COVID-19 altering Rebels’ QB competition
OXFORD — Coaches across college football are facing roster depth crises like never before. Luckily for Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin learned his lesson on how to manage a thin roster eight years ago.
Kiffin's USC Trojans were media darlings entering the 2012 season. They went 10-2 the year before. Quarterback Matt Barkley and 1,000-yard receivers Marqise Lee and Robert Woods both returned from an offense that averaged 35.8 points per game. The Associated Press ranked the Trojans No. 1 in the preseason poll.
But USC'S team was thinner than anyone thought. The Trojans were coming off NCAA probation and could only sign 15 recruits per season. Resources were scarce and Kiffin decided to protect the precious ones he had by limiting contact in practice.
The Trojans went 7-6, losing five of their last six contests. Five weeks into the next season, Kiffin was fired.
Now, in his first year at Ole Miss, Kiffin sees the parallels between the two teams. Sure, Ole Miss isn't the preseason No. 1 team in the country. But it's a team still low on depth after its own years of NCAA probation. That depth issue is exacerbated by COVID-19 protocols keeping as many as 27 Ole Miss players out of practice this weekend.
Kiffin's response? This time he won't be too precious about hitting in practice.
“We've tackled like we normally do and practiced like we normally do for those reasons,” Kiffin said. “It doesn't do us any good to stay healthy if we're out there and can't tackle on game day.”
Don't take Kiffin's response to mean he's being glib about Ole Miss' depth concerns. He's not Icarus flying into the sun. He understands preventative measures need to be taken.
That's why Kiffin said he's going to take a day of practice soon to cross train all of his skill players. Offensive players will spend the day in defensive meetings with defensive coaches and vice versa. Players will learn the basics of opposite positions in case they have to be used as a backup or rotational player while their teammates are injured or in COVID-19 isolation.
Some scattered instances of this have already occurred. Kiffin said freshman receiver Marc Britt has spent time at safety this fall. He said there's been the thought of training some defensive linemen on the other side of the trenches because offensive line is a position that's been hit particularly hard by COVID-19.
As for the QB competition...
One position where players can't cross train, however, is quarterback. Kiffin said Tuesday that sophomore quarterback John Rhys Plumlee missed the scrimmage on Saturday. Kiffin did not say whether Plumlee is injured or is sitting out because of exposure to COVID-19.
Kiffin said sophomore Matt Corral took all of the first team reps in Plumlee's absence. In a bit of a surprise, Kiffin said redshirt freshman Kinkead Dent is taking most of the second-team reps behind Corral with freshmen Grant Tisdale and Kade Renfro rotating in behind him.
“That position has done some good things but there's a lot of consistency work to do,” Kiffin said.
Elsewhere on the field, Kiffin said the reinforcements should be coming soon. Kiffin said three defensive backs have already rejoined the team after coming out of COVID-19 protocols and he expects three offensive linemen to rejoin the roster shortly as well.
Of course, there's a difference between being cleared to play and being ready to play.
“Still when they come back they have to go through a number of tests and you've got to work them back in,” Kiffin said. “This takes longer than people initially thought.”
Contact Nick Suss at 601-408-2674 or nsuss@gannett.com. Follow @nicksuss on Twitter.