Ole Miss Safety Trey Washington talks upcoming Rebel game vs. Georgia
OXFORD, Miss. — When the 2023 Ole Miss football schedule was released, many fans circled the date Nov. 11. Simply known as the Georgia game.
The players on the team, however, did not put any focus on the trip to Athens back then. Instead, the Rebels were looking at the initial task at hand.
“We were anticipating Mercer going into the season,” defensive back Trey Washington said earlier this week. “So yeah, this is the next game so we’re anticipating this game,” he said of Saturday’s contest against the No. 2 Bulldogs.
Ole Miss beat the Bears in the season opener, 73-7, and now has amassed an 8-1 record setting up the top-10 matchup with Georgia.
Washington believes the core values of the team have not changed as the season has progressed.
“I don’t think the belief level has changed. I think going into the season we were confident in what we could do and we’ve put it on tape and we’ve also not put it on tape. So we’re just focused on being more consistent from here on out.”
Ole Miss safety Trey Washington
Ole Miss will need to be consistently successful considering the talent on the Georgia roster.
“They have a lot of great players,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said. “Their quarterback plays really well. He’s really smart and has a great arm. They added the two receivers in the portal to strengthen their position out there after losing one to Texas. These guys are as great as advertised. When they have to really rise up they do, whether that is to come back at a game like Auburn and like the Kentucky game. I imagine a build-up like this with two teams highly ranked. They came and took care of business in that game. This isn’t their first rodeo of playing in big games.”
The talent of the two-time defending national champions has not escaped Washington’s attention as well. He believes it is the sheer number of players Georgia can deploy at any time that is one of the Bulldogs’ strengths.
“I would say their depth, obviously receiver and their tight ends run really deep, too. So they do a good job of bringing the next guy in and playing well.”
Trey Washington
Ole Miss may not have the number of five-star recruits that will be on the Georgia sideline, but the Rebels do have one big thing going for them — they have heart and that has kept them in games where Ole Miss has found a way to win in the fourth quarter.
“We’re all competitors so we enjoy the competitive nature of the sport. Obviously this game is going to be competitive and we’re looking forward to each and every matchup.”
Trey Washington
Yet the key to success on Saturdays comes from the preparation teams do during the week. Washington likes what he’s seen so far this week.
“I think (practice) has been really focused, I think we had a really good practice today, really physical,” Washington said. “I think we’re going to be ready (for Saturday).”
Ole Miss and Georgia kick off at 6 p.m. and will be broadcast by ESPN.
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
