HottyToddy.com Sports Roundup

Hottytoddy.com is giving readers a roundup of all the commentary and information about the Ole Miss Rebels from various publications around the Web.

Readers will be able to check out the latest information in a single post every week throughout the season. Here at HottyToddy.com, we are doing all the leg work to find the information that people want to hear about Ole Miss sports.

This week, the roundup will consist of articles on Chad Kelly starting at quarterback and the Vaught going back to a grass turf.

247Sports

Ole Miss Going Back to a Grass

Bjork said the playing surface inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium will return to natural grass beginning with the 2016 season. Ole Miss and Arkansas are currently the only schools inside the SEC West with artificial surfaces in their stadium.
Bjork said the return to natural grass will have a ripple effect on some things, most notably the cancellation of the Rebels’ annual spring game, the Grove Bowl, for next year.

“We’ll have to close our stadium for the spring and summer of 2016, and we will not be able to host a public spring game. The public Region’s Bank Grove Bowl will not be allowed to be hosted inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium because of the turf replacement and adding of natural grass,” Bjork said.

“We think it’s the right thing to do for our program at many, many levels. Natural grass is the preferred playing surface of our players and our coaches. In the SEC West, us and Arkansas are the only two programs that have artificial turf. The rest have natural grass, so we think this is the right move.”

To read more of David Johnson story click here

Bleacher Report

New Ole Miss Starting QB Chad Kelly Will Be a Star for the Rebels

Another domino in the SEC quarterback mystery has fallen.

Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze announced on Monday during his weekly press conference that junior college transfer Chad Kelly will take the first snap against UT-Martin on Saturday.

Kelly beat out sophomores Ryan Buchanan and DeVante Kincade, according to Ben Garrett of Scout.com, but won’t be the only quarterback to take snaps on Saturday.

To read the full story by Barrett Sallee on from the Bleacher Report click here

Saturday Down South

The Chad Kelly story: How the QB came to enroll at Ole Miss

Replacing a three-year starter at quarterback like Bo Wallace isn’t usually an easy process, but Chad Kelly’s enrollment at Ole Miss in January might help expedite the transition for the Rebels.

Kelly is the nephew of Buffalo Bills Hall of Fame passer Jim Kelly, a talented dual-threat quarterback whose collegiate career initially began at Clemson in 2012 before migrating to junior college and now Ole Miss.

Kelly is thought to be the prototypical fit for Hugh Freeze’s offense, as the coach likes to let his quarterback run the read option and take off when necessary. Kelly originally was expected to run a similar system at Clemson as Tajh Boyd’s successor, but immaturity and a series of outbursts cut short his time there.

We took a look back to recap Kelly’s path to Oxford:

To read the full story about Chad Kelly by Pat Donohue on Saturday Down South

FoxSports 

Ole Miss, Nike sign 12-year extension

Ole Miss will continue to just do it, at least for another 12 years that is. The Rebels and Nike have agreed to extend their partnership together in a deal that will certainly sweeten the pot for Ole Miss.

“Nike is the best apparel company in the entire country,” Ole Miss athletic director Ross Bjork said in a statement. “It’s the preferred brand of our student athletes and our coaches.”

The previous deal with Nike paid Ole Miss $1.9 million annually and the new deal will “more than double” that figured according to Bjork. In addition to the new revenue, Ole Miss will no longer be forced to buy apparel from the retailer.

“Under the previous agreement…we spent about $775,000 of cash towards product each and every year,” Bjork said. “Our new agreement actually eliminates the cash-spending portion of our contract.”

To read more on Ole Miss’s Nike extension on FoxSports click here

OMSpirit

Shepard: ‘I Feel Free’

Whether on the field, walking to class or speaking to the media, he always seems to have a wide grin on his face. It makes sense. Though he grew up deaf, Shepard, from Fresno, Calif., overcame adversity and landed at a storied football program in Notre Dame as a five-star prospect. He never played a down for the Irish, instead leaving for Holmes Community College due to academics.

Then came his second opportunity – at Ole Miss.

“I feel free,” Tee Shepard said. “All the stuff is over with, and I don’t have to worry about the drama anymore. I’m just here to move on.”

But moving on wasn’t easy in the beginning. Even after his commitment to Ole Miss in 2014, Shepard had to work on becoming academically eligible. He did, but a few weeks into his first fall camp a year ago, he went down with a season-ending toe injury.

To read more on the story of Tee Shepard click here

HottyToddy.com Sports staff