Saturday afternoon coach Matt Luke and Ole Miss football wrapped up spring practice with the 2019 Nissan Grove Bowl and it was entertaining. Saturday we got a very vanilla version of Ole Miss football in the 2019 Nissan Grove Bowl. While we expected it to be less than revealing it turned out to far exceed some Rebels expectations. It was a look into what the future of the Ole Miss football program and we had a chance to see a lot of younger Rebels in action. Far the most part they looked pretty good. The annual spring game began with the defense being allotted a 27-0 lead. It was up to the offense to put points on the board and secure a comeback and the Rebels looked good on both sides of the ball. The Rebels offense managed to come back within 2 points as time was running out but fell short on a huge defensive play to end the game at 29-25 for the new 3-4 defense. Naturally, with two new coordinators we had a lot to watch on both sides of the ball. while we were more than a little worried at how the two new coaches would be able to adjust in such a short time it looks like they are both fitting in well and their systems are catching up. We know Matt Luke was pleased with what he saw.<doc-sep>OXFORD — Ole Miss held its annual Grove Bowl scrimmage on Saturday, with the defense defeating the offense 29-25. The game ended with the defense returning a two-point conversation attempt the distance for two points to turn what could've been a tie into a defensive victory. The scrimmage was the first chance for fans to watch Ole Miss' new-look offensive and defensive schemes under new coordinators Rich Rodriguez and Mike MacIntyre. Neither Rodriguez nor MacIntyre displayed the full arsenal of their attacks, with both using watered-down and simplified schemes as too not reveal too much about what'll be coming in the fall. But there were a few lessons that could be gleaned from the open scrimmage. Here are seven observations from the Grove Bowl, as well as a complete breakdown of the stats available from the game. 1. Success from the slot With so much to replace at wide receiver heading into 2019, Ole Miss looks like it'll be playing its receiver depth from the inside out. Sophomores Elijah Moore and Tylan Knight looked impressive as slot receivers on Saturday, combining to catch 13 passes for 170 yards and a touchdown. Knight, who had been playing running back until recently, caught the touchdown on a 19-yard fade route thrown almost perfectly to Knight's back shoulder by early enrollee freshman quarterback Grant Tisdale. 2. Threat from the 3-4 One of the players who has had to change positions this spring is edge rusher Qaadir Sheppard, who is moving from his old spot as a defensive end to a job as a stand-up outside linebacker. Sheppard made two sacks against the first-team offensive line and looked pretty tough to block on a few other occasions. Sheppard is going to take over as the lead pass rusher on this team in the fall, and if his production on Saturday was any indication, he's comfortable doing so from an upright stance. 3. Moving the pocket Redshirt freshman quarterback Matt Corral looked comfortable in Rodriguez's offense, completing 22 of his 37 pass attempts for 240 yards, one touchdown and one interception. On a good number of his pass attempts, Corral threw from either a designed sprint out or an improvised roll out, showing his skill on the run and outside the pocket. Corral also ran nine times for four yards counting sacks, though he was wearing a non-contact white jersey so he was never tackled. 4. Speaking of quarterbacks... Jackson Academy grad and freshman early enrollee Kinkead Dent looked impressively smooth in his first exposure at Ole Miss. He didn't complete a high percentage of his passes, going 4-for-12 for 36 yards through the air, but he did run six times for 50 yards to show a few sparks of the talent that brought him to Ole Miss. 5. JUCO spotlight Ole Miss relied heavily on three junior college transfers on Saturday, all of whom showed why they have a chance to compete for starting jobs. Wide receiver Dontario Drummond caught three passes for 38 yards, including a catch in the red zone that led to a touchdown one snap later. Outside linebacker Sam Williams finished with six tackles, the second most on the team, and safety Jon Haynes added four tackles of his own. 6. The red zone woes returned briefly Though the offense corrected the issue after the first quarter, Ole Miss' 2018 boogeyman of being unable to convert red zone trips into touchdowns returned in the first quarter on Saturday. Ole Miss had to settle for two red zone field goals with one turnover in the first quarter Saturday before converting on three red zone trips for touchdowns later in the game. 7. Scottie doesn't play Starting running back Scottie Phillips didn't play in the Grove Bowl out of precaution, leaving Ole Miss with a running back battery of freshman Snoop Conner, sophomore Isaiah Woullard and junior D'Vaughn Pennamon. Conner led the way, rushing 10 times for 52 yards, while Woullard rushed 10 times for 40 yards and Pennamon ran eight times for 27 yards. Ole Miss passing stats Matt Corral: 22-for-37, 240 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 INT Grant Tisdale: 3-for-5, 37 yards, 1 TD Kinkead Dent: 4-for-12, 36 yards Jacob Cendoya: 0-for-1, 1 INT Grant Restmeyer: 0-for-4, 1 INT Ole Miss rushing stats Snoop Conner: 10 rushes, 50 yards Kinkead Dent: 6 rushes, 50 yards Isaiah Woullard: 10 rushes, 40 yards D'Vaughn Pennamon: 8 rushes, 27 yards Grant Restmeyer: 3 rushes, 28 yards H. Holt: 5 rushes, 12 yards, 1 TD Jacob Cendoya: 3 rushes, 10 yards Grant Tisdale: 2 rushes, 7 yards C. Klein: 3 rushes, 5 yards Matt Corral: 9 rushes, 4 yards Ole Miss receiving stats Tylan Knight: 5 catches, 91 yards, 1 TD Elijah Moore: 8 catches, 79 yards Dontario Drummond: 3 catches, 38 yards Octavious Cooley: 2 catches, 33 yards Jason Pellerin: 2 catches, 19 yards Miles Battle: 2 catches, 17 yards Braylon Sanders: 3 catches, 16 yards, 1 TD Snoop Conner: 2 catches, 12 yards DeMarcus Gregory: 1 catch, 4 yards Jonathan Hess: 1 catch, 4 yards Ole Miss defensive stats Mohamed Sanogo: 8 tackles, 1 sack Sam Williams: 6 tackles Jalen Julius: 5 tackles Charles Wiley: 5 tackles C.J. Miller: 5 tackles, 1 INT Jon Haynes: 4 tackles Myles Hartsfield: 4 tackles Hal Northern: 4 tackles Donta Evans: 4 tackles Qaadir Sheppard: 4 tackles, 2 sacks Kam White: 4 tackles, 1 INT Quentin Bivens: 4 tackles Keidron Smith: 4 tackles Jalen Jordan: 3 tackles KD Hill: 3 tackles Jacquez Jones: 3 tackles Austrian Robinson: 3 tackles Jamar Richardson: 3 tackles Luke Knox: 3 tackles Willie Hibbler: 2 tackles Ryder Anderson: 2 tackles, INT Brenden Williams: 2 tackles, 1 sack Truett Bourne: 2 tackles C. Zornow: 2 tackles Ashanti Cistrunk: 2 tackles Tariqious Tisdale: 1 tackle Kweisi Fountain: 1 tackle Ty Reyes: 1 tackle Jerry Johnson: 1 tackle Contact Nick Suss at 601-408-2674 or nsuss@gannett.com. Follow @nicksuss on Twitter.<doc-sep>Coach Matt Luke and Ole Miss football will be wrapping up spring practice this Saturday as they participate in the 2019 Grove Bowl. Ole Miss football has been in full go mode throughout the 2019 spring practice and Rebels fans have been itching to see what the 2019 edition of Ole Miss football will look like. While we may not see everything this Saturday in the Grove Bowl we will have a better idea of what to expect from coach Matt Luke and his reloaded staff. With new coordinators Mike MacIntyre and Rich Rodriguez we can expect to see several new wrinkles on both sides of the ball. We know the talent is there even though there may be a lot left to learn for some players and especially the younger Rebels on the team. Besides what we want to see from the new staff we are also watching some of the Rebels key players in the annual spring game.<doc-sep>The Grove Bowl (Annual Ole Miss Spring Game) When: Saturday, 3 p.m. CT Where: Vaught-Hemingway Stadium TV: Live on the SEC Network Ole Miss will put the progress of spring practice on display Saturday afternoon inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium and in front of a national television audience. The game, however, will not be the culmination of spring practice for the Rebels, as they saved one session for corrections and to use as a launching pad into off-season workouts for next week. The spring game will serve as a backdrop for what is also expected to be a big recruiting day on the Ole Miss campus, as dozens of prospects are expected to be in attendance. The Rebels are coming off a 5-7 campaign. That disappointing finish prompted several staff changes over the off-season, as offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez, defensive coordinator Mike MacIntyre, tight ends coach Calvin Magee, outside linebackers coach Tyrone Nix and inside linebackers coach Jeff Koonz are new additions to the staff. Several Rebels, who arrived on campus as mid-year enrollees in January, will be in the public eye for the first time, including outside linebacker Sam Williams, safety Jonathan Haynes and true freshmen quarterbacks Grant Tisdale and Kinkead Dent. Five things to know about Saturday's Grove Bowl...<doc-sep>
The Ole Miss Rebels held their much-anticipated spring game Saturday, giving fans their first glimpse of the new offensive and defensive schemes that were installed this offseason. Obviously, the Rebels didn’t do anything fancy in terms of opening up the playbook and kept things rather generic, but it looked like a dramatically different product from what we saw at the end of 2018. Gone is the simple, backyard-style offense of Phil Longo (go long, I’ll chuck it deep). In is a tempo and horizontal offense that relies heavily on timing and execution. Gone is the, well, there really wasn’t an actual scheme on defense last year, so the fact that they now have an established coordinator with proven success is in itself heartwarming. There’s still plenty of room for improvement, and it’s obvious that they’re far from a finished product, but there were a lot of things to like from the Rebels on Saturday. Here are 3 things I liked in the Grove Bowl. 3. Fundamentals on defense vastly improved I don’t think I need to elaborate much on how bad the defense was last year. It was downright horrific, and should probably be illegal in all 50 states. Obviously, a severe lack of depth and being forced to play numerous true freshmen were huge reasons for the dismal play overall, but arguably the biggest reason was poor coaching. They weren’t in the right place, couldn’t make pre- or post-snap reads, couldn’t tackle, took poor angles and were undisciplined. In short, they had awful fundamentals. The defense we saw in the Grove Bowl looked like a vastly superior product. Sure, it’s nice having 8 starters return, but it was evident they were finally receiving proper coaching. Schematically, they didn’t show much and were vanilla (which was expected), but finally guys were getting run fits. Finally, they making proper reads. Finally, they were taking good angles to the ball and wrapping up to tackle. I’m not saying this will be a top 10 defense this fall, but I can absolutely guarantee they won’t be a national embarrassment again. 2. Depth has emerged at tailback Depth at tailback, or lack thereof, was a serious problem last year. Sure, Scottie Phillips was a beast the first 9 games, rushing for 923 yards and 12 touchdowns, but when he went down early against Texas A&M, the rushing attack fell stagnant, and they averaged just 2.67 YPC over the final 3 games, losing each game. Developing depth behind Phillips was obviously a major priority this offseason, and it appears that’s been accomplished. Snoop Conner, an early enrollee freshman from the 2019 signing class, looked both powerful and decisive, rattling off several impressive runs. He looks like a guy who certainly won’t shy away from contact. D’Vaughn Pennamon, who missed all of 2018 recovering from an injury, looked slimmed down and showed some bounce in his step. Isaiah Woullard looked more confident and showed signs of development. If Jerrion Ealy, the 5-star signee the Rebels snagged on National Signing Day, skips pro baseball and winds up campus next fall, tailback will be the deepest unit on the team. 1. Matt Corral looks like a perfect fit for new offense Ole Miss has gotten terrific play from their quarterbacks over the past 6 years. From Bo Wallace to Chad Kelly to Shea Patterson to Jordan Ta’amu, there’s more than a handful of SEC teams that would have been thrilled to have the signal callers the Rebels put on the field each year. That trend should continue with Matt Corral this fall, who dazzled in his first public showing in the new offense, a scheme that looks tailor-made for him. The redshirt freshman from Ventura, Calif., was 17-of-25 in the first half for 192 and a touchdown, and made several plays with his legs as well. It’s obvious that he’s going to be a contributor to the rushing attack, providing yet another weapon that defenses must account for. Where he really stood out though was with his arm, generating terrific velocity to all three levels but also showing deft touch, as well. He wasn’t without error, however, and displayed some growing pains that are to be expected of a young quarterback running a brand-new offense, but he showed a lot of improvement in terms of going through his progressions and not locking into one receiver. This kid has the makings of a star.