Ole Miss Football Practice Report: Rebels hit the field for Tuesday practice

OXFORD, Miss. – The Ole Miss Rebel football team resumed spring practice and drills this Tuesday morning, March 19th, after having last week off for spring break. Practice viewing was granted to the media for the first time this year, and while we did not get much time, here are a few things we noticed from today.

Feels good to be back 😁@KeShawn2x | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/3n7FATnk1T

— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) March 19, 2024

What we saw on offense

With today just day one of practice viewing and still being in the early stages of spring camp, there was not much of a ‘first-team’ simulation displayed. There was, however, a noticeable order in which the Ole Miss quarterbacks were taking reps, from my view.

Jaxson Dart was the quarterback who would step up first in the drills, and it is worth noting the Heisman ‘darkhorse’ is noticeably larger that last season. Walker Howard seemed to be the guy who went after Dart; however, Austin Simmons was in the rotation as well. Despite his busy schedule and balancing two sports, Simmons looked as good as advertised during his throwing drills.

As for the running back group, there was not much to be seen as several were out treating injuries and rehabbing. The only scholarship back at practice today during viewing periods was Kedrick Reesecano. LSU transfer Logan Diggs seems to be rehabbing, according to Lane Kiffin, while Ulysses ‘Doo’ Bentley IV works toward being 100% healthy before returning as well.

The good news about the big men in the trenches — they are all really massive human beings. We got our first look at guys like transfer linemen Diego Pounds, Julius Buelow, Nate Kalepo and Gerquan Scott. A story to watch as the spring continues to unfold will be the battle for starting spots on this offensive line.

The pass catchers were all out in force today outside of Antwane ‘Juice’ Wells Jr. who, according to Kiffin, is nursing an injury. The quarterbacks were throwing to all the known returnees like Tre Harris, Caden Prieskorn, Ayden Williams, Jordan Watkins and Cayden Lee. Prieskorn did seem to be the only tight end who was not wearing the no-contact jersey today.

What we saw on defense

Defensive evaluation will be hard to tell until we see live plays or one-on-ones; however, the new-look Ole Miss defensive line already looks ‘stacked.’ Today during drills, we noticed that linebackers TJ Dudley and Suntarine Perkins were working with the defensive line; the two have been rumored to be potential edge rushers for the Pete Golding scheme.

The highly anticipated sighting of Walter Nolen also occurred today. The Rebel defensive tackle was seen running defensive line drills alongside other members of the talented group such as Jared Ivey, Akelo Stone, JJ Pegues, Joshua Harris and Princely Umanielen. 

First day of media availability for Ole Miss spring football. Here are some D-line drills from today, the group featured here is as listed:

No. 0 – Joshua Harris
No. 1 – Princely Umanielen
No. 2 – Walter Nolen
No. 4 – Suntarine Perkins
No. 15 – Jared Ivey
No. 95 – Akelo Stone… pic.twitter.com/el60Nlfc9R

— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) March 19, 2024

We also got the chance to see a very new and loaded defensive back room go through drills today. All the transfers seemed to be out there today, including players such as Yam Banks, Louis Moore, Key Lawrence, Amorion Walker, Trey Amos and Brandon Turnage.

Injury Report

As noted in the past, Ole Miss football uses black practice jerseys to determine players who are nursing injuries or going through drills with no contact. Today, the players wearing those jerseys were as follows: Caleb Warren, Diego Pounds, Hudson Wolfe, Dillon Hipp, Dae’Quan Wright, Ayden Williams, Jeffery Rush and Demarcus Smith.

Stay tuned to The Rebel Walk for all your spring camp news!

(Feature image credit: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss)