Ole Miss Football Practice Report

Dec. 23, 2002

OLE MISS PRACTICE NOTES

Ole Miss worked only 55 minutes at Independence Stadium on Monday. What had been planned to be a full pad session was limited to a walk-thru practice due to heavy rain and lightening. The offense worked in one tunnel while the defense did the same in the other tunnel. Due to the weather conditions, Ole Miss was unable to test the new turf at Independence Stadium.
Due to a death in the family, Linebacker Justin Wade was not at practice on Monday. He is expected to report Monday night.
Although on the injury list, Defensive Back Matt Grier, Defensive Back Travis Johnson, Wide Receiver Taye Biddle and Offensive Lineman Chris Spencer all participated in the walk-thru.

OLE MISS QUOTES
HEAD COACH DAVID CUTCLIFFE
"We had a wet and dry weather plan going in, but unfortunately, we had to go with our wet weather plan. Dealing with the lightening was not something that we were willing to risk. We were able to rehearse our plan. Obviously, most of that was mental, but we did line up and step through our plan. I thought our players concentration was good and their attitude was also good."

Does it concern you that you were not able to do everything today?
"It's a positive for us. That's the way we're going to approach it. We picked up another day to rest our legs. We'll mix some physical work in tomorrow. We're going to pop some licks, even if it's not in full pads. We'll have best going against best somewhere before the week is out. We reviewed our entire practice script in a short period of time. I thought we had good carry over from our work in Oxford and we knew what to do."

"It was frustrating for our players today because they wanted to get out there and stretch their legs. It would have felt good for them to get on the field and move around, but that just wasn't possible. Most of them had to drive five to six hours yesterday. We have not had any full speed work since last Wednesday."

"There were some things that we didn't get to do today, but we'll adjust tomorrow and pick up in areas where we didn't get to go full speed. We'll add those things to tomorrow's practice and shave off some time in some other areas. It might add 5-10 minutes to our practice schedule. We're going to adjust it and make sure that we've gotten everything in that we need to work on."

Were all of your injured players ready to practice today (Monday)?
"McKinley Boykin didn't dress, but all of the others - Matt Grier, Travis Johnson, Taye Biddle, Chris Spencer - - looked better and feel better."

Did everyone report on time?
"Everyone but Justin Wade. Due to a death in the family, Justin was unable to get here, but we expect him here tonight."

QUARTERBACK ELI MANNING
"Nebraska has a good team and good players. They are well coached and you have to play good football and smart football. You can't give them any opportunities on a short field to work with. You can't turn the ball over. We need to come out strong and get some points early."

On having not played since Thanksgiving night.
"You don't know how the time off will affect you early in the game. You need to get a rhythm. Nebraska kind of reminds me of Auburn. They are strong up front with good defensive backs. They do some of the same things. It's good to be in a bowl game after being so disappointed last year when we weren't selected."

How has the rehab gone with your arm?
"My arm feels fine. It felt good all week in practice (last week) and the ball is coming out well. I believe that I'm 100%."

WIDE RECEIVER MIKE ESPY
"We had been looking forward to working on the turf today (Monday), but that was impossible due to the rain and lightening. It looks like it's a combination of grass and turf. We need to practice hard this week and get ready for Friday. We want to end on a good note and win over Nebraska will say a lot for our program."

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN JESSE MITCHELL
Are you concerned about the time off since the Mississippi State game?
"No, because we've had a lot of time to prepare for Nebraska. We've gotten in a lot of good work so far and I think we'll be well prepared. We need to come out and execute, and take care of our assignments and responsibilities. If you do that, the rest will take care of itself. If you don't, the option can hit you for a big play at any time. Nebraska puts an extra twist on the option. They do it so much and have so many other things they do off the option. It presents a tough challenge."

On playing on turf
"I like it. I feel faster and quicker. The surface shouldn't change the game. We had hoped to get after it today (Monday) on the turf, but that wasn't possible. I hope we'll have an opportunity to get on the field tomorrow (Tuesday)."

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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