospects this year, and Lane Kiffin and Co. seem to have a strong strategy prepared. The Rebels aren’t going to get them all; there will be losses. However — and this is not an attack on previous years’ strategies but more of an observation — Ole Miss seems to be out in front earlier this time around, figuring out who they might be able to sign and what obstacles are in their paths in that regard.
Yes, Ole Miss is going to build with the transfer portal. Kiffin being branded “The Portal King” isn’t for kicks and giggles; it’s part of a strategy. Still, it’s imperative that Ole Miss land elite high school talent, especially when it’s abundant inside the state, as it is this year. So far, the Rebels appear to be off to a strong start.
3. Week 2 of spring football begins on Tuesday. The Rebels will, if the schedule holds, have some sort of scrimmage on Saturday. All eyes are on the quarterback race, where most are wondering how and if Kiffin and Co. can keep three quarterbacks happy between now and the start of the season.
I’ve seen one practice, so the sample size is simply too small to note much of anything. That said, the quarterback who caught my eye that Thursday morning was LSU transfer Walker Howard. His deep ball was something to behold, and it was consistent. Incumbent starter Jaxson Dart absolutely looked stronger on Thursday than he did at the end of the season last fall and Oklahoma State transfer Spencer Sanders, with 42 career starts under his belt, is admittedly not 100 percent as he recovers from a shoulder injury suffered last fall while leading Mike Gundy’s Cowboys.
Conventional wisdom holds that Ole Miss brought Sanders, who has just one year of eligibility remaining, to Oxford to be the Rebels’ quarterback. Further, conventional wisdom holds that the Rebels brought Howard, who has four years of eligibility remaining, to be the quarterback of the future.
Conventional wisdom doesn’t look so good for Dart, who drew praise for his toughness and leadership but criticism for some of his reads and decision-making last fall. However, I’m not sure how much one can rely on conventional wisdom when interpreting Kiffin’s decision. He’s a unique thinker; I doubt he’d disagree with that assessment.
It’s possible and downright likely that he’s telling the truth when he says he simply wanted to improve the quarterback room.
How that shakes out this summer and even early into fall camp before classes begin will be simply fascinating. Maybe this week brings more clarity in that regard, but I doubt it. I think this is a storyline that will occupy months.
4. I’m not a big observations-from-spring-practice guy. Yes, I know it would be wildly popular with many and yes, I know I’m creating an opening from competition by being more conservative in coverage of practices that are held with the season still five-plus months away.
But I’ve done this sportswriting gig for a minute, and I know making sweeping assertions from spring practices is the fast track to looking stupid(er).
I will, however, give you one positive and one negative thought based on the very little I’ve seen — combined with what I’ve heard from sources — this spring.
First, the negative: Maybe it would look different if Cedric Johnson were out there and not in a black (no contact) jersey, but I’d be a little worried about defensive line depth if I were an Ole Miss fan. I strongly suspect that’s going to be a focus when the portal re-opens in May.
The positive: If I were an Ole Miss fan, I’d be very excited about the presence of Memphis transfer tight end Caden Prieskorn. Throw in how his presence just might motivate Michael Trigg Jr. to put it all together in 2023 and it’s possible the Rebels have two big, physical, athletic targets in the middle of the field.
5. Kiffin had some interesting things to say to ESPN’s Alex Scarborough late last week.
Kiffin told Scarborough he felt conflicted with the criticism he received from some fans over how he handled interest from Auburn late last season, a process which took weeks to resolve.
"We screw up all the time," Kiffin said in the story. "But when you think you're doing the right thing and then you're really criticized for it -- especially by your own people -- I struggled with that because I feel like I went through a decision-making process that you're supposed to go through.
"I mean, you got to decide. It's your life and your family's life.”
You know what? I have no problem with that at all. Now, I view things differently and I understand why fans were bothered last November, but that’s more than a fair answer on Kiffin’s part.
From the moment Bryan Harsin was fired at Auburn, both reporters covering the Tigers and those who cover college football as a whole listed Kiffin as AU’s top target. Why? Because he was. Auburn wanted to hire Kiffin and intended to hire Kiffin. Period.
Kiffin strongly considered the job. That’s not my opinion. I view that as a statement of fact. For a couple of weeks, the story just percolated. Kiffin wasn’t really asked about it, but it brewed. Once Ole Miss lost to Alabama, ending the Rebels’ playoff hopes, the story picked up intensity. In the days leading up to Ole Miss’ game at Arkansas, the rumor mill intensified.
Some said Kiffin interviewed for the job. There are semantics involved there, I’m sure. Some said Kiffin was putting together an Auburn staff. Again, semantics. Agents and agencies do some of that groundwork all the time, even if it’s speculative. In the ESPN story, Kiffin said he researched the Auburn job. Immediately following the loss in Fayetteville, Kiffin was asked about the Auburn job specifically and gave vague answers. By the following Tuesday, as Ole Miss prepared for the Egg Bowl versus Mississippi State, many Ole Miss insiders believed Kiffin was leaving.
I don’t know what happened. I think Jon Sokolov’s tweet on that Monday night was a game-changer in some regards. I think family considerations were huge. I think sweat equity played a role, but by that Wednesday night, we were hearing Kiffin told players he was staying. Scarborough reported that in last week’s story.
"I felt that it would have been a distraction to make this big statement 24 hours before the game and making it about me," Kiffin told ESPN.com. "So, I thought I was doing the right thing by saying, 'OK, I'm going to avoid making this about me, you guys go play. But just so you know, you don't have to sit here and worry that your coach is leaving tomorrow after the game or something. I'm staying, I just haven't made it known publicly.'
"I told them thinking that's what obviously matters the most, and because we lost it wasn't done right. If we won, nobody would've cared.”
He’s not wrong. Had Ole Miss won the Egg Bowl and earned a spot in the Citrus Bowl, the dalliance with Auburn wouldn’t have been as big of a story. But the Rebels lost, fell to the Texas Bowl and then lost to Texas Tech in that dud of a game. Five losses in six games was the legacy of 2022, and the flirtation with Auburn drew the blame.
Personally, I think the second-half struggles were more a result of roster issues than Kiffin’s consideration of Auburn. Also, Kiffin didn’t shoot down the Auburn speculation, in my opinion, because a part of him wanted to take the job. I give him credit for not denying something only to turn around and take it. I believe he was truly conflicted. As I’ve said many times, Auburn would’ve been a horrific fit for Kiffin, and the Tigers ended up settling for a much better fit in former Ole Miss and Liberty coach Hugh Freeze.
We’ll rehash all of this, I suspect, at SEC Media Days and then again in the fall when Ole Miss heads to Auburn. If the Rebels are winning, no one will care. If they’re not, it will be viewed differently.
It’s really kind of dumb. Kiffin had another opportunity and he considered it. Moving involves more than yourself, and that makes those kinds of decisions complicated. He clearly struggled with the decision, as many of us do when faced with a life-changing fork in the road. He elected to stay and he’s not wrong to say that’s where the fan focus likely should be. He also knows college football is emotional, and a pragmatic approach to an emotional subject is always going to draw criticism.
6. Ole Miss was swept by Florida over the weekend and the Rebels are now 0-6 in Southeastern Conference play.
On one hand, we can say it’s still early, and it is. There are eight SEC weekends remaining, and there’s plenty of time to right the ship.
However, let’s get real and do some math. One of those remaining weekends is against top-ranked LSU, and the Tigers are damned juggernaut. Let’s be charitable and give Ole Miss one win in Oxford that weekend. For the sake of this math equation, that puts Ole Miss at 1-8 with 21 SEC games remaining.
If you figure it’s going to take 13 SEC wins — at a minimum — to make the NCAA Tournament, you have to believe the Rebels can go — at worst — 12-9 in the other 21 league games, starting this weekend at Texas A&M (3-3 in league play).
It’s not impossible. The Rebels could win the series in College Station and could make up some ground at home against Arkansas (4-2) and at Mississippi State (0-6).
After facing LSU (the Tigers are 4-2 in league play after taking two of three from Arkansas over the weekend), the Rebels face Georgia (1-5), Missouri (3-3), Auburn (2-4) and Alabama (2-4). Again, the schedule softens, and the math isn’t impossible, but the winning has to start now. Otherwise, this season is going to be over before the calendar turns to May.
A 4-5 mark over the next three weekends, for example, would be too much to overcome. The Rebels have to pitch better. It’s as simple as that, though fixing pitching in the middle of a season is difficult. Ole Miss did it a year ago, so there’s hope, but at 0-6, the Rebels’ collective backs are against the wall.
7. Here are my sure-to-go-wrong predictions for the upcoming weekend in SEC play:
South Carolina at Mississippi State (Gamecocks win two of three)
Tennessee at LSU (Tigers win two of three)
Missouri at Kentucky (Tigers win two of three)
Auburn at Florida (Gators win two of three)
Ole Miss at Texas A&M (Rebels win two of three)
Georgia at Vanderbilt (Commodores sweep)
Alabama at Arkansas (Razorbacks win two of three)
8. The Final Four is set.
Just as I predicted, Florida Atlantic and San Diego State will square off in one national semifinal followed by Miami versus Connecticut.
I’ll pick the Aztecs versus the Huskies in the title game.
America typically likes blue bloods in the Final Four. Outside of — maybe — Connecticut, we don’t have that this time. I’ll be interested to see TV ratings.
The Final Four also means coaches from all over the country, likely including Ole Miss’ Chris Beard, will descend on Houston for what is essentially a convention. For Beard, I suspect, it will mark an opportunity to talk to some prospective coaches to fill out his first staff in Oxford.
I expect April to be full of basketball buzz in Oxford. Beard wins. He’s won everywhere he’s ever been. He’ll win at Ole Miss. Seeing how he does it, how he builds it, what route he takes, will be fascinating.
9. It’s time to eat. Here’s our resident Parisian chef, Burton Webb, with Taste of the Place, Lesson 179 — Eggplant and Lemon Risotto.
In this period of hot/cold/warm/rain, I like to have a dish that is bright with flavor but also can stick to your ribs. Eggplant was always a foreign vegetable to me growing up in the grocery store. Now here is a dish that you can use and be thoroughly satisfied with.
Tidbit #1: Eggplant can be very bitter taste-wise. To counteract this, you will heavily toss raw chopped eggplant with salt. After you let it sit for 20 minutes, you can wash the salty-bitter flavor away using tap water. Problem solved.
Tidbit #2: When you use any citrus, make sure to use both the zest(skin) and the juice. This will stack the flavor number 1 and boost it as well.
Tidbit #3: Cook like a grandma. This was how I was told to cook risotto. You don’t constantly stir it as it is folklore. You just add enough of the stock to where the rice is “swimming”. You stir a little here and there while continuing to add the stock during the cooking process. Once the rice is soft, you stop the cooking and finish with the cheese and butter.
Tidbit #4: What is the best consistency for risotto? Think of just cooked oatmeal. It is not thick and it is liquidity slightly. That is your perfect risotto.
Things you will need:
2 people
Preparation time - 10 minutes
Cooking time - 45 minutes
Rest time - 5 minutes
Pinot Grigio
Utensils needed:
Work surface and chef’s knife
Oven and stovetop
Measuring cups
Zester or box grater
2 Saucepots
Saute pan
Wooden spoon
Ladle
Ingredients needed:
3 Eggplants
1 Yellow onion
2 Cloves garlic
2 Cups risotto rice
½ Cup White wine
4 Cups vegetable (or chicken) stock
1 Lemon
5 Tbsp butter
⅓ Cup Parmesan cheese grated
Fresh Basil sliced
Salt and Pepper
Olive oil
Vegetable oil
Mise en Plac
Step 1: Turn your stove to 400°F and place two of the eggplants on a baking tray inside. Cook and rotate until all of the sides are charred. Pull from the oven and let cool before cutting them in half and scraping the insides with a fork.
Step 1.2: Dice the other eggplant and place it in the mixing bowl with a generous amount of salt. Toss and let sit for 20 minutes before washing with water.
Step 2: Start the risotto in the sauce pot over medium heat with the olive oil and finely chopped onion. Cook for 3 minutes and then add in the sliced garlic. Continue cooking for 1 more minute followed by adding in the rice. Stir.
Step 3: Cook this mixture until the rice is warm in your hand. At this point, pour in the wine and let it reduce until it is almost dry. Now is the time to add the warm broth in increments to get the rice to “swim”. Stir while cooking occasionally.
Final
Step 4: With the risotto almost finished, pan-fry the chopped eggplant after patting it dry in the sauté pan with a layer of vegetable oil. Add to the risotto the juice of the lemon, butter, parmesan, charred eggplant, salt, and pepper. Mix.
Step 4.1: Plate with the pan-fried eggplant on top with some of the lemon zest and sliced basil. At this point…dig in!
From the Mississippian in Paris, Bon Appétit!
10. We’ll have coverage of Ole Miss football, baseball, recruiting and whatever else may come up this week on RebelGrove.com. Until then, here are some links of interest to me — and hopefully, to you — for your reading pleasure:
Shohei Ohtani to Dodgers? Juan Soto extended? Bowden's 23 predictions for 2023 MLB season
Sarris: 10 bold predictions for the 2023 MLB season
Stark: Dusty Baker, World Series champion, on life, baseball and all the love he's received
Here's why you shouldn't cast your NBA award ballots just yet
Ja Morant’s Suspension Is Over. The Journey He’s Embarked on Is Just Beginning.
TSA Just Banned Peanut Butter On Planes & People Are Pissed
Recent Lowlights in the Woke Capture of Our Once-Venerable Institutions
A baseball family, a haunting tragedy, and a son keeping his father's story alive
