{"id":41385,"date":"2017-08-30T20:05:56","date_gmt":"2017-08-31T02:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=41385"},"modified":"2017-08-30T20:05:56","modified_gmt":"2017-08-31T02:05:56","slug":"matt-luke-and-ole-miss-rebels-prepare-for-season-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/matt-luke-and-ole-miss-rebels-prepare-for-season-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Luke and Ole Miss Rebels Prepare for Season Opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

University, Miss (OMSI)\u2013<\/strong>Matt Luke<\/strong> is unsure of exactly how he will be able to control his emotions\u00a0Saturday\u00a0leading up to his first career game as a head coach, but it is something that\u2019s been on his mind for quite a while.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time,\u201d Luke said. \u201cI\u2019m just excited. I\u2019m excited for the opportunity, excited for walking through The Grove and representing my university and putting a team on the field that everybody\u2019s proud of. It\u2019s going to be a challenge to control my emotions and be an efficient head coach. That\u2019s going to be one of my biggest challenges, but I\u2019m excited and prepared for it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ole Miss<\/strong> opens up the season against South Alabama\u00a0<\/strong>on Saturday\u00a0in the first ever meeting between the two schools. Luke, at his first game week press conference, gave some hints as to what to look for on both sides of the football.<\/span><\/p>\n

The two-deep depth chart is essentially set at most areas, but the free safety position is still somewhat unsettled. C.J. Moore<\/strong> is listed as the current starter, but former defensive back Jaylon Jones<\/strong> is making a push for playing time at the position.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJaylon looks so natural,\u201d defensive coordinator Wesley McGriff<\/strong> said. \u201cHis movement skills, his awareness, I mean I wish we had moved him earlier to have more time. But I like his ball skills. I like his attention to detail. You wish he was about 10 pounds heavier, but other than that we have him in the right spot.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

McGriff noted he feels best about the defensive line and the depth the Rebels have acquired both inside and outside there, and that he will have his eyes on the linebackers and secondary to evaluate how those two units play. Ole Miss will be without linebacker Detric Bing-Dukes<\/strong> and safety Ken Webster<\/strong> for the first game. Luke mentioned Donta Evans<\/strong> as a guy who has impressed at linebacker this fall camp and has responded well in terms of trying to fill the void there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDonta Evans is the guy that\u2019s emerged to me,\u201d Luke said. \u201c At mike linebacker, he’s calling all the defense. I think that puts him in a leadership position. I really feel good about where he is.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Luke noted that all of the full-time defensive coaches will be on the field for the game\u00a0on Saturday. The staff isn\u2019t scared of playing young players and Luke had a few in mind on the defensive side of the ball who will play\u00a0on Saturday.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think you\u2019ll see D.D. Bowie in there at corner. C.J. Miler will have a chance to play some at safety. Ryder Anderson and Breon Dixon, those are the guys who jump out to me off the top of my head,\u201d Luke said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of the talk of playing young players, perhaps McGriff summed it up best.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are looking for a redshirt, go buy one and hang it in your closet,\u201d McGriff said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the offensive side of the ball,\u00a0Saturday\u00a0will be the long-awaited debut of Phil Longo<\/strong>\u2019s fast-paced offensive system with Shea Patterson<\/strong> at the controls. Longo spent much of the offseason installing the new system and thinks this week is just about cleaning it up.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe progress we wanted to make in the spring, we made,\u201d Longo said. \u201cThe progress we wanted to make in August camp, we made. This week is about polishing. When they see the playlist for\u00a0Saturday\u2019s\u00a0game as opposed to what they\u2019ve been running in camp, it\u2019s probably one-third the size. There are fewer pass concepts, fewer run concepts, fewer combinations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ole Miss will be without one of its offensive weapons in sophomore tight end Dawson Knox<\/strong>, who is dealing with a foot injury. Knox is someone that has impressed in fall camp with his size and versatility. Longo didn\u2019t mince words on the gravity of being without Knox.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the true hybrid that we have, a guy you\u2019re going to get once\u00a0in 10 years. I\u2019m excited about him,\u201d Longo said. \u201cI think what the other four players do well, they do well. I don\u2019t know if any one of those four players is as versatile as Dawson is, but that\u2019s what makes him so special. We\u2019ll use those guys more in the roles that they fit for us, instead of like Dawson Knox, who can do both.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Longo said that eight guys will play on the offensive line, which shows the depth the Rebels have at that position that they have not in years past. It will be key in what Longo called \u201cwinning the war of attrition.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Luke said he hopes to have Knox back by week three when Ole Miss travels to play Cal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps the most interesting position to keep an eye on this weekend is at running back. Ole Miss gets Jordan Wilkins<\/strong> back this year, who is the clear-cut starter. But it is the four guys behind him that make this position interesting. Longo and Luke both mentioned the possibility of playing as many as four guys, which would give them a chance to see the options and versatility in skill sets each of them boast.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to play some guys,\u201d Longo said. \u201cJordan is by far the No. 1 guy. That\u2019s no disrespect to the rest of them; they\u2019ve competed. D\u2019Vaughn (Pennamon) has separated himself; he\u2019s the true No. 2 right now. But all four have a role, and assuming they\u2019re healthy, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if you see all of them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A lot more will be known after\u00a0Saturday, but for now Luke and his team are just excited about the idea of hitting someone other than themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFirst games you\u2019re really focused on yourself and getting better and making sure you\u2019re sound,\u201d Luke said. \u201cThe first game is unpredictable, and you make your most mistakes in that first game. Focus on yourself and make sure you\u2019re prepared.\u201d\u00a0\"The<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

University, Miss (OMSI)\u2013Matt Luke is unsure of exactly how he will be able to control his emotions\u00a0Saturday\u00a0leading up<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":253,"featured_media":41407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[10877,8457,7067],"class_list":["post-41385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-athletics","tag-game-preview","tag-matt-luke","tag-ole-miss"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/2017-08-30-matt-luke.jpg?fit=620%2C349&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/253"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}