Ole Miss: CB Tee Shepard retires from football

The loss to a bad Georgia State team was the real killer – allowing the Aggies to earn the Worst Team In College Football tag – but they’ve put up a nice fight over the last few weeks with an overtime loss to UTEP and a battle with New Mexico.

Both Shepard and Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze issued statements confirming the news. And when Ole Miss came to town this past weekend, the Gators proved who had the better unit in a 38-10 beatdown.

On his second spinning of the recruiting carousel, Shepard originally gave a verbal commitment to rival Mississippi State before flipping to Ole Miss three days later on signing day in 2014.

Ole Miss will likely rest several of starters, including multiple offensive linemen.

Ole Miss starting left tackle Laremy Tunsil is expected to miss his sixth straight game on Saturday because of a continuing NCAA investigation.

Freeze said injuries are not an excuse. “You’ve got to continue to build the depth of your program so you can still be elite when those (injuries) happen”.

But the bulk of Ole Miss’ problems on the back end haven’t been at cornerback, a position where the Rebels lost All-American Senquez Golson, but rather in the underneath coverage with nickel corner Tony Conner out for the time being with a torn meniscus.

On the season, the Ole Miss Rebels average 327.4 yards in passing and 173.0 yards in rushing.

“(Martin’s) schemes are good”, Freeze said. The latest: Linebacker C.J. Quarterback Chad Kelly is putting up huge numbers (295.6 passing yards per game, 11 TDs, four INTs), but Ole Miss might lean more on the ground game led by Jaylen Walton (292 rushing yards, three TDs) against the Aggies’ porous front.

“We still have the ability to be one of the best teams in the country”. He had played in all five games in a reserve role this season, but had just tackles and one pass breakup. The star-crossed Shepard, who is hearing impaired, was either never healthy enough or in the correct situation to cultivate his five-star talent. After getting pushed around a bit too often against Florida, this is where the Rebels are going to look to rise up and be a brick wall.

C- ACC: Clemson lifted the conference with a home win against Notre Dame, and Florida State is still undefeated with games against Miami, Louisville and Georgia Tech in the next three weeks.

The Rebels are preparing this week to face New Mexico State in a Homecoming game at Vaught-Hemingway. “It starts with us”.

New Mexico State: RB Larry Rose III.