This is an article special to the Sports Zone by Jacob Threadgill, Contributing Writer for Inside the Grove.
The Ole Miss football team fulfilled its primary goal of the season once it secured the first bowl trip for the 14 seniors, but the benefits of the Rebels’ Cotton Bowl experience will be seen after those seniors have graduated.
Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt spent the first few weeks of the extra December bowl practice providing younger players additional repetitions, which will pay off come spring practice.
The national exposure the No. 20 Rebels will gain from playing No. 7 Texas Tech will also pay off for recruiting come February for national signing day.
The transition from an 0-8 SEC record a season ago to a January bowl has been quite dramatic for Ole Miss wide receiver/running back Dexter McCluster.
The transition from an 0-8 SEC record a season ago to a January bowl has been quite dramatic for Ole Miss wide receiver/running back Dexter McCluster.
“Around this time last year we were at home with our parents, with our friends just hanging out wishing that we were in this situation,” McCluster said. “Now that we’re in it, we get the feeling of what it is like to be in a situation like it. It is fun, and it is going to help us build next year. We know how to win, we know the feeling of winning and will try to do that all the time.”
For the first time in four seasons an entire freshman class of Ole Miss players will never have experienced any other feeling than one of wining while in Oxford. McCluster said the extra practice time would help the team moving forward into next season.
“I can see a lot of improvement (from the younger players),” McCluster said. “Just us practicing still, it gets us pumped up. After this bowl game spring is right around the corner. We just want to keep playing football, it is so much fun out there. The younger guys are growing and maturing in their game as well, and looking up to us and giving us great looks on the scout team.”
With the graduation of senior Mike Wallace, Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead said he has seen the greatest improvement from sophomore receivers Markeith Summers and Lionel Breaux.
“(Summers and Breaux) have done a really great job of stepping up the past few weeks of practice,” Snead said. “I believe it really has helped them and get them rolling for spring practice.”
“(Summers and Breaux) have done a really great job of stepping up the past few weeks of practice,” Snead said. “I believe it really has helped them and get them rolling for spring practice.”
After Friday’s game against Texas Tech, Nutt and staff will be working to fill the final few spots of their second recruiting class at Ole Miss.
The play of McCluster in the Wild Rebel set as been a major selling point for potential recruits, and the sales pitch has seemed to work with the commitments of all-purpose backs Rodney Scott (Scout’s Inc grade 80) and Korvic Neat (Scout’s Inc. grade 79) within the last month.
McCluster said he was always eager to talk to his potential replacements in the Wild Rebel set.
“I talk to recruits and they ask me how do I like the Wild Rebel, and that it looks fun,” McCluster said. “They wish they could run it. I told them they can run it as long as you have the ball handling skills and the athleticism to do it, you can do it.”
“I talk to recruits and they ask me how do I like the Wild Rebel, and that it looks fun,” McCluster said. “They wish they could run it. I told them they can run it as long as you have the ball handling skills and the athleticism to do it, you can do it.”
When it comes to hosting recruits on official visits or talking to them in general, McCluster said he takes a simple approach.
“First I will tell them that coach Nutt is the real deal,” McCluster said. “What he says is exactly what it means, and it is going to happen no matter what. Second, the town of Oxford and the love of the game with the fans, there is a lot of support out here. There is a lot of family out here, and I think that is enough to get them to come.”
“First I will tell them that coach Nutt is the real deal,” McCluster said. “What he says is exactly what it means, and it is going to happen no matter what. Second, the town of Oxford and the love of the game with the fans, there is a lot of support out here. There is a lot of family out here, and I think that is enough to get them to come.”
McCluster signed with the Rebels in 2006 out of Largo high school in Florida, and if he has his way, Ole Miss might be adding another former Packer to the roster.
McCluster said he stays in close contact with his former high school teammate, 2009 linebacker recruit Mike Marry.
“He is a big time player,” McCluster said about the 6-foot-3 210 pound Marry. “He has speed and size. I try to call him every chance I can. He is paying more attention to Ole Miss than he ever has. He calls me and talks to me after games.”
“He is a big time player,” McCluster said about the 6-foot-3 210 pound Marry. “He has speed and size. I try to call him every chance I can. He is paying more attention to Ole Miss than he ever has. He calls me and talks to me after games.”
Marry has been given a 77 grade by Scout’s Inc., and is considering Ole Miss along with Michigan, North Carolina, South Florida, and West Virginia.
McCluster said Marry’s notice in the Rebels is indicative of recruits all across Florida.
“He has told me he can see a lot of change, and he is asking me what the difference is from the last few years, and this year. I just told him we’re playing as a team and as a family. We have great coaches around us that we believe in that they can get us there.”
“He has told me he can see a lot of change, and he is asking me what the difference is from the last few years, and this year. I just told him we’re playing as a team and as a family. We have great coaches around us that we believe in that they can get us there.”
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