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Jake Thompson Interview · The Jake Wimberly Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It's time to get back in the game with Jake
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Wimberly and the Afternoon Drive.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: That's entertaining.
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  Speaker 1: On the station that specializes in the Mississippi sports you love.
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  Speaker 2: Now we're talking. Live and local on ESPN 105.9 The
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  Speaker 2: Zone and online at TheZone1059.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Com. Taking you through your Tuesday brought to you by
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the MHSAA, officially become official today. Go to M-I-S-S-H-S-A-A.com, 601-924-6400.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: If you want to be an official and be a
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: part of everything going on with the MHSAA, they'd love
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: to have that conversation with you. Jake Thompson, you can
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: find him on X, a part of the Oxford Eagle.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: He is on your radio talking Ole Miss. They're on
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: a bye week this week. Jake, welcome here, brother. How
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: are you doing?
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: I'm doing good. Thanks for having me on.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Jake, let's talk a little bit about what we saw
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: this past weekend. And then, of course, moving forward, you've
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: got to put this one to bed. I'm sure Ole
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Miss has. You know, they just could never out-chase Florida.
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  Speaker 1: Down 10-0 in the first. They put six on the board.
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  Speaker 1: It was 17-6 at the half. Outscored Florida by a
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  Speaker 1: point in the third, and then it just got away
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  Speaker 1: from Ole Miss. Just kind of your high points and
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  Speaker 1: what you saw. I mean, obviously, when you look at
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  Speaker 1: Jaden Ball, 142 yards and three touchdowns. Also, Duke Clark,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: 126 yards and, you know, 315. two total rushing yards.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: That was kind of the story for Florida. But your
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  Speaker 1: thoughts on the game as a whole?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, there weren't a lot of high points
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  Speaker 2: outside of, I guess, Trinidad Chambliss, you know, being– putting
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: on that Superman cape. And really the sole reason they
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: got the 28 points they got on Saturday, you know,
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: it's just that 10 spot they gave Florida in the
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: first six minutes was really kind of what set the
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: tone for most of the game. They got it back
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  Speaker 2: to within three. when they kind of rallied in that
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: third quarter, and then they started trading touchdowns for a
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: minute to kind of keep it at a 10 point,
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  Speaker 2: and then late in the third, and then that whole
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  Speaker 2: fourth quarter, it just got away from Ole Miss. And defensively,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, there's a lot of glaring concerns or issues
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  Speaker 2: from run defense to just pure tackling inability in a
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  Speaker 2: lot of things, and also special teams really kind of
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  Speaker 2: made everybody a little concerned, especially Lucas Carnero, who's usually
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: not hitting well. kicking touchbacks could barely get it to
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: the goal line on some of his kickoffs and Pete
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: said he noticed that he wasn't really getting the ball
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: like he normally did post game but didn't hint that
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  Speaker 2: anything was bothering Lucas I guess obviously we'll we'll see
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  Speaker 2: how he handles kickoffs next Saturday in Nashville against Vanderbilt
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  Speaker 2: but yeah I mean there's there was a lot of
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  Speaker 2: issues and of course you sit there and go was
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: this the game where they just got punched in the
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  Speaker 2: mouth and they needed it now after coming off that
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  Speaker 2: LSU game and Florida is good but Ole Miss can
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: also still be good or is it this is the
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: defense Pete's got for the rest of the season, and
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: then more questions will come from that, obviously, with how
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  Speaker 2: the rest of these eight games go. But it's a
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  Speaker 2: lot of kind of hand-wringing and a little nervousness right
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: now up here after how everybody felt this time a
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  Speaker 2: week ago coming off the LSU win. It's just kind
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: of how that life is in the SEC. It can
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: change in a week.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Jake Thompson talking Ole Miss football, Tuesday edition of the program,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: getting him on X at Jake Thompson. Oxford Eagle. And,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: of course, you can also get them at the Oxford Eagle. So, Jake,
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  Speaker 1: the defense, that's where I want to go next is,
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  Speaker 1: and we just won't know, you know, until we see
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  Speaker 1: a few more ballgames. And you look at Ole Miss and,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: you know, rushing yards per game. I mean, they're giving
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  Speaker 1: up 4.64. A lot of that's, you know, out of
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  Speaker 1: that Florida game. But then you go back last year,
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  Speaker 1: they gave up right at 4.2. The year before that,
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  Speaker 1: you know, Paltry 2.29. I mean, that was a stingy
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  Speaker 1: defense in 2024. Is it a schematic thing? Is it
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  Speaker 1: a personnel thing? Or is it still something to be determined?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it may be to be determined, but I think
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  Speaker 2: we're getting close to, obviously, maybe another game or so,
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  Speaker 2: especially if Andy somehow has a decent day against that
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  Speaker 2: defense next weekend. Is it personnel? Is it not as
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  Speaker 2: good of a defense on paper as everybody kind of
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  Speaker 2: thought and said all summer and through fall camp where
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  Speaker 2: they– Well, there was some worry of comparing it to
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  Speaker 2: that defense from two years ago, and it could be
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  Speaker 2: that good again. And obviously a quarter of the way
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  Speaker 2: through the season, it's anything but in a lot of
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  Speaker 2: different categories. But, yeah, you know, I know that you
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  Speaker 2: feel good about the guys that are brought in, but
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  Speaker 2: is it also a question of does Pete need to
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  Speaker 2: delegate responsibilities even more than he already has? I mean,
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  Speaker 2: is it tough being the head coach and also the
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  Speaker 2: play caller on defense? Now, I don't think it's fair
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  Speaker 2: to say it yet, but, I mean, that's kind of
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  Speaker 2: one of those questions that will come if defense continues
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  Speaker 2: to be the biggest Achilles heel to this team and
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  Speaker 2: keeping them from where people thought they would be able
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  Speaker 2: to go come the postseason.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: What about Keywon Lacey? You obviously got a week off.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: You get a chance to get guys healthy. Ole Miss
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: returns to action on the 10th. We'll talk to you
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: next week. They'll go to Vanderbilt and then return home
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: against Missouri. You've got two ballgames that you feel should
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: be a favorite in both of those ballgames before you
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  Speaker 1: have to go on the road to Texas. We'll get
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: to Texas down the road. They've got problems of their own,
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  Speaker 1: I think, but As far as health of the team,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: getting Lacey back and getting ready, you know, as you
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  Speaker 1: got a break here.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think obviously he made the trip.
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  Speaker 2: He was on the sideline, and it just didn't feel
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  Speaker 2: comfortable giving him a go. You know, Lindsey did well
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  Speaker 2: at times. We saw Makai Fraser a couple times, but,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Pete alluded last week that he's banged up
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: coming off of the, you know, either the Charlotte or
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: the LSU game when something happened with him. So he's
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  Speaker 2: not full strength, so you're down two guys. Obviously you're
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: down the most important piece. in Lacey and what he
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  Speaker 2: can add and help change that offense and not put
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: everything on Trinidad. So, you know, he didn't play. That
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: was one game off. Gets to buy weeks. And realistically,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: probably three weeks of him doing light work because they
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  Speaker 2: didn't really do much with him in practice leading up
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: to the game against Florida either. So you hope that
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: that's enough for him to get over what they, you know,
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  Speaker 2: shoulder-wise what they felt from MRIs and x-rays was not
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  Speaker 2: as bad as they feared and I guess doesn't need
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  Speaker 2: any kind of procedure or surgery done and just rest.
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  Speaker 2: But they need him back desperately in whatever form that
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  Speaker 2: can be. But, you know, that's kind of been the problem.
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  Speaker 2: They even, you know, going back to last year and
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: the Fiesta Bowl is apparently the injury proneness of Keiwan Lacey. Now,
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  Speaker 2: of course, they've been hard hits. It's not he's barely
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: getting hit and being hurt, but he is taking hard shots.
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  Speaker 2: And they need him to probably tone that back because
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  Speaker 2: they need him on that field more than not, obviously.
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  Speaker 2: And so getting him back for Vandy. And then Mizzou,
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  Speaker 2: as you said, probably two teams that are winnable. They're
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  Speaker 2: not easy teams, but they're the easiest teams they could
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  Speaker 2: get coming off this game this past week.
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  Speaker 1: Another thing, too, last year, and it's just some of
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  Speaker 1: the metrics that I look at, Ole Miss was plus
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  Speaker 1: one in turnover margin. They're minus four in turnover margin,
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  Speaker 1: which obviously most people, if you don't know what that is,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: they're giving up the ball more than they're taking the
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  Speaker 1: ball away. Talk a little bit about some of the
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  Speaker 1: intricacies here that you want to see Ole Miss changed.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, obviously you want to take the ball away
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  Speaker 1: more than you give it up. And, you know, you
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  Speaker 1: want to play a little bit better defense. But just
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  Speaker 1: some other places where you think the iron needs to
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  Speaker 1: be sharpened before they head to Nashville.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think just, you know, first and foremost, tackling.
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  Speaker 2: They've just got to learn how to tackle. I haven't
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  Speaker 2: seen guys get– end up, you know, on skates or
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  Speaker 2: their ankles broken this much in a long time on that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, on the defense. I know a lot of
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  Speaker 2: that is going against a running back like Jaden Ball
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  Speaker 2: and what he can do to you. But it's been
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  Speaker 2: noticeable against– Louisville, Charlotte, and LSU too. So, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: tackling has got to be fixed. Trinidad, I mean, he's
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  Speaker 2: got a couple interceptions. That last one, you know, the
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  Speaker 2: one at the end of the game because Florida was
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  Speaker 2: just him trying to make something out of anything. And
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  Speaker 2: then the one against LSU, it was, you know, they
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  Speaker 2: did jailbreak and he just kind of bailed out and
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  Speaker 2: threw it to kind of save himself and it just
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  Speaker 2: happened to not hit the ground and was caught by
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: an LSU defender. But, yeah, no, takeaway is, you know,
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  Speaker 2: that's Pete's bread and butter, you know, especially being a
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  Speaker 2: defensive guy is winning that battle, and they haven't. Now,
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  Speaker 2: the only way you can kind of win that battle
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  Speaker 2: is forcing fumbles or getting to the ball, you know,
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  Speaker 2: in the secondary and getting interception. But in terms of
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: forcing fumbles, that means you've got to be actually trying
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  Speaker 2: to tackle a guy and making contact with him, and
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  Speaker 2: they're just struggling with that. So I think it's going
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  Speaker 2: to be a big week of back-to-basics. I wouldn't be
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: shocked if it's a lot of back-to-basics next week mixed
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: in with whatever Vandy prep they have, too, because I
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  Speaker 2: feel like that's what kind of Coach Pete is. We're
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: just going to have to take it back to football
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  Speaker 2: 101 in a lot of different ways.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: It's interesting for you to bring up tackling. We were
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: talking in the first or second segment today. John Summerall,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: head football coach at Florida, was speaking about his week,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: and he calls Tuesday Bloody Tuesday. to where he says, Hey,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: we don't go into the practice facility. We go outside
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: on the field. We don't even let the guys go
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: into the indoor and we want it to be hot.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: We want it to be physical. We want it to
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: be nasty. And I'm not saying Ole Miss doesn't do this,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: but I know this. I know that. And you know,
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: this too, from high school to college and the NFL,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: we've seen a digression of sorts in, in tackling. And
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: it's not just Ole Miss specific. I mean, go to
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: a high school football game on Friday night and you'll
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: probably see some poor tackling where you go. Um, Teams
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: just don't get physical, and I get it. You know,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: it's kind of that, you know, where do you find
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: that middle ground? I mean, you don't want to take
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: people to the ground every day in practice because of injury,
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: but I still think there has to be some accountability
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: and some physicality, and John Summerall was talking about this,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: or you're not going to be able to do it
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: on Saturday.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think that's kind of been a
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: knock for Ole Miss overall. for a while now is
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  Speaker 2: we've kind of been hinted at or seen lack of
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: tackling in fall camp, preseason when we go, or even
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: in the spring. Now, the spring, you can probably get
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: away with it because you're sitting there saying, well, I'm
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: not playing a meaningful game for six more months from
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: now or five more months from now. But in the fall,
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: that has been a question that's been asked of whoever
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: the head coach, Kiffin, Pete, Matt Luke, you name it.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: It's been a thing where at Ole Miss, at least
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: from what we're watching here personally, it has been a,
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: we'd rather keep the guys quote unquote bubble wrapped and
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: go through the motions and maybe ramp it up once
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: or twice in fall camp. But then I think you're
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: seeing where they're just not going through a day in,
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: day out. and then they're just giving the effort that
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: they've been giving at fall camp. Now, that's not me
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: calling them out. That's just me saying that's the muscle memory,
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: for lack of a better way to say it. I
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: think there needs to be some kind of, like you said,
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: middle ground of going back to those old ways of
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: just tackling, taking guys down into Braxfield and being physical again.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: It's one thing to say be physical on Saturday when
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: you're talking to them Tuesday, Wednesday, but I think they
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: need to actually be physical Tuesday, Wednesday, and whatever other
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: days to do it on Saturday. I think it's... Kind
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: of just that simple.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Make sure to get him on X, and you can
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: find him at JakeThompsonOE, a part of the Oxford Eagle,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: covering Ole Miss and the SEC. Jake, appreciate your time.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Enjoy the off week. It's probably a good week to
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: have an off week. It's going to be a wet
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: weekend in Mississippi, my friend. I hope you have a
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: great weekend, and we'll talk next week.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: I appreciate it. Talk soon, guys. Thank you.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much. Jake Thompson on your radio, brought to
• 11:10
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• 11:13
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  Speaker 1: infrastructure and data intact. Go to bcipeople.com. We'll take a timeout.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Back with more in a bit.