Red Team comes from behind to defeat Blue, 53-52, in final seconds of Grove Bowl
OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss football spring practices concluded with the 2023 Grove Bowl in Vaught-Hemingway Saturday afternoon. The Red team came from behind to defeat Blue, 53-52, in the final seconds of the annual spring game.
The Rebels will open the fall football season against Mercer on September 2 in Oxford.
The long-anticipated spring game featured a Red vs. Blue battle, where the Red team was coached by defensive backs coach Keynodo Hudson while the Blue team was led by senior analyst Michael Nysewander.
Let's play some football!@NYSEandeasy 🤝 @KeynodoH #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/UXIWSqbHIY
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) April 15, 2023
Today's Head Coaches 👀
🔵 @NYSEandeasy
🔴 @KeynodoH #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/lDHYcFDxSE— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) April 15, 2023
The Quarterbacks
Throughout the spring, the Ole Miss faithful have kept a close eye on the new quarterbacks in town, transfers Spencer Sanders (Oklahoma State) and Walker Howard (LSU), along with returning starter Jaxson Dart.
Today all three received a ton of reps, and all found the end zone. Dart playing in his second Grove Bowl at Ole Miss, enters this one as the favorite in the QB race with year one under his belt.
Dart made some eye-popping throws on the boundaries, including this flea-flicker to get things going.
Just having fun with it. @JaxsonDart ➡️ @qaj4_ ➡️ @JaxsonDart ➡️ @jordantwatkins pic.twitter.com/Qh9y2KSQXG
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) April 15, 2023
Dart ended the day with 302 yards through the air and one touchdown, also adding 19 yards with his legs. After the game, Coach Lane Kiffin praised his quarterback’s improvements.
“I’m really excited about Jaxson’s improvement and development, that happens a lot of times. We say in year one to year two big improvement happens at positions in quarterbacks…and this really was year one for him a year ago. He played a little bit out west and in a very different system that really doesn’t translate at all to our system or to a lot of, so he was kind of starting over. I’ve been very pleased to have a lot of improvement.”
Coach Kiffin on Jaxson Dart
Spencer Sanders
Sanders looked great with the Navy squad today. Playing opposite of Red-team starter Dart, Sanders aired it out much more than we had seen this spring.
He completed 19-of-27 pass attempts on the day for 265 yards and three touchdowns, while adding another an additional TD on the ground.
He notched 72 rushing yards on just six attempts.
.@SpenceSanders with his legs 💨 #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/w2LFXKCVro
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) April 15, 2023
Navy Squad is clicking! 🔵@SpenceSanders rolls and hits @KvngBman for the touchdown!
Navy 38, Red 28 pic.twitter.com/IvHhSRY2vZ
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) April 15, 2023
Walker Howard
The youngest of the three QBs, LSU transfer Walker Howard split time between the two sidelines today, playing for both the Red and the Blue teams.
Howard has impressed all spring, and appears every bit the future at the QB position for the Rebels as he has been described by many.
The redshirt freshman had a near-perfect completion percentage today, connecting on 11-of-13 passes for 185 yards and 3 touchdowns. The young signal caller also added 30 yards and a touchdown with his legs.
The play design 🥵@Walker_Howard4 ➡️ @BentleyDoo pic.twitter.com/XiDnbnsTFU
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) April 15, 2023
Navy Team
Coach Nysewander’s squad looked to be in control for most of the game until the very end, with Sanders and Howard splitting reps for that unit.
Sanders made some nice connections with tight end Michael Trigg. “If you were me, would you throw it to Trigg, too?,” Sanders said after the game, smiling.
Trigg was no doubt the the main focus on team Navy’s offense, catching 9 passes for 138 yards and a touchdown. The freakishly-talented athlete looks as if he is prepared to have a big year coming off an injury-riddled initial season in Oxford.
Matchup Nightmare 😈@mtrigg_ | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/XusTkY10gN
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) April 15, 2023
Sophomore receiver JJ Henry also eclipsed 100 yards receiving today, catching 7 passes for 108 yards. Running back Ulysses ‘Doo’ Bentley IV was a blur on the field as usual, rushing for 83 yards with a TD, also adding 50 yards passing on this trick play pass to Sanders.
Triiiiiick play! pic.twitter.com/dVmkfrhbQt
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) April 15, 2023
Don't blink 🤫@BentleyDoo | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/8usMHuyZPW
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) April 15, 2023
The Navy defense consisted of the huge defensive line package of Zxavian Harris and JJ Pegues, with the two combining for a tackle for loss. Defensive backs on the Navy squad flew around to the ball all afternoon as Ladarius Tennison, Trey Washington, Markevius Brown, Isheem Young and AJ Brown combined for 21 tackles today.
It is worth noting the format of the Grove Bowl favored the offense. Tackles may have been hard to keep up with.
Red Squad
Transfer defensive back John Saunders Jr. met with media earlier this week ahead of the Grove Bowl, explaining what fans could expect from him in the game:
“They (fans) are gonna see a lockdown defensive back, I’m gonna come up and hit, too. I’m not afraid to come up a put my nose in and make some plays. Just force a lot of turnovers.”
John Saunders
Saunders was true to his word and no doubt made defensive backs coach Keynodo Hudson proud as he tallied a team-high 13.5 tackles for the Red sqaud to go along with one tackle for loss and a tipped-pass interception.
TIP DRILL‼️@john5aunders | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/SCkiYEVj8i
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) April 15, 2023
Freshman safety Taylor Groves also excelled in the spring game, collecting 7 tackles for the Red group.
A couple of three-and-outs for the Red team offense put the group behind early, but senior receivers Jordan Watkins and Jalen Knox made some amazing plays to keep the unit within reach.
Off to the races 🏎@jordantwatkins | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/fwMpklqKLb
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) April 15, 2023
Red Squad storming back 🔴@Walker_Howard4 to @JalenKnox9 for 6️⃣ #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/AXUBPUjTtQ
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) April 15, 2023
Watkins led the Red squad and all receivers in yardage with 149, adding a touchdown and the game-winning 2-point conversion on his 8 receptions.
RED TEAM WINS! 🔴 pic.twitter.com/iOHt1j4ZnT
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) April 15, 2023
Some other standouts on Coach Hudson’s Red team consisted of Texas A&M transfer receiver Chris Marshall, who looked healthy today. Superstar running back Quinshon Judkins also suited up for team Red, scoring early in the game on a wheel route.
EZ 🤑@qaj4_ | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/YLsYR10hfJ
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) April 15, 2023
Injury update
A large group of Rebels were limited or not participating in today’s Grove Bowl.
Offensive players out due to injury included linemen Jayden Williams and Jeremy James, receivers Dayton Wade and Tre Harris, along with transfer tight end Caden Prieskorn seeing limited action as well.
D-linemen Cedric Johnson and Jakaviun Brown continued to heal their wounds. Deantre Prince, Demarko Williams and Nick Cull also missed the entire spring with injuries as well.
Kameron Wicker
Kam is a senior at Ole Miss, currently pursuing a degree in Journalism. Even though he's from Delhi, Louisiana, that didn't stop Kam from growing up a diehard Ole Miss fan. He's a sports guru who watches and follows all sports at all times. He lettered four years in football and baseball in high school and is an avid Saints, Pelicans, and Astros fan. In his free time, you can find him watching sports or at the rec participating in them.
