Aug 21, 2013

OXFORD, Miss. - With the season-opener a little under a week away, the Ole Miss football team continued its preparation for the Aug. 29 opener at Vanderbilt by concentrating on position work.

"It was a good day," said head coach Hugh Freeze.  "I look forward to watching some film. I traveled around a bit throughout practice. I thought our two-minute drill was good. There was some good work there and we haven't done a lot of that yet. It was particularly good for our defense. I like what we're doing and I think it's time for us to get our legs under us and get ready to go. It's probably time for us to start backing off. We went a little longer today than I anticipated but it was good work."

Freeze has talked about the health of his squad and one area that he has talked about health and depth is at wide receiver.

"It was place where I felt we had good depth if the young kids were able to pick up things," said Freeze. "I think Quincy Adeboyejo and Laquon Treadwell are healthy and Jordan Gallegos has had a good week getting better.

Korvic Neat is out now and he's going to be out a few weeks. He had surgery again yesterday to just try and get him better. Hopefully he can get back to where he is full speed.  I held Laquon out today, he's got some soreness. Everybody is sore right now. This weekend will be critical to help get some of the soreness gone."

With a highly-touted freshman class, depth is important and Freeze likes where his younger receivers are at this point at camp.

"Quincy was real high at the beginning of camp and went through a little valley which is probably normal. Now, I think he's back on the rise along with Cody Core. We're going to need both of those kids."

Continuing on the topic of depth, Freeze believes that the receiver corps has potential to give the Rebels an advantage, particularly with the addition of Laquon Treadwell.

"I love his (Treadwell's) body. He is a big guy and you don't realize it until you're standing right beside him. I think that being able to move him, Donte (Moncrief) and Ja-Mes (Logan) around, particularly in the red zone, is going to pay dividends for us."

With the announcement of the 2014 SEC schedule earlier in the day, Freeze commented on the future schedule.

"There are still a few things that we hope we can move around with the non-conference games, which would make it a really nice schedule, but as for conference games, I like the way it's set up. We have two tough openers again. We play Boise and then at Vanderbilt, so two games away from home that won't be easy games, but they are fun to play in. Hopefully we'll continue to recruit well and welcome those types of games early."

The Rebels open the season in Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday, Aug. 29. The game will be televised by ESPN with an 8:15 p.m. CT kickoff.

Ole Miss hosts Southeast Missouri the next weekend in the home opener on Sept. 7. For Ole Miss gameday information or to buy season tickets, visit the Rebels' gameday site, OleMissFB.com, or call 888-REB-TKTS (732-8587).