Improving Rebels Use Grove Bowl to Kick Off Hopeful 2014 Season

This Saturday spring football for the Ole Miss Rebels will conclude with the annual spring game inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
The spring game is known around these parts as the Grove Bowl. Kick-off will be at Noon.
During the game, fans will get a glimpse of what next season’s squad has to offer. That’s minus the incoming freshman class that hasn’t made it to campus yet.
Saturday will also be the start of Chapter III in Coach Hugh Freeze’s journey to lead the Rebels back to a national championship. In back-to-back season’s, Freeze and his staff have brought wining seasons and victorious bowl games to Oxford and Ole Miss.
Although Rebel fans have said goodbye to last season’s team that lost a significant number of seniors to graduation and a few to the NFL draft. Experienced stars like Jeff Scott, Donte Moncrief, Barry Brunetti, Andrew Ritter and more, a new promising freshman recruiting class could take the young Rebels to even loftier heights.

We’ll know a little more about that tomorrow afternoon. So far, over the past month of spring practice Coach Freeze has commented that the team looked sharp in almost every practice with perhaps one exception.
Quarterback Bo Wallace has worked out impressively in his first full spring practice after a curtailed early session last year when the golden haired QB was recovering from shoulder surgery. His passes seem to have recovered their old zip are sharp and this year’s receiving corps, including sophomore LaQuon Treadwill can make him even more effective.
Backup QB Devante Kincade has show great progress this spring with improved foot work and accurate passes. He has demonstrated in practice that he could be a real running threat out of the pocket.

Sophomore wideout Treadwell looks to this reporter like the true No. 1 outside receiver that can make up for the loss of future NFLer Moncrief.

On the defensive side of the ball, an improving Ole Miss defense will try to make more big plays behind the line of scrimmage as last year’s pass rush suffered with the injury loss of C.J. Johnson. Some familiar faces like Deterrin Shackelford (DT) will be moving back to the linebacker squad this season after playing end last year.

For fans that can’t make it into Oxford for the Grove Bowl can watch it live on CSS at Noon.
–Adam Brown, HottyToddy.com sports editor