Rebels Embark on Fall Camp for 2015 Season

Photo by Nathan Latil/ Ole Miss Communications

Summer has officially come to an end for the Ole Miss football team as they open their 2015 fall camp Wednesday, with media day following that afternoon.

The rebels are coming off a 9-4 season highlighted by the now ESPY award winning victory over No. 1 Alabama and an Egg Bowl victory over No. 4 Mississippi State, along with an appearance in one of the new years six bowl games (the chick-fila peach bowl).

Head coach Hugh Freeze will be going into his 4^th year coaching and expectations are high with the rebels ranking No. 15 in the preseason college AP poll.

Going into fall camp, the biggest question still remains of who will be the Rebels starting quarterback. Freeze has been hit left and right with questions regarding the position since the spring, but remains adamant that the decision will not be made until further into fall camp, or possibly, two games deep into the regular season.

The team will welcome back 58 lettermen and 16 position starters including 9 starters on offense and 7 starters from the nations No. 1 scoring defense.

Freeze addressed several issues that the team will focus on improving this year including red zone offense, depth and consistency with the wide receivers, and the teams running game, mainly working to eliminate the negative runs.

A big issue last year was the offensive line, which became highly depleted after injuries.

LG Aaron Morris, RG Justin Bell and LT Laremy Tunsil are the three players who will be leading the Rebels this season on the line.

Tunsil coming off a gruesome season ending injury last season has made a full recovery and is expected to go full pads during fall camp.

Morris, Bell and redshirt freshman Jordan Sims have all lost some weight over the summer and have been improving on their mobility to the line. Morris made the jump from 345 to 312, Bell dropped 15 pounds and Sims lost an impeccable 60 pounds during the offseason.

Also joining the line to add some depth is five-star recruit Freshman Guard Javon Patterson (6-3, 307).

Regarding wide receivers, the rebels have added a lot of depth to the roster, with new signees DaMarkus Lodge and Van Jefferson and will be returning many key players including top WR Junior Laquon Treadwell, Senior Slot receiver Cody Core, and Junior WR Quicy Adeboyejo.

Treadwell already ranks 13th in school history with 120 career catches. He was an All-SEC second team pick by Athlon last year and had 100-yard receiving games against Boise State, Memphis and Auburn and caught five touchdowns a year ago.

The Rebels’ running game will be returning three lettermen, including last year’s top two rushers now, Senior Jaylen Walton (586 yards) and Sophomore Jordan Wilkins (361 yards).

Headlining will be Walton, who is a two-year starter with 1,227 career rushing yards and 12 career touchdown runs.

Eugene Brazley and Akeem Judd will bolster the backfields depth this spring, along with highly-rated incoming Freshman Eric Swinney.

The Rebels will begin their season hosting UT Martin September 5^th at 11 a.m. at the Vaught Hemingway stadium.

Maggie Mitchell is a HottyToddy.com sports writer. She can be reached by email at mlmitch1@go.olemiss.edu