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OXFORD — The highlight of preseason camp, at least for wide receiver Tre Harris, may have come in the form of a fallaway jump shot from Ole Miss equipment manager Ken Crain.
An Ole Miss spokesperson showed media the film after Harris discussed the moment, and in it, Crain backs an opponent down before losing the basketball, regaining possession and hitting a shot inside the team room in the Manning Center.
The made shot gave Harris and the Rebels an extra hour of sleep that night, and in the dog days of August, those 60 minutes matter.
“Constantly find ways to be innovative, constantly find ways to keep everybody light on their feet, you know, find ways to just keep the building happy, keep the energy up, and, you know, things like basketball, things like competition of the day, things like a talent show or things like that,” Harris said, referring to Lane Kiffin’s ability to sometimes lighten the mood during preseason camp.
The sixth-ranked Rebels open the season Saturday at 6 p.m. against Furman, and Harris, a preseason All-Southeastern Conference selection who is considered a real contender for the Biletnikoff Award, is eager to get started. The team, Harris said, has developed strong chemistry.
“I feel like it's honestly, an even more tight knit group than last year, to be honest with you,” Harris said. “You know, fall camp can be hard. It's dog days, you know, it's real long days. And for a team to come in and still enjoy being around each other, enjoy being in each other's company and enjoy having fun and laughing with each other, that's really just a huge, huge acknowledgement to not only just the team, but to the coaching staff as well, just constantly enforcing us to really get to know each other off the field, and that's something that we all have done really, really well. And I'm super proud of this team for doing that.”
Harris, who caught 54 passes for 985 yards and eight touchdowns a season ago after transferring to Ole Miss from Louisiana Tech, said he’s also eager to get back on the field with third-year starting quarterback Jaxson Dart.
“His work ethic has really improved and is honestly contagious,” Harris said. “That’s really the only way I can really say he made me a better player. He made me a better worker, for sure. Just constantly working with him and constantly seeing the work he’s constantly putting in, whether that's off the field or whether it's recovery or even on the field where you throw, doing different motions and things like that.
“Definitely his work ethic and just the way he carries himself around the building and how he demands respect and demands leadership. You know, those two things are some of the biggest things he worked on throughout the entire offseason. And it's coming to fruition. It’s coming to life right now as the season approaches us and things like that. So I already know once the season gets in the mid area, that leadership's going to even show even more. It's going to show even greater. So I'm just super excited and ready to play with him.”
Prieskorn leading by example: Caden Prieskorn is 25, a father of two, and admittedly “old” on a college football team. However, Prieskorn said Tuesday he’s embracing that role.
“Really just do all the right things on and off the field, just do it the right way and kind of lead by example,” Prieskorn said. “I feel like a lot of guys look up to me, like my work ethic and my practice, the way I go about practice and stuff like that. So I just really just got to handle my business and keep going. Just lead by example and show these younger guys the ropes.”
Prieskorn had 30 receptions for 449 yards and four touchdowns in an injury-marred 2023 season. This season, the 6-foot-6, 255-pounder has enjoyed a very healthy preseason.
“Yeah, this is definitely the healthiest I’ve felt,” Prieskorn said. “I feel like this is one of my main goals, really, just really be healthy going into the season because I feel like I haven't had that.”
Don’t call it a rebuild: Furman coach Clay Hendrix said earlier this week he doesn’t like the term “rebuild,” even though his team features a lot of new faces this fall.
As the Post-Courier wrote Tuesday, the Paladins lost two of their most dynamic playmakers from last year’s team in quarterback Tyler Huff and running back Dominic Roberto, who finished his career with more than 2,800 rushing yards and 30 touchdowns.
Furman returns just six starters, three on each side of the ball, but that’s not an issue in Hendrix’s eyes.
“We’ve recruited well as a coaching staff, so I don’t like the term rebuild,” Hendrix said. “The rebuild term is something you use when you’ve torn something down. We’ve done a good job of bringing in guys that we think can help us, and right now it’s just their time to go out and play.
“Our standards are still the same. We want to win the Southern Conference, and that will allow us to go compete for a national championship. I think we can go line up and compete for a national championship every year. We’ve been able to develop really good depth over the last couple of years.”
