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Ole Miss Football News
August 12, 2006
Rebels Hold First Preseason Scrimmage
OXFORD, Miss. – In front of a sizable crowd at
Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, the Ole Miss football team held its first
scrimmage of the fall preseason on Saturday, which was also the Rebels’
first practice in full pads.
With the first, second and third-team offenses and defenses
squaring off against each other in a variety of yardage situations, the
Rebel rushing and passing attacks held the upper-hand for much of the
afternoon session.
Junior tailback Hiram White led the ground game with 104 yards
rushing and two touchdowns on 11 carries, while junior transfer Bruce Hall
carried 16 times for 102 yards and four TDs and freshman Cordera Eason had
14 carries for 68 yards and a score.
The passing game was led by first-team junior transfer
quarterback Brent Schaeffer, who completed 11-of-20 passes for 145 yards
and three touchdowns on the afternoon.
“For it to be our first scrimmage with people around and coaches
off the field, I thought we ran the ball well,” said second-year head coach
Ed Orgeron. “I thought Brent made some good plays. We did not perform at
the receiver position like we should, but we’re going to mix and match and
put our best guys out there.”
Orgeron was particularly pleased with the ground game on Saturday.
“We’re really pleased (with the running backs). Obviously, we’re
pleased with BenJarvus (Green-Ellis), Cordera Eason and also Bruce Hall.
Bruce is coming along, and we think we have three good tailbacks.”
Green-Ellis, Eason, Hall and White all broke off long runs of over 20 yards
during the scrimmage.
Schaeffer also impressed in his first appearance in front of
the Ole Miss faithful.
“He did pretty good for the first time, just like we’ve been
seeing in practice,” Orgeron said. “Nothing spectacular. The operation was
good, not a lot of turnovers. He did pretty good.”
Despite the positive results on offense, the offensive line
still has some work to do.
“The offensive line is coming along,” Orgeron noted. “I think it’s
typical in the first scrimmage to play a little high. I thought everybody
was a little high today. We need to get lower. We need to scrimmage more
and get in playing shape.”
While Orgeron was pleased with the overall development of the
offense, he noted that the defense still has room for improvement.
“They let (the offense) run the ball too much,” Orgeron said.
“They played vanilla today. We have a long way to go on defense, especially
on the defensive line. We did not make many plays today, so we have some
improvement to make there.”
The Rebels’ special teams made a splash at the open of the
scrimmage, as freshmen Marshay Green and Dexter McCluster each sprinted to
a kickoff return for a touchdown in their only tries.
Ole Miss returns to the practice field on Monday morning,
while also participating in Rebel Media Day activities in the afternoon.
The team continues to build momentum toward the Sept. 3 season
opened versus Memphis in Oxford.
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