HottyToddy.com’s Daily Ole Miss 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 day throughout the year. Here at HottyToddy.com, we are doing all the leg work to find the information that people may want to hear about Ole Miss sports.

Today’s roundup features SEC Country and Ole Miss Sports.

2 things every Ole Miss fan needs to know today

Photo by John Bowen

Spring break is in the rearview mirror, as Ole Miss began the latter part of spring practice on Monday. The Rebels have just a few practices left before the spring is over, and because of construction surrounding the Vaught-Hemingway Stadium expansion, Ole Miss will not hold a spring game.

Here are two things to know:

1. Speaking of spring practice, Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze has been very pleased with one redshirt freshman running back since he was cleared to practice two weeks ago. If he becomes the player Freeze thinks he can be, the Rebels’ offense can become even more dangerous.
2. With a little over a month before the 2016 NFL Draft, the clock is ticking for former Ole Miss defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche to ease any concerns teams have about his off-field behavior. However, the biggest issue scouts have is not with Nkemdiche himself, but a close family member.

Other Ole Miss news from around the Internet

• One of Mississippi’s top prospects in the Class of 2017 is looking forward to visiting Ole Miss following an impressive performance at Nike’s The Opening Atlanta Regional last weekend, writes Will Sammon of The Clarion Ledger.

Courtesy of David Collier SEC Country.com

Spring Update 03.21: Rebels Getting Valuable Reps as Practice Continues

Courtesy of Joshua McCoy and Ole Miss Athletics

The Ole Miss football team hit the field inside the Manning Center Monday afternoon after a week off for the Spring Break holiday.

If you ask head coach Hugh Freeze, the Rebel offense won the first practice back.

“Before we broke for Spring Break it was a dominant practice by the defense, and today it was a dominant practice by the offense,” Freeze said. “I’d love to see some of those 16-play competitions be 9-7 instead of 10-6 or worse in some cases.”

“I felt like it still looked like we were on Spring Break a little bit as far as the conditioning,” he added. “So hopefully they’ll get with Coach (Paul) Jackson tomorrow, and we’ll get film knocked out and come back (better) Wednesday and Thursday.”

One player who caught the eye of the Ole Miss media pool was redshirt freshman running back Eric Swinney. Swinney, who was forced to redshirt for the 2015 season due to injury, is back healthy and ready to contribute for the Rebels.

“He looked very good today,” Freeze said of the 5-9, 197-pound back. “He hasn’t had a ton of carries, but today he looked quick, powerful, strong and he finished runs well. I like what I saw.”

A lot of different players saw action Monday in tempo drills, and senior Chad Kelly likes what he sees from his team to this point in the spring.

“We are so much further advanced than we were last year at this time,” Kelly said. “I think everyone out there is ready for the season to start and get after it.”

When asked what spring practice means to him, at this point in his career, Kelly stuck to the basics.

“Slowing the game down,” Kelly told one reporter. “Commanding the offense in a professional way on the field and off the field. In practice you have to control the offense, take what they give you and make sure you understand the situation more than anything. As the leader and the quarterback, you have to get everyone around you to play up to their potential and keep building guys up.”

“Everyone makes mistakes, including me, and we have to just keep building every single practice,” Kelly added.

The 2016 Ole Miss Pro Day will take place Monday morning inside the Manning Center in front of scouts from several NFL teams. The event will be closed to the public, but will be nationally televised on the SEC and NFL Networks.

Follow Ole Miss Football on Twitter at @OleMissFB, as well as Facebook and Instagram. For more information, visit www.OleMissSports.com.

Courtesy of Ole Miss Athletics

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