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Ole Miss Football: What We Want To See More Of From Spring Practice

By Daniel Skipper

OXFORD, MS - OCTOBER 28: Head Coach Matt Luke of the Ole Miss Rebels watches his team warm up before a game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Hemingway Stadium on October 28, 2017 in Oxford, Mississippi. The Razorbacks defeated the Rebels 38-37. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
OXFORD, MS - OCTOBER 28: Head Coach Matt Luke of the Ole Miss Rebels watches his team warm up before a game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Hemingway Stadium on October 28, 2017 in Oxford, Mississippi. The Razorbacks defeated the Rebels 38-37. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /
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Special Teams Focal Points

This has been an area for Ole Miss which has been unbearably normal. Although we have had marginally good special teams in recent seasons they haven’t really been special. Of course, the profile positions are really wide open this season with the departures of Gary Wunderlich and Will Gleeson.

It’s fairly obvious sophomore Luke Logan will be the leader for the FG duties in the spring and has done well so far. Although Long did struggle at times with kickoffs last season he filled in well for Wunderlich when he went down. We really have no idea who will handle the punting duties now in Gleeson’s absence but the roster does have a couple of new punters on the roster.

One area which was solid last season and there may be the same personnel playing the spot is in the return game. Jaylon Jones and AJ Brown handled the returns last season and did a good job. They were close a few times to breaking really big runs which could have been game changers for the Ole Miss offense. They were good last season but could be better.

Under The Microscope

We are keeping our eye on Luke Logan. We are looking to see if he has improved on his FG accuracy and depth on kickoffs. Long has a really good leg and can easily hit from 50+ when he is being accurate. We will also be looking to see who else may be handling the kickoff duties if Long sticks strictly to FG duties. We also want to be keeping an eye out on all the new players on the roster who will be making a contribution at the punter position.

In the return game we really want to see a better scheme for the return men. The return men are not the problem when it comes to this aspect of the return game. The problem lies in the rest of the personnel on the field blocking for them. Last season we saw blown assignments and missed blocks which cost us. Most of the specialty players on the roster are very familiar with special teams having played them substantially at some point. There has to be a better personnel scheme on the special teams.

The above issues should be an easy fix however we need a new special teams coach. With the departure of former LB/Special Teams coach Bradley Dale Peveto there is no specific coach to handle special teams. This is an area which has always been solid for Ole Miss so whoever handles it will have plenty of talent to build on. Of course, we really want to see this be an area we can count on in close games. Special teams can win games but they can also lose games and we surely don’t want to go that direction.

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