Directors looking for a location for a movie set in a perfect college town; it just might be Oxford,Mississippi. There is a town square, beautiful mossy oak trees, potential Miss Americas strolling across a serene college campus and the spirit of William Faulkner hanging in the air.
That’s Oxford for you. It has it all. It would be the perfect college town except for one thing — the football team has been the doormat of the Southeastern Conference the past couple of years. And that calls for change.
The Ole Miss Rebels took the field last Friday for their first workout under new coach Hugh Freeze and he knows that it will be up to him to change that losing culture that enveloped Ole Miss football under Houston Nutt over the last couple of years. After two Cotton Bowl victories in his first two years as coach of the Rebels, Nutt’s fortunes went south and the Rebels are currently riding a 14-game SEC losing streak.
With that background, Freeze welcomed his new team to the latest first day of a new era in Rebel football, an era that Freeze knows needs a makeover.
“Our journey begins, and I’m so excited to get started,” Freeze told the media in his pre-camp address. “(Strength) Coach (Paul) Jacksondid a great job this entire offseason of preparing these guys, and we’re looking forward to putting all of our focus on getting better as a team these next few weeks.”
Freeze knows that there is a building process needed and it has to start from the ground up, but he’s been there before.
“At Lambuth, It was in a similar situation when I took over there and I think a trust factor between the kids and the coaches and that they really trust we have their best interest at heart regardless of how tough or difficult it may seem at the time,” he said.
“I think gaining their trust and knowing that and them having confidence in us and getting to where we have confident in them and knowing what we are going to get out of each other is one of the first things. Then hopefully feeding off the passion and energy our coaching staff will bring to do the job here and they will feel like this is the place we want to be at and we want to build it here with them. Those are some of the key ingredients to start with.”
One of the main areas of concern for Ole Miss is at quarterback where Barry Brunetti, a 6-foot, 215-pound junior, and Bo Wallace, a 6-5, 210-pound sophomore, are going to do battle for the starting job. What is Freeze looking for in a starting quarterback?
“Leadership,” he said. “Staying on schedule in this offense is vital to us and whichever one can keep us on schedule and in front of the chains is the guy that is going to end up getting most of the reps in game situations. I don’t anticipate clearly defining one of them until probably after a couple of games.
“With us being so new to each other and getting limited reps in the spring practice because of other quarterbacks taking reps we’ll start hopefully seeing what their strengths are and what their weaknesses are as they get more reps in fall camp. I do believe that both will get opportunities in early games.”
But before settling any position decisions, Freeze knows that his job of changing the mindset of the Rebels is the most important thing he has on his plate right now.
“In our team meeting last night I said let’s just start here,” Freeze said. “If there is a piece of trash in the parking lot, what do you do with that piece of trash? You pick it up and you put it in the trash. If there is trash in your locker room you clean it up. We’ve changed a lot of things. So whether or not the winning gets us the total buy in, I don’t know, but I do know where it starts; with us being accountable for the little things, off the field and on the field. Certainly, winning is going to help and we can believe in each other a little more so hopefully we can get off to a start and get a few of those.
“If I could stand here and tell you I’d have the immediate fix, I’d probably be doing another job somewhere and probably wouldn’t have to work,” he said. “I do believe that, again, when you surround yourself with people who are doing it right and make it uncomfortable for someone to do it the wrong way, it certainty helps and that is what we are trying to do.
“I can’t say that I’m any better than any other coach that has tried it. I know what I’ve done at the places I’ve been that has helped us turn things around and give us confidence to win and a swagger and belief in each other and we are going to stick right to that plan that we have done. And I do believe wholeheartedly you can get it done here and I refuse to think any other way,” Freeze said.
“The guys that I have with me believe that also. Recruiting, that is going to help. You have got to recruit better and get guys that fit with you. But, in the meantime, we are not going to sit here and allow someone to not buy in and be a vital part of this team.
“I think our kids understand that we are in rebuilding mode but I do think we will have them ready to play,” said Freeze. “If you don’t expect to win you certainly aren’t going too. So I think it’s a combination of thinking we are going to understand kind of where we are. We will have some up-hill climbs in games, on paper anyway, but I do hope that we can create a confidence throughout fall camp that will give them the confidence that they are going to go in and compete.”
Ole Miss fans have seen these new eras come and go with too much frequency. They are hoping that Hugh Freeze has the answer to making this one count.