Rippee Writes: Rebels have intense Friday practice, Field of Dreams game a home run
Some football notes, the Field of Dreams game and an NFL Rebel with great hair
Hope everyone is having a great Friday. We have a new podcast out with Ole Miss alum and Fort Worth-based painter Jacob Lovett, which I suppose flexes the range of this podcast as I knew next to knowing about art going in. He is a talented guy with a cool story. Check that out here or anywhere you get your podcasts. We’ll also have a Mailbag Friday out later this evening after I cut it up and edit it.
We have some football to get to today, plus MLB doing something right for once.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Rippee Writes is looking to add more advertisers for both the podcast and the newsletter. I should have mentioned this much earlier, but now that we have built up a real audience, I figured I would get the word out before football season. I am proud of what we’ve built here and think it could be a great opportunity for any business owner that is interested. You can respond to this email (bsrippee@gmail.com) or hit me on social media.
Rebels create ‘competitive atmosphere,’ on Friday
The first cliché of camp has been dropped as Lane Kiffin and a couple players met with the media following Friday morning’s practice. Ole Miss was in shoulder pads and helmets and the offense and a defense had a bit of a dust up in some 11-on-11 work in the late portions of practice.
The Rebels will do a couple of pseudo-scrimmage activities over the weekend. A couple of thoughts.
Kiffin said after practice he thinks Braylon Sanders is a ‘first round talent,’ which seems like a surprising opinion on the surface. It’s likely Kiffin is hyping up a guy he knows the team badly needs to have a big year, but the more you think about it, I suppose there could be some truth to it. We simply don’t know because Sanders hasn’t been on able to stay field over the last three seasons.
“I think Braylon can play all over the field,” Kiffin said. “I think he is extremely talented. If he has a good year, from a height, weight, speed and ball skills standpoint, he is a first round talent. He just hasn’t had the opportunities last year through injuries.”
One thing I will point out to keep in mind, Sanders is the same guy that caught 16 passes as a sophomore in 2018, cracking the rotation amongst the likes of D.K. Metcalf, A.J. Brown and Damarkus Lodge. Like Kiffin said, the talent is there. Sanders just needs to stay on the field. Sanders knows this. He said he’s spent ample time in the training room and is doing extra work at home “to do his part,” to stay healthy. His confidence isn’t lacking and he and Corral have great chemistry and have since Corral arrived at Ole Miss. Lodge helped facilitate the friendship between the two through a mutual friend and the four trained out in California together in 2018.
John Rhys Plumlee has a minor injury and seems a little worn down. Kiffin said he will be fine.
One guy we haven’t talked about a lot but appears to be in the mix at receiver is Western Kentucky transfer Jahcour Pearson. He had an 800-yard season for the Hilltoppers in 2019 before announcing his intent to transfer two games into the 2020 season. Pearson chose Ole Miss in January and has a decent bit of game experience under his belt. He has a diminutive build at 5-foot-9, 180 lbs. and could potentially be a viable slot option.
A.J. Finley on having Otis Reese for the last three games of 2020: “He is a ballhawk and a playmaker. He is a huge bonus and makes my job easier. He makes everyone’s job easier.”
Weldon and I will have a podcast recapping the first week of camp. Be on the lookout for that sometime Sunday evening.
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Kiffin’s new contract terms released
Lane Kiffin’s new contract terms were released yesterday.
Here’s what it looks like:
Total base compensation:
• 2021 $4,500,000*
• 2022 $5,250,000
• 2023 $5,500,000
• 2024 $5,750,000
*retention bonus payment of $500,000 if employed as Head Football Coach on December 31,
2021
Annual Incentive Awards:
• $150,000 for each win against an SEC opponent, starting with the fifth SEC win of the
regular season
• Regular-season victory against a non-conference, Power 5 opponent: $100,000 perwin
• Participation in SEC Championship game: $150,000; OR Win SEC Championship game:
$400,000
• Participation in the Birmingham Bowl or Independence Bowl game, or their successors:
$50,000
• Participation in a Group of Six SEC bowl games (Taxslayer, Outback, Belk, Music City,
Texas, Liberty), or their successors: $100,000
• Participation in the Citrus Bowl, or its successor: $125,000
• Participation in any College Football Playoff (“CFP”) Access Bowl Game (Sugar, Rose,
Orange, Cotton, Fiesta,Peach) that is not a CFP semi-final game: $250,000
• Participation in CFP Semifinal Game: $500,000; OR Advance to National
Championship Game: $750,000; OR Win National Championship Game:
$1,000,000
• Coach of the Year Awards: $50,000 for SEC Coach of the Year; and $100,000 for National
Coach of the Year
• Academic Incentives: Single year APR of 950-974: $100,000 OR Single year APR of 975
or above: $150,000
Payment for Annual Season Tickets Sold (Maximum $200,000)
• Season tickets sold above 30,000 $50,000
• Season tickets sold above 35,000 $50,000
• Season tickets sold above 37,500 $50,000
• Season tickets sold above 40,000 $50,000
One quick thought: Ole Miss is committed. This much is obvious. With TV revenue from the new ESPN/ABC deal, along with the SEC adding two more lucrative brands, everyone is richer and, in my opinion, the gap between the ‘haves and the have nots’ in terms of paying a football coach has shrunk. I guess I’ll put it like this: gone are the days of Auburn poaching a coach from Ole Miss, even if the guy says the only way he will leave Oxford is in a Pine Box. Are there schools that will always have a larger, and seemingly infinite bank roll than Ole Miss? Of course. I just believe the list of schools that could poach a sitting football coach from the Rebels, with money and amenities as the predominant factor, is getting smaller. Maybe I am wrong. You could point me to Alabama’s support staff list versus Ole Miss’s, but I still think program stability, expectations and a competent AD carry more weight than cash does now.
Current Deal: For being a loyal subscriber, show him proof of subscription and you’ll get a 16 oz. prime strip for $15 and a pack of sausage for $5. That’s a hell of a dinner on the grill for 20 bucks. Go check him out, it’s the best place in Mississippi to get meat and Oxford is lucky to have it.
Royce Newman is a confirmed mullet guy
Newman was fourth round pick of the Green Bay Packers in the 2021 NFL Draft. If my memory serves me well, he had pretty luscious hair when he was at Ole Miss, enough to get an NIL deal with Head & Shoulders had that been a possibility while he was in school. Now he is taking it to a new level, vowing to never cut his already long hair until his football career is over.
What happens if he goes on to have a 10-year career? At what point does that become a safety hazard? I’m all for it. I imagine Aaron Rodgers is too.. until he trips over it.
MLB hits home run with Field of Dreams game
The White Sox and Yankees played a baseball game in a corn field in Iowa last night as a tribute to the 1989 film Field of Dreams that starred Kevin Costner. I only watched small pieces of the game, but it was all the rage on the internet and it ended in a walk-off home run, which always helps.
As much as Baseball bungles in terms of keeping the sport nationally relevant, they nailed every aspect of this — from the uniforms, to the pregame ceremonies and how it was promoted. It was just a really cool scene all around.
Perhaps I will make this appointment television next year.
On the horizon:
opponent preview series continues next week on the podcast
Weldon and I will recap the first week of camp on Sunday.
Week of football-packed newsletters
A lot of golf as the Magnolia State will have at least two newly-minted PGA Tour professionals on Monday.
That’s all from me today. Thanks for being a loyal subscriber. Send to your friends and tell them to join in on the fun. Have a great weekend. Back with more on Monday.