Ole Miss Football Is COVID-19 Free As They Prepare For Kentucky

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

Ole Miss prepares to hit the road for the first away game of the season on Saturday as they take to the gridiron against the Kentucky Wildcats. The Rebels have been now considered COVID-19 free for three straight weeks, with no players testing positive for the virus in the program.

“We are zero again,” Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said on Wednesday.

The Rebels are entering their first real week of normal scheduling in preparation for a game.

“The guys have done a good job this week,” Kiffin said.

Kentucky enters the contest 0-1 looking for its first victory on the young season.

“A big game this week against a team that had a great team last year with a lot of good players especially up front on offense and defense,” Kiffin said. “They do a really good job coaching as they don’t give up a lot of big plays so we are going to have our hands full.”

Against Florida, the defense had trouble getting off the field with penalties and allowing over 600 yards of offense. During practice, the defense has shown strides of improvement according to Kiffin. 

“Our guys have done a good job this week,” he said. (Kentucky) is a very different opponent from a scheme standpoint. Hopefully, we match up better with that too.”

The Landshark defense got a member back as Deane Leonard got cleared to play the day before. Leonard transferred in from Calgary, Alberta. In his first game as an Ole Miss player, he recorded one tackle. 

“First game, he didn’t play in this type of competition. He did all right in there,” Kiffin said. “Gave up a touchdown. He will get better. He did not know he was playing until the day before.”

Kentucky’s offense is different from the Gators as they make their throws at or around the line of scrimmage.

“Work on tackling as we did in practice (Tuesday) against our service team,” Kiffin said. “Gotta lineup and know where you are supposed to be and make the play.”