Rippee Writes: fall camp churns on, Magnolia State golf update
A lot of fall camp notes and huge week for pro golf in Mississippi
Happy Thursday to you all. I have lagged a bit on the newsletters this week, so we have some stuff to catch up on. We’ve got a pair of new podcasts out. Weldon Rotenberg and I recapped the first week of camp for Ole Miss on Sunday night. You can find that conversation here or anywhere you get podcasts. We also continued our opponent preview series with Auburn up next. I caught up with Jordan Hill of the Opelika-Auburn news, discussing Bo Nix’s development, Bryan Harsin’s first year and more. Check that out here or anywhere you get podcasts.
We’ve got a lot of football, a lot of golf to get to today.
Kiffin walks back frustration with defense:
Ole Miss scrimmaged a couple times over the weekend. Immediately following the Sunday scrimmage, Lane Kiffin was not happy with the defense’s performance, particularly from a tackling perspective. After reviewing some of the tape, the second-year head coach walked that back a bit.
“After looking at it, our starting defense played pretty well,” Kiffin said. “Obviously, that means our No. 2s and No. 3s did not because of all the scoring, but going back over it, there were some very positive things on defense. That also means our backup offense has to get better.”
Scrimmages are always a bit of a catch 22 for coaches. If you’re substantially better on one side of the football than the other, that likely means you have a problem somewhere, at the very least. It was the first two scrimmages after a week of camp and there’s natural hyperbole that comes with that, but it was interesting to see Kiffin feel a certain way immediately after and then have a different take after looking at the film. To me, that is a positive sign for the Rebels defense as they hope to make a pretty seismic leap on that side of the ball this fall.
Campbell fitting in well with Ole Miss defense
Speaking of improvement, Maryland transfer linebacker Chance Campbell is a good person to point to as evidence of the talent pool and depth improving on defense. He feels he is fitting in nicely within D.J. Durkin and Chris Partridge’s scheme. Campbell was recruited by Durkin at Maryland and the two had a brief overlap early on in his career, so there is some familiarity with the scheme. Campbell is in a bit of an interesting place for an older player. He would’ve had a huge role on the Terrapins defense this fall, but wanted to test the SEC waters. That meant relinquishing his comfortable position on the depth chart there and starting from scratch in Oxford. He hardly minds and welcomes the challenge.
“I’m not really super concerned about where I am in terms of the depth chart,” Campbell said. “One of main reasons I came here is that I think I can help. I hope I will be able to help Ole Miss but I know for sure they’ll be able to help me. So I know if I just keep getting better personally, I think that’s going to help the team. And that’s why we’re all out there.”
Campbell played four games in the pandemic-riddled season last year, so it’s been a while since he’s played a full collegiate slate. Naturally, you have to think he feels a little bit fresher than in a typical offseason.
“I try to play with a ton of effort and a ton of hard heart and fly around and try to play smart,” Campbell said. “I’m physical. I try to throw my body around. Football is a physical game and it says a lot to be able to play that way. I think it’s good for your teammates to be able to see someone who puts their body on the line. So that’s what I’ll try to do.”
Parrish poised for expanded role in the Ole Miss offense
We’ve talked about at length how Ole Miss plans to use Jerrion Ealy in multiple ways, whether that is in the slot or out of the backfield. Offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby put it simply last week: “Just get him the football. He needs the football and if I am smart, I’ll get it to him.”
One of the reasons the Rebels can afford to move Ealy around and utilize his versatile skillset is the depth they have behind him. Henry Parrish came on strong toward the end of last year and siphoned carries away from Snoop Conner, who essentially turned into a short-yardage back by season’s end.
Parrish is a quick, versatile player who has rapidly transformed his body since arriving in Oxford. You can expect to see Parrish involved in the Rebels’ passing game as well, and while ball security is a minor concern, Parrish is poised to play a major role in the Ole Miss offense this fall.
“I feel like we have some weapons with the receiver corps and the running back room, so I feel like the running backs and the receivers can show their ability
Kiffin mentioned earlier in the week how much different Parrish looks than when he arrived as a “skinny kid,” last summer. In addition to changing his body, he’s learned a lot since coming to campus — like how to change speeds to shake off defenders.
“I remember in high school, I was going so fast,” Parrish said. “When I got to college, it slowed down. Coach (Kevin) Smith talks about tempo all the time. That’s our main key and then just play ball, show your ability and put it on tape.”
Parrish and Ealy, along with Kentrell Bullock and Isaiah Woullard, comprise a deep, talented backfield that will be incredibly tough for opposing defense to keep und wraps.
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Other notes:
Kiffin on Matt Corral’s accuracy on Thursday and so far through camp. “The guy’s was insane today. Some of the throws that were made, at one point, it was like a video game. There weren’t inaccurate throws. You just hit the button and he hits the guy. It’s good to see. He just needs to continue to develop and get better.”
Tight end Chase Rogers has been a little banged up during camp, but is getting closer to 100 percent. He scored a touchdown during red zone drills during Thursday’s practice. Tight end is a bit of a question mark for this offense with Kenny Yeboah moving on, but Rogers offers a formidable blocking option, which is something he embraces.
“I like to get dirty and I like to hit people,” Rogers said. “That goes all the way back to high school.”
Rogers has adequate enough hands to factor into the passing game, too. It will be interesting to see how this shakes out in terms of the Rebels utilizing him, Casey Kelly (who also has been injured throughout parts of camp) and true freshman Hudson Wolfe.
Momo Sanogo certainly saw some positives from Sunday’s scrimmage
“The No. 1s didn’t get scored on all day,” Sanogo said. “We have to continue to work on our depth, but the No. 1s stepped up to the plate. They put the ball on the goal line and they still didn’t score. That is a positive to me.”
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Magnolia State golf update:
It’s been a huge couple of weeks. We had two Mississippians graduate to the PGA Tour. Fulton native Chad Ramey and Hattiesburg native Davis Riley were each awarded their PGA Tour cards on Sunday evening in a ceremony after the final round of the (regular) season-ending event in Omaha. It’s been a long time coming for both.
Riley won twice on the Korn Ferry Tour before the COVID-19 shutdown and has essentially been biding his time over the last 18 months, cashing checks and waiting on the season’s end, as well as looking or a third win that would’ve granted him an immediate battleground promotion to the PGA Tour.
Ramey also would’ve graduated at the end of the 2020 portion of the season if not for the pandemic, which induced two-year wraparound schedule that spanned over 40 events. Ramey made 23 consecutive cuts to end the year and 37 of 40 in total. He earned his first professional win at the Live and Work in Maine Open at the end of June, a week after locking up his PGA Tour card by reaching the fail-safe threshold in points, meaning after his T-13 finish in Wichita the week before his win, he was guaranteed to remain inside the top 25 no matter how the final six events of the year went.
Less than 48 hours after the greatest day of his professional life, Chad Ramey returned at his practice facility -- a nine-hole course with no driving range. The rise of the PGA Tour's most unassuming rookie, and the course and community that shaped him
I wrote a long piece about Ramey’s rise. He’s a fascinating story. The guy practices at his hometown course, Fulton Country Club. It’s a nine-hole track with no driving range. Yes, an incoming PGA Tour rookie practices on a patch of grass between two holes at a nine-hole golf course. He’s a great dude that has worked his ass off for this. And make no mistake about it, you’ll hear both his and Riley’s names more than once next season on the PGA Tour.
The Korn Ferry Tour Finals are here:
For two other Mississippians — Hayden Buckley and Braden Thornberry — a crucial three-week stretch began today. The Korn Ferry Tour Finals awards 25 additional PGA Tour Cards to the top 25 in the standings after three weeks. It’s a clean slate. Everyone is at zero points and has three tournaments to earn as many as possible. You can quite literally change your career in four days with one strong finish or, of course, a win.
Due to the pandemic the field is a little bit altered. It features the 126th-200th finishers on the PGA Tour over the last TWO seasons and 1-75 in the Korn Ferry Standings.
Also worth noting, the 25 regular season graduates also play in the finals despite already having their PGA Tour card. Why? To improve their status. The whole 25 PGA Tour cards thing is a bit of mirage. Yes, all 25 guys are PGA Tour members but not all of them are equals. The guys who finished 2-25 in the regular season have a varying degree of the minimum amount of full-time status, meaning they get caught up in the reshuffle and only get into a handful of events on the schedule. On the other hand, the guy who finished No. 1 in the standings, in this case, Stephen Jaegar, is FULLY exempt and avoids the reshuffle. This means he gets into all the tournaments with the title “invitational” AND gets into The Players Championship. That is a massive difference in terms of number of starts and opportunities on the PGA Tour next season. For 2-25, the higher you finished, the slightly better your status is, too. For example, Ramey finished 3rd and Riley finished 7th in the regular season standings — so their status is slightly better than everyone behind them. I hope this makes sense.
Officially official! Congrats to Davis Riley and Lee Hodges who are the latest @AlabamaMGolf alums to earn their @PGATOUR cards‼️ #RollTide | #BuiltByBama
Here’s the catch: the finals work the same way. The guy who finishes in 1st place at the end of the third finals event gets the same fully-exempt treatment as the regular season No. 1. The same goes for No. 2 and so on. In short: the only regular season graduate who can’t do anything to improve his status is Jaegar
So, with that in mind, let’s have a look at what to watch.
Tupelo native and Mizzou alum Hayden Buckley teed off at 8:41 this morning and goes off at 12:41 tomorrow. Buckley fired a 7-under 64 and sits in solo 2nd place as of this writing. He had two eagles on the back nine. In this convoluted system, one top-5 finish in any of the three events is likely good enough to earn your Tour card. So this was a MASSIVE round for Buckley with potentially huge implications. He finished oh so close to graduating in the regular season, landing at 32nd in the standings. He won in Florida in February and nearly pulled of a second win (which would’ve guaranteed his card) with a T-2 at the penultimate regular season event in Utah two weeks ago. He’s off to a great start in The Finals and hopefully on Monday I am writing about how his 2nd Korn Ferry win changed his life.
Olive Branch native and Ole Miss alum Braden Thornberry teed off at 1:30 today and goes off at 8:30 tomorrow morning. As of this writing, Thornberry is +1 with four holes left in is T-101 on the leaderboard. What he needs to do is pretty self-explanatory: win or finish high in one or two of these three events.
Ramey went off at 2:25 this afternoon and tees off at 9:25 tomorrow morning. He’s just looking to improve his status, as I mentioned, and of course, cash checks. He is 1-under thru 10 holes as of this writing.
Riley went off at 9:25 this morning and tees it up at 2:25 tomorrow afternoon. He carded a nifty 5-under 66 and sits in a tie for 5th place. If he’s going to improve his already cemented PGA Tour status, this was one hell of a way to start.
Brandon native and Ole Miss alum Jonathan Randolph finished outside the top 75 in the Korn Ferry Tour standings and did not qualify for this. It is presumably back to one of the stages (I am guessing second or final stage) of Korn Ferry TOur qualifying school. To be frank, this is a tough place to be in professional golf.A handful of days this fall will determine if he has any major professional status at all.
On the horizon:
Mailbag Friday is back. Send your submissions now and look for a podcast in the morning.
Football-heavy newsletter in the morning
Weldon and I will record again on Sunday night.
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