We’re wrapping up the Final Cockdown’s look at the defensive line. Catch up here: Dante Sawyer | DJ Wonnum | Taylor Stallworth | Keir Thomas | Ulric Jones | Javon Kinlaw| Kobe Smith | Shameik Blackshear | Aaron Sterling | Brad Johnson | Aaron Thompson + Daniel Fennell

#96 Aaron Thompson

Redshirt Freshman | 6’3”, 297 | Fort Lauderdale, FL | Dillard

#35 Daniel Fennell

Redshirt Sophomore | 6’3”, 244 | Loganville, GA | Grayson

We haven’t heard much of Thompson and Fennell during fall camp, but that’s likely to change. Moreso with Fennell since he is listed behind D.J. Wonnum at BUCK on the preseason depth chart.

Fennell came in as a more highly rated recruit than Thompson. A graduate of a strong Grayson program, he didn’t play with Jamyest Williams ended up as the #21 inside linebacker in his class before switching to DE in college. Thompson was considered one of the better DTs in the country but also switched positions in college. Fortunately, since he was able to redshirt last year, he can “reboot” and start from scratch, so to speak.

Thompson’s 2016 stats: One game; redshirted in part due to injury

Recruitment: Thompson was a National Signing Day flip in 2016 as he spurned Maryland and decided on South Carolina. He received 27 offers from programs such as Cincinnati, Clemson, Louisville, LSU, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

Fennell’s 2016 stats: Six games, one tackle

Recruitment: Received 21 offers and was thought to have Michigan State and Georgia in the lead. In the end, it was South Carolina getting his pledge on December 5, 2014.

We’re going to conduct a poll.

On Monday, as the Ole Miss football storm raged on upon the wave of fall camp’s first day of workouts, AP Mississippi beat man David Brandt — who graciously came on Podcast Rebellion last week — tweeted an interesting poll question: “It’s 2025. Ole Miss is celebrating the 10-year anniversary for its Sugar Bowl win with a halftime ceremony. Will Freeze be invited?” His answer options were as follows:

A. Absolutely
B. Depends on NCAA case
C. Probably not
D. Not a chance

This is an interesting question, if perhaps only in thought experiment. The chances that Hugh Freeze appears at a halftime ceremony honoring the historic 2015 Rebel football team reside somewhere between whale shit and the bottom of the ocean. He certainly led a terrific campaign that year — the offense was spectacular and exciting and efficient — but the aftereffects of two years’ worth of NCAA probes and his resignation in disgrace would necessarily preclude his inclusion in any sort of in-person memorial. Especially in north-central Mississippi.

Still, though, under what circumstances and twists of fate and history could Hugh Freeze actually walk on the field at Vaught-Hemingway another time? What if a shit-faced Houston Nutt crashed the party yelling that OLE FREEZE STOLE HIS DAMN SUGAR BOWL? What if?

Our editorial line is a pretty solid “no,” but it does generate interesting — and INTENSE — conversation. So? (Poll will close at 5:30 CT Friday, Aug. 18.)

Tennessee head coach Butch Jones spoke to the media on Friday after practice. His biggest statement came when he was asked if one unit was ahead of the other. Jones differed to his defense.

“Right now we’re a little bit ahead of the game defensively,” Jones said. “First of all is just continuity on offense. We have zero continuity on offense. We have to step it up there and I trust that we will.”

Obviously anytime you usher in a new quarterback, there’s going to be an adjustment period. To add to that point, anytime you’re working with two quarterbacks without one emerging, it just complicates things. This is why I and so many others are big proponents of naming a starter instead of a two quarterback system.

Speaking of those quarterbacks, Jarrett Guarantano was not at practice today. Butch said that the redshirt freshman was dealing with a death in the family, but will be back in Knoxville Friday night.

Jones said that the team got Marcus Tatum, Trey Smith and Brett Kendrick. He singled out Drew Richmond, Venzell Boulware, Jack Jones and Coleman Thomas for “taking every rep with the ones and the twos.” Those added reps will undoubtedly benefit those guys, but present a challenge to find the right combination when everyone is healthy.

Freshmen tight end LaTrell Bumphus and freshman safety Theo Jackson had their black stripes removed, Butch Jones told the media. Both Bumphus and Jackson have drawn some hype in camp, so seeing them take the next step and get their stripes removed is hardly a surprise. These were the first two helmet stripes removed in camp to this point.

Texas Longhorns junior defensive back PJ Locke III was the subject of a practice report piece on the Longhorn Network, which you can check out here:

Locke says he’s starting to feel the strength and conditioning program “kick in” and that the team is moving in the right direction.

“You can’t teach force,” Locke says. “You can’t teach non of that. Basically the strength program — in those tackling drills you definitely feel the force.”

The mentality, Locke adds, is that every day and every play is 4th and 1. Now that he’s an upperclassman he’s looking to become a leader and to help everyone on the team buy into what coach Tom Herman says.

The guy that stuck the dagger into Utah fans’ hearts last year in the Oregon game, with his game winning touchdown catch, may be suiting up for the Utes this coming season. Darren Carrington was dismissed from the Oregon football program just a couple of weeks ago for a DUI, and the grad transfer was visiting the Utes just a few days ago. There have been quite a few rumors that the former Duck is likely headed to the U, including an interesting Tweet from one Mr. Tom Hackett, now with ESPN700, the flagship station of the Utes:

Going down the “what if” road, Carringotn, if he joins the Utes, will likely be one of the most talented, if not the most talented, wide receiver on the roster. Production wise, he was very good at UO. Carrington pulled in 112 passes, 1,919 yards and 15 touchdowns in three seasons at Oregon, and was likely going to be their No. 1 guy going into this coming season. Carrington is the type of receiver that an offense like Troy Taylor’s should play well with.

Utah has missed out on some of these high profile grad transfers in the last couple of years, most notibly Devin Lucien, who went from UCLA to ASU and had a great senior season, after visiting Utah. Hopefully, the Utes can seal the deal with this kid, assuming his off field issues are resolved, which that’s the only way he’d join the team.

What do you think, would you welcome Carrington to Utah?

Houston Lamar defensive backs coach Theadis Reagins has certainly enjoyed a wealth of talent to oversee during his tenure with the Texans. Reagins came on board four years ago with a talent by the name of Holton Hill patrolling Lamar’s secondary. Today, he’s guiding arguably the most talented group of defensive backs in the nation, headlined by five-star cornerback Anthony Cook and four-star cornerback D’shawn Jamison.

Burnt Orange Nation recently caught up with Coach Reagins, who went in-depth about the two Texas priority prospects and much more.

Burnt Orange Nation: Lamar as a whole in unbelievably talented entering the 2017 season. What are the expectations from yourself and the coaching staff?

Coach Reagins: To be honest with you, the last three years we’ve been put out the playoffs in the third round, so this year we’re obviously looking to go farther. Some of the coaches are looking for us to make a run for the state championship; most definitely going past the third round.

Burnt Orange Nation: You’ve seen all the recruiting attention and how much hype Lamar is or will be getting closer to the season. How does the coaching staff help funnel out all of the extra media attention and hype and focus on your own personal goals?

Coach Reagins: Actually the kids do a great job of managing it themselves so some of the time, the coaches are not even involved with that aspect of it. I am because I’ve got a pretty good relationship with the kids, but most of the coaches let the kids handle it and the kids do a great job of managing that stuff.

Burnt Orange Nation: Most schools and coaches would be lucky to have just one of these guys [Cook and Jamison]. What’s it like having a future Division I talent on each side of the field at once?

Coach Reagins: I wouldn’t say it’s easy, but those guys are so competitive and they want to continue to be the best so as a coach, you have to find a way to motivate those guys for them to exceed expectations. It’s kind of challenging at times because they have to lead their league, but those guys constant want to learn. Cook is a dang bookworm. He wants to learn everything, he wants to be the best technician; same thing with Jamison. Those guys constantly want to learn different techniques and different drills so you have to be able to be on your game as a coach.

Burnt Orange Nation: How have you seen their progression from just talented freshman to the point where they’ve blossomed into legitimate Division I talent level guys?

Coach Reagins: My first year I had Holton Hill. He ended up being the defensive player of the year and had 13 picks that year, so I think that year kind of inspired those guys. Jamison and Cook, they’re trying to exceed expectations. They both came in after not playing defensive back in junior high school and — I think Anthony played a little bit but Jamison was a running back — so I think they look at Holton Hill and we had another guy named Logan Latin that went Division I , so those guys were always expected to be Division I prospects. They have progressed a lot. Jamison has progressed more these last 12 months. Cook has always been starting since his sophomore year; Jamison split some time his sophomore year.

Burnt Orange Nation: Have you learned anything about yourself by coaching a team that’s basically going to be more talented than anyone?

Coach Reagins: I played defensive back at Central State University and we were very talented so I kind of know the ins and outs of playing the position because I’ve played it in college, I played in some in the Canadian Football League and the Arena Football League. So I take some of the stuff I’ve learned from those different arenas and kind of teach them the different techniques and skill set that’s required to play that position. But I’m constantly learning myself so I try to teach these guys whatever I learn from different camps, I talk to several defensive backs and college coaches — learn different techniques and different drills and I take that and put it together to help these guys out.

Burnt Orange Nation: Do you think having such high-level talent to coach makes your job easier?

Coach Reagins: I actually think that it’s harder because these guys are talented but they came in and had never played defensive back before. It’s harder because you still have to teach them the techniques, the skill. There’s a lot of talented guys in the state of Texas and as a defensive back, it takes a different skill set. You have to make sure those guys understand the different techniques.

Burnt Orange Nation: How do you think going up against Al’vonte Woodard in practice has benefited and helped prepare Cook and Jamison for the next level?

Coach Reagins: If you talk to Cook and talk to Jamison and Woodard, they always say that iron sharpens iron and every rep counts. Those guys are very highly competitive, even Ta’Zhawn Henry, so every rep, they want to make sure it’s a quality rep. They don’t just want to go out there and compete, they want to go against the best so going out there and and playing against a regular guy is not the effective to them.

Burnt Orange Nation: They’ve each told me that they feed off of each other’s energy on the field. How have you seen that play out in practices and games?

Coach Reagins: Lsat year the defensive backs had a challenge so I think they challenge each other. They challenge to see whose going to have the most interceptions, the most pass break ups. So if Jamison makes a play one drive, Cook is looking to make a play the next drive so it keeps a competitive edge going and a challenge going within themselves to keep their game up to par.

Burnt Orange Nation: Take me through the upside you see from Cook and Jamison and what they can become by the time they’re juniors or seniors in college.

Coach Reagins: I think both of those guys have the skill set to have a high impact at whichever school they decide to go to. The upside is high. Jamison played three or four positions — played corner, played safety, played nickleback — and with Cook’s size, it’s allowed him to play corner and I think he can also play some safety as well. The versatility that they have gives them a great upside and the good thing about those guys is they study the game, so they have tremendous upside.

Burnt Orange Nation: Everybody can see how special they are on film, but is there anything about them off the field that lets you know they’ll be successful in life in general?

Coach Reagins: I’m going to start with Cook. As highly as he’s been rated, he’s probably the most humble guy and his work ethic is second to none. He doesn’t get focused on the Hollywood stuff and things like that. He continues to work on his craft to be the best technician and to be the best defensive back he can possibly be. Plus he also has his own clothing line now. He’s thinking more than just football, but he’s just a great kid and he’s just a great competitor. I think if he takes that competitive edge and puts it to other arenas outside of just football, it lets me know he’ll be successful outside of just football.

Jamison is the same way. They’ve got good grades, they take care of their business inside the classroom so that’s lets you know they take education just as importantly as they do their athletic ability.

Burnt Orange Nation: How have their roles within the team and in the locker room changed now that they’re seniors?

Coach Reagins: Yeah, they’re becoming more of leaders. Last year we had some seniors in the secondary. We had Jordan Stevens, Trevon Lewis, who’s going to Baylor, so this those guys are gone, these guys have a really good role as far as leadership. They’re a real tight-knit group — Ta’Zhawn Henry, Joshua Landry, Woodard, Jamison, Cook, all those guys. They all came in together and they realize they’ve been falling short as far as getting kicked out in the third round, so those guys are all trying to be leaders and take this team to the next level.

Burnt Orange Nation: At what point did you realize Cook and Jamison could be this talented and this highly recruited?

Coach Reagins: After their sophomore year, I seen glimpses of it. The first three games, Cook was out there rotating positions with another guy. After the first three games, I said this guy is going to be really good and also, Jamison, we used him as a blitz guy from the outside, we used him on stunts, so then we realized this guy had a special skill set playing that inside nickel spot for us, and safety.

Burnt Orange Nation: Lastly, for the casual fan that may not know much about these guys, how would you describe what Cook and Jamison bring to the table?

Coach Reagins: Cook has the size, he has the length, he has the competitive side of it. He’s a student of the game. He’s going to be a playmaker. I think he can take a guy out of the game, the top receiver, I believe he can take that out of some games. And Jamison, he excelled last year in the kick game. He’s a punt returner, he’s a kick returner. Of course he can stunt from the outside, he can blitz, he can cover. Jamison can bring a whole lot of abstract skill to the defensive side of a football team. I think they’re both game-changers.

Burnt Orange Nation: If you were sitting down in front of Tom Herman or Urban Meyer or Ed Orgeron or just any college coach in general, what would you tell them about the kind of person and player they’re getting in Cook and Jamison, respectively?

Coach Reagins: Those guys are really really great kids. They’re not going to give you any off the field problem, you’re not going to have to worry about that. They won’t be the guys that are hanging out after curfew or getting into any other trouble. They’ll go to class, they’ll do the right thing on the football field and outside of the football field. They’re really great kids but the good thing about them is they have great parent support. The parents go to every trip with them, every camp. The parents are there as well with us. They have a really, really strong parent support system.

Just a few days from the start of camp, the Wisconsin Badgers released their 2017 fall roster on Thursday.

Looking at position changes and attrition, not many unexpected changes took place. As noted in our position previews, Tyler Johnson moved back to outside linebacker from inside linebacker.

Senior Lubern Figaro is officially listed as as a cornerback now after he was a safety during the spring. Granted, he played that position throughout the spring and last season. The battle for the third corner spot should be intriguing between Figaro and redshirt freshman Dontye Carriere-Williams.

Redshirt freshman Christian Volpentesta is now listed as a cornerback rather than a defensive back. True freshman walk-on Coy Wanner—originally brought in as an “athlete” on National Signing Day—begins his Wisconsin career at tight end.

UW also released its practice schedule on Thursday. Camp starts July 29.

Here’s more from the new roster.

Roster attrition

It was previously confirmed that outside linebacker Max Praschak and former tight end/defensive end Jake Hescock would no longer be with the program. Here’s the full list of those no longer with the Badgers:

Notable weight changes from spring practices

A UW official told B5Q in the spring that the players’ weights are updated on its roster twice a year: once after winter conditioning before spring practices, and around this time before fall camp.

There were some significant increases on Thursday’s roster. Redshirt sophomore running back Bradrick Shaw jumped 12 pounds to 220, technically making him heavier than backfield mate Chris James by a pound. Junior inside linebacker Arrington Farrar continues to fill in his body following his move from safety and is now at 237 pounds.

Senior outside linebacker Leon Jacobs gained seven pounds to 245, a solid weight at the position.

Three possible contributors to the defensive line have bulked up from the spring:

• DE Chikwe Obasih: up eight pounds to 275
• DE Billy Hirschfeld (still listed as DE and not NT): up five pounds to 305
• DE Isaiahh Loudermilk: up 10 pounds to 306

On offense, tight end Kyle Penniston was listed at 244 pounds, seven pounds heavier than in the spring, when position coach Mickey Turner told B5Q that he wanted Penniston to put on a little more size and strength. It appears he’s done that.

A few potential offensive line contributors continued adding mass to their respective frames, including Patrick Kasl (up 10 pounds to 325), Tyler Biadasz (up nine pounds to 316), David Moorman (up nine pounds to 314), and David Edwards (up nine pounds to 315).

Redshirt junior guard Micah Kapoi dropped nine pounds from his listed spring weight to 326.

Here’s a list of other noticeable weight changes:

• S Patrick Johnson: down 10 pounds from 214 to 204
• CB Titus Booker: up eight pounds to 195
• QB Karé Lyles: down 12 pounds to 212
• RB Mark Saari: up 12 pounds to 219
• CB Caesar Williams: up seven pounds to 183
• WR Adam Krumholz: up 10 pounds to 201
• FB Aaron Maternowski: down 10 pounds to 235
• OLB Noah Burks: down 10 pounds to 230
• ILB Ryan Connnelly: down seven pounds to 228
• ILB Griffin Grady: up seven pounds to 225
• OLB Izayah Green-May: up six pounds to 217
• DE David Pfaff: up eight pounds to 275
• NT Gunnar Roberge: up 12 pounds to 304
• OL Jason Erdmann: up 12 pounds to 337
• LS Josh Berghagen: down seven pounds to 236

Number changes

• S Patrick Johnson: No. 22 to No. 2
• WR Kendrick Pryor: No. 27 to No. 3
• WR A.J. Taylor: No. 84 to No. 4 (as noted last week)
• S Joe Ferguson: No. 36 to No. 8 (as noted last week)
• WR Jack Dunn: No. 18 to No. 16
• CB Christian Volpentesta: No. 42 to No. 27
• RB Garrett Groshek: No. 14 to No. 37
• OLB Noah Burks: No. 51 to No. 41
• OLB Andrew Van Ginkel: No. 17 to No. 42
• OLB Christian Bell: No. 49 to No. 55

New additions

The rest of the class of 2017 is finally on the roster, along with graduate transfer Rachid Ibrahim. Here’s the full breakdown:

• WR Danny Davis III (Springfield, Ohio): No. 6 (6’0, 186 pounds)
• RB Rachid Ibrahim (graduate transfer): No. 9 (6’0, 195 pounds)
• QB Danny Vanden Boom (Kimberly, Wis.): No. 15 (6’5, 197 pounds)
• WR Cade Green (Austin, Texas): No. 22 (5’11, 185 pounds)
• RB Jonathan Taylor (Salem, N.J.): No. 23 (5’11, 214 pounds)
• S Scott Nelson (Detroit, Mich.): No. 25 (6’2, 194 pounds)
• TE Coy Wanner (Green Bay, Wis.): No. 30 (6’3, 247 pounds); walk-on
• S Tyler Mais (Waunakee, Wis.): No. 31 (6’1, 202 pounds); walk-on
• ILB Jake Collinsworth (Merrill, Wis.): No. 32 (6’1, 225 pounds); walk-on
• RB Hunter Johnson (Darlington, Wis.): No. 36 (6’0, 209 pounds); walk-on
• ILB Ethan Cesarz (Delavan, Wis.): No. 37 (6’0, 237 pounds); walk-on
• WR Sam DeLany (Delafield, Wis.): No. 38 (5’10, 162 pounds); walk-on
• LS Adam Bay (Mesa, Ariz): No. 51 (6’0, 224 pounds)
• DE Michael Balistreri (Grafton, Wis.): No. 57 (6’4, 273 pounds); walk-on
• OL Logan Bruss (Kimberly, Wis.): No. 60 (6’5, 281 pounds)
• OL Tyler Beach (Grafton, Wis.): No. 65 (6’6, 290 pounds)
• DE Aaron Vopal (De Pere, Wis.): No. 69 (6’6, 298 pounds)
• OL Josh Seltzner (Columbus, Wis.): No. 70 (6’4, 313 pounds); walk-on
• OL Alex Fenton (Menomonie, Wis.): No. 73 (6’4, 299 pounds)
• OL Blake Smithback (Waunakee, Wis.): No. 77 (6’2, 292 pounds); walk-on
• WR Emmet Perry (Grand Prairie, Texas): No. 82 (6’2, 184 pounds)
• TE Jake Ferguson (Madison, Wis.): No. 84 (6’5, 230 pounds)
• DE Matt Henningsen (Menomonee Falls, Wis.): No. 94 (6’3, 275 pounds); walk-on
• K Collin Larsh (Marshall, Wis.): No. 98 (5’10, 182 pounds); walk-on

[Update, 7:20 p.m. CST: A UW official on Thursday night corrected B5Q on how Wisconsin updates the players’ weights each year. Though the players are weighed far more often, the program will update their weight only twice per year as noted above. B5Q apologizes for the confusion].

I wasn’t planning on writing about Darius Garland, and then Jersey Dore issued a challenge in the Fanposts, so here goes.

The main reason I haven’t written anything about this is that, if I’m being honest, about 90 percent of what I know about the situation comes from David Sisk, who’s pretty close to the situation and can fill you in on everything you need to know ($). But blowing paywall information from another outlet isn’t something I’m about to do, so I’d really prefer you read it there.

Here are a few things I can tell you. Garland is a five-star recruit, he plays just down the road at Brentwood Academy, and he’s good friends with Camron Johnson and Gavin Schoenwald — both of whom, by the way, are committed to playing football for Derek Mason next year. Garland also grew up in Gary, Indiana, before moving to Nashville a few years back, and he used to attend Bryce Drew’s basketball camps at Valparaiso.

He’d be easily the most important recruit in Vanderbilt basketball history, and I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that. But since we’re Vanderbilt fans, panic is kind of our default state when it comes to good things happening to us, so the usual sense of dread came over all of us when The Sporting News’s Mike DeCourcy had a little chat with Garland last Friday and Garland said:

“Some of us are trying to make a package deal, so we’re still waiting on that,” point guard Darius Garland (No. 8) of Nashville said during a break at the annual Nike EYBL Peach Jam tournament. “That’s pretty important. I just like to win. That’s my main focus: to win, and to get to the next level.

“We’re all just trying to win, so we’re trying to be with the best players that want to win with you and that we have a good connection together.”

And then, if that wasn’t enough to make you reach for the absinthe, Sunday came the news that Kentucky had dropped a scholarship offer on Garland, bringing back memories of Ron Mercer and Alex Poythress — local recruits who everybody thought were headed to the West End until Kentucky swooped in. Oh, and “package deals,” again:

There’s also the ties to Cameron Reddish, who Garland has talked a lot about playing in college with. Duke has been the presumed favorite to land both players, but now that Garland has an offer, that could change these recruitments.

I know. This is bad, right? But even Jason Marcum of our rival blog admits that:

All of these package deals are fun to talk about, but more often than not, they end up not coming to fruition. Ironically, one of the few major package deals that’s actually happened was when Tyus Jones and Jahlil Okafor went to Duke.

Tyus’ young brother, Tre Jones, is also trying to get a package deal done with Reddish and has even discussed playing with Garland at Duke. Both players feel that can complement each other’s games enough to be starting guards at the same school.

(As an aside, I thought “package deal” meant you had to take the guy’s two-star high school teammate, not “I won’t play for you unless I can play with these other two guys that every program in the country would kill to have!”)

But go back to DeCourcy’s article and read a little bit more closely. While Garland mentioned “package deal,” he never mentioned a specific school. The assumption in a lot of places seems to be that said school is Duke, but that’s often more revealing about the author’s own biases than it is about the recruit. If you read about recruiting on any of the major sports sites that only kinda-sorta cover recruiting — think ESPN, not Rivals or 247 — you’re probably going to come away with the impression that literally every top prospect in the country is bound for Duke or Kentucky. That’s probably just myopia (there are a staggering number of talking heads who sincerely believe that going to one of those schools is in everybody’s best interest), but if you want to put on your tinfoil hat, ESPN probably would just prefer that their NBA minor league college hoops coverage not have to waste their time talking about a 19-14 team just because BEN SIMMONS plays for them.

What’s more, there are some other factors at play here. Rivals recruiting writer Krysten Peek told a Lexington news station that Kentucky’s offer to Garland might really be more about turning up the pressure on fellow point guard recruit Immanuel Quickly, who’s long thought to be a Kentucky lean. If Quickly commits, Kentucky probably wouldn’t have room for Garland, and in any case Garland’s been on the national radar for quite a while now and it should tell you something that Calipari just got around to offering him a scholarship. And while Duke currently leads in the 247 Sports Crystal Ball for Garland, you’ll notice that of the eight predictions that have Garland going to Duke, five of them are coming from a Duke blog and all but two of them came immediately after (or before) Duke offered Garland a scholarship last October. Toss out the Duke homers (and in fairness, we’ll toss out Jesse Johnson from Vanderbilt’s 247 site as well) and Vanderbilt leads, 4-3, and the four most recent predictions have him coming to the West End.

Darius Garland might come to Vanderbilt, or he might not. We won’t know until he decides. But in spite of the talk of “package deals” and him being a Duke lean, most of that assumption is coming from Duke homers and/or people who aren’t close to the situation and can’t actually believe that a top basketball recruit would actually pick Vanderbilt over Duke. But if you’re panicking right now, don’t. Your panic has to do with Kevin Stallings and Jan Van Breda Kolff, who are not on the current coaching staff last time I looked.

About 15 minutes ago, Pat Forde at Y! hinted that Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze was in serious trouble. Ole Miss administrators were meeting to determine the fate of his job-kind of trouble.

Just 9 minutes later, this happened:

Presumably Pat Forde will follow-up with his reporting, and we’ll update this as it goes along. But, Matt Luke is the interim coach, Hugh is off into the sunset, a Committee on Infractions hearing is still pending, and his career is very much in question. For the Rebels, since Freeze was the de facto if not de jure offensive coordinator most years, it throws a lot of uncertainty into a 2017 season where the Rebels were already expected to struggle. There’s obviously a transfer exodus to worry about as well.

This isn’t the end of Ole Miss’ troubles…by any stretch. It’s the end of the beginning of their woes.

—

In a stunning turns of events, Hugh Freeze has resigned, effective immediately. Matt Luke will serve as interim head coach (almost certainly for the entire season). Just like you, our heads are spinning. We’ll obviously have much more coverage coming to you ASAP, but…. a few quick thoughts.

Dan Wolken is reporting this is related to a call Freeze made to a number tied to an escort service. If that’s the case, yikes. That’s a bad look for anyone, but especially someone who constantly tweeted bible verses and gave sermons at local churches.

1. There must be something really, really damning. No administration sticks by someone through the NCAA stuff and then sees its coach “resign” for something small.
2. The recruiting class was already terrible, but now… yikes. Yeah, it’s going to get ROUGH. Like, lose battles to Louisiana-Lafayette rough.
3. I bet a lot of players will transfer. That’s wild conjecture on my part, but… if I’m a great player, I’m not sticking around for no chance at a bowl and nothing proven at head coach. No one is safe.
4. Ole Miss has to make a great hire during a terrible time. With NCAA sanctions looming, they’ll almost certainly just treat this season as a wash, but beyond that, what do they have to sell a new coach on? A roster that will likely be gutted by transfers and two awful recruiting classes in a row? It’s going to be tough to find someone good that wants to step in and take this thing over.

More on this as it develops.