Rippee Writes: fall camp is underway
Some thoughts from the Rebels' first four days of camp and a Magnolia State golf update.
Hope everyone is having a good Wednesday. We have a new podcast out with Brody Miller of The Athletic talking all things LSU as part of our opponent preview series. Check that out here or anywhere you get podcasts.
We’ve got a lot of football and a little golf to get to today.
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Rebels put on shoulder pads for 1st time in camp
Ole Miss is four practices into fall camp and threw on the shoulder pads for the first time on Tuesday. Local media got their yearly visit in with all three coordinators yesterday as Lane Kiffin has implemented the Nick Saban School of Media method of not allowing coordinators to regularly speak to reporters. I remember one day in February of 2020 when we met Kiffin and the coaching staff for the first time, we had lunch with them in a conference room adjacent to the Manning Grill. As the lunch ended, one of the coordinators (I think it was Jeff Lebby) turned around, flashed a smile and blurted out ‘ ‘see y’all next year.’ It was funny. I don’t really have a problem with this policy as real access in college athletics has become nonexistent anyway. Would it be nice to talk to the coordinators regularly? Sure. But half of the things they say are canned jargon anyway, so does it really make a difference?
Anyway, here are a few things that have stuck out to me so far.
Kiffin seemingly shot down the notion of John Rhys Plumlee being the back up QB. At his Monday press conference, Kiffin mentioned that Plumlee is working solely with the receivers and said it would be unfair to ask him to move back-and-forth between position groups in practice. This makes sense, though I am not totally convinced that Plumlee isn’t the back up QB if Corral turns an ankle in the second quarter of the Louisville game. But I do generally believe the sentiment here. If the coaching staff asked Plumlee to make this change — mind you that part of the reason he chose Ole Miss was the opportunity to play quarterback — it doesn’t seem fair to ask him to do two things at once. Lebby mentioned that Kinkead Dent has seen the majority of the second-team reps, but that Luke Altmeyer got an increased amount on Wednesday. It does not seem like there has been much traction in this battle — probably because they are only four days into this.
Keidron Smith has moved to safety. D.J. Durkin and Chris Partridge approached him about the potential shift, citing that they felt it was more of a natural fit. Smith didn’t bat an eye and welcomed the challenge. It has apparently been a seamless transition. I imagine Smith will play both throughout the season and think this speaks to the depth the Rebels have at corner with Deantre Prince back with the program, Jaylon Jones being healthy, Jakorey Hawkins a year more experienced and Miles Battle transitioning to well to his new home. I also figure this will be a trend with a few guys in the secondary as the Rebels try to get the most athletic combination possible on the field.
Plumlee is not the only one learning new tricks. Jerrion Ealy has been working in the slot, too, as was expected. The game plan appears to be as simple as most of us thought too. Lebby summed it up nicely: “Get him the football. He needs the ball, and if I am smart, I will get it to him a lot, whether that is out of the backfield or at receiver.” Ealy has a versatile skillset and is the most dangerous weapon on the team. The more he touches the football, the better off Ole Miss will be. Not everything is rocket science.
Hudson Wolfe has a good shot to play immediately at tight end. Casey Kelly will miss a few weeks with an injury, meaning that Wolfe and ULL transfer Chase Rogers are the only real options at tight end. The coaching staff has said good things about Wolfe so far and his body frame (6-foot-7, 240 lbs.) makes him a plug-and-play guy, as well as a massive target.
Bralon Brown has been mentioned a few times already as a guy that’s stuck out at receiver. The freshman has great hands and good instincts. There’s opportunity to be had at receiver.
Utah transfer Orlando Umana seemingly took over the starting center job from day one, meaning Ben Brown has gone back to his native guard position. Looking at what’s in the cupboard now, the Rebels have pretty solid depth on the interior offensive line. The exterior is a little bit thin. Jalen Cunningham reportedly left practice with a heart issue, which isn’t a great development. Ole Miss has Nick Broeker and Jeremy James as its two tackles right now, with a bit of a drop off after that. I would assume it’s Cunningham and Carter Colquitt behind those two? Again, a little thinner on the outside.
Keep an eye on Cedric Johnson. He’s apparently gotten a lot of run with the first-team defense and has the potential to be a versatile pass rush option for a group that really struggled to do just that a season ago.
We’re only four days into this and much more will be learned in the coming weeks, but that is what stuck out so far. Ole Miss has an off day on Thursday before getting back at it on Friday and into the weekend.
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Kiffin said Ole Miss is 100 percent vaccinated
This is a far cry from just a couple of weeks ago at SEC Media Days when the Rebels were not at — and reportedly not close to — the 85 percent threshold the SEC put in place. Thoughts and feelings on vaccination can be discussed elsewhere. The fact of the matter is that this is tremendous news for the team. Fully-vaccinated teams will have a competitive advantage over teams that are not. It’s as simple as that given the testing protocols unvaccinated players must adhere to. The likelihood of Ole Miss having a key contributor miss a game due to COVID shrunk dramatically with the team reaching this mark. Remember how annoying the postponements, cancellations and daily monitoring of COVID numbers were last fall? The Rebels rid themselves of much of that headache by having every single coach and player vaccinated.
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Magnolia State Golf Update
It’s the final week of the regular season on both the Korn Ferry and PGA Tours. It’s an important one for a few Mississippians, too.
The PGA Tour is in Greensboro, North Carolina for the Wyndham Championship. No Mississippians are in the field, but as we always say, there will be multiple next year. Something to keep an eye on this week: 126-200 in the standings. Yes, this is the last chance for PGA Tour players to sneak inside the top 125 in the FedEx Cup standings that qualifies for the playoffs and grants a full exemption for the 2021-22 season. But the jockeying behind that coveted 125th spot is important too. 126-200 get invited to the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, meaning at worst, you’ll have a chance to earn your PGA Tour card back over a three-week stretch of tournaments beginning next week.
Additionally, 126-150 are granted partial status on the PGA Tour next season, meaning you could still get in 10-15 events over the course of the season and it still counts as a year of service toward a PGA Tour retirement pension. As mentioned, 151-200 have a chance to regain status at the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, and at worst, have full status on the Korn Ferry Tour next year. Spot 201 and beyond is a career-altering drop off. At 201st, you have no status on either tour and will likely wind up at the second stage of Korn Ferry Qualifying School. Essentially, nothing is guaranteed over the next year. It’s hard as hell to get partial or full status on either tour. It’s even harder to regain it. This is one of my favorite weeks of the golf calendar because it creates real pressure. Careers are defined, made and broken over the course of four days.
The Korn Ferry Tour is in Omaha, Nebraska for the regular season finale. All five of the usual Mississippians are in the field. Keep in mind the top 25 in the standings are awarded PGA Tour cards at the end of the regular season. The top 75 qualify for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, a three-week stretch of events that award an additional 25 cards to the best 25 finishers after the three tournaments. Everyone starts with a clean slate in the finals, so whether you’re 26th or 75th at the end of this week, you’re back to square one over the following three weeks.
Tupelo native and Missouri alum Hayden Buckley nearly changed his life last week. Buckley finished T-2 at the event in Utah and held a share of the lead toward the end thanks to a Sunday 61. He started the final round six back of the lead and eventually fell two shots short. Buckley started his Friday round with a triple bogey and fought to make the cut on the number. If not for that triple, he would’ve notched his second Korn Ferry Tour win and locked up his PGA Tour card for next year. Instead, he moved up six spots to 31st in the standings. That increases his margin for error this week slightly, but he’ll need a top-five finish at minimum, plus some help in order to slide into the top 25 without winning the golf tournament. Utah is where things clicked for Buckley last season, and him repeating a strong performance there last week bodes well heading into the most important tournament of his professional life. Buckley tees off at 1:19 on Thursday an 7:49 on Friday morning.
Fulton native and Mississippi State alum Chad Ramey tees off at 7:05 on Thursday morning and 12:35 on Friday afternoon. Ramey extended his streak of made cuts to 22 in a row last week. Ramey is in the middle of a remarkable stretch of golf. He locked up his PGA Tour card at the end of June thanks to making 35 of 38 cuts in this wraparound season with nine top-10 finishes, and then notched his first professional win six days later at the Live and Work in Maine Open. The soon-to-be PGA Tour rookie is as consistent as anyone in the sport and will likely notch a top-15 finish this week, as he does seemingly every single week. Ramey is a great story and will make waves on the PGA Tour next year.
Brandon native and Ole Miss alum Jonathan Randolph tees off at 1:19 tomorrow afternoon and (separate group than Buckley) and 7:49 on Friday morning. Randolph is in danger of going back to Q-school. He’s 95th in the standings and needs to jump up 20 spots this week to qualify for the KFT Finals. This is an important week for the journeyman to say the least. He’s played well in spurts over the last two months, but has been unable to put four quality rounds together. It’s cost him dearly on the weekend at a couple of tournaments and those missed opportunities could prove costly if he doesn’t win this week.
Hattiesburg native and Alabama alum Davis Riley is fresh off a PGA Tour start at the Barracuda Championship last week. He missed the cut, but the sheer fact that he played his second PGA Tour event in three weeks is evidence of his rise in the sport. Riley should already be a member of the PGA Tour. He won twice on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020 before the COVID shutdown and was a victim of the pandemic-induced wraparound season. Riley officially locked up his PGA Tour card two months ago by reaching the fail-safe points threshold in the standings, which means he gained enough points to ensure he won’t drop out of the top 25 spots that are awarded Tour cards at the end of the season. Riley’s had a remarkably quick ascent in professional golf and is a star in the making. He tees off at 7:27 on Thursday morning and at 12:57 on Friday afternoon.
Olive Branch native and Ole Miss alum Braden Thornberry tees off at 9:17 Thursday morning and 2:47 on Friday afternoon. Thornberry made his first cut in a month last week in Utah and is 57th in the standings. If he wins, he could sneak into the top 25, but is otherwise eyeing the KFT Finals as his opportunity to make it onto the PGA Tour. Thornberry is comfortably in the finals no matter the result this week.
On the horizon
A podcast with Fort Worth-based painter Jacob Lovett. He’s an Ole Miss alum that has opened up an art studio. Really cool guy with a cool story. Don’t ever let anyone tell you this podcast doesn’t have range. Be on the lookout for that tomorrow.
Mailbag Friday pod with Greg, so send your grilling questions too.
Weldon will be back on Sunday recapping the first week of camp.
Two more newsletters with a lot of football thoughts.
That is all from me today. Thanks for being a loyal subscriber. Send to your friends and tell them to join the fun. Back with more soon.