SB Nation - Tony Fein

Rebel Roundup - 10/7/09 - RIP Tony Fein

The Ghost of Jay Cutler — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:46:38 -0000

Former Rebel linebacker Fein dies | The Clarion-Ledger
As has been mentioned elsewhere throughout the Rebel internet world and on the Cup via fan submissions, Tony Fein died yesterday. Fein will be remembered by his Rebel teammates as a leader, hard worker, and excellent defender. He will be remembered by the Rebel fan base as the original Landshark, starting something which may become a long-standing Ole Miss tradition. He will be remembered by the men and women of his United States Army company as a damn fine soldier, having served his country for four years in Iraq. But, most importantly, he will be remembered by his friends and family as Tony: the young man they knew and loved. I, unfortunately, never had the opportunity to meet Tony Fein, but my heart goes out to his friends and family just the same.

Rebels usually save their A-game for Alabama | TideFans.com
I will just quickly go through the next few links here. I'm saving the funny and pensive for later in the day. Here is a very detailed look at our team from an Alabama perspective. The message boards on that site are also decent for fleeting, unoriginal humor--that is, if you're able to sift through a bunch of "RTR" and non sequitur Julio Jones references.

Practice shut down | ESPN
Either Nutt is playing mind games with Saban (that will never work) or he is legitimately practicing stuff our opponents have not yet seen. Either way, I support the move.

Don't Bet on It! | Dawg Sports
The Mayor picks the Tide to win in his weekly list of prognostications.

Post-Spring Previews: Ole Miss

Gamecock Man — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:52:43 -0000

The fourth week of the season brings the heavily hyped Ole Miss Rebels to Columbia for a Thursday night game. The Rebels open the season against Memphis and Southeast Louisiana, so they should be undefeated and ranked fairly highly for this game. If we beat NC State and UGA (keep your fingers crossed), we will likely also come in as a top 15 team, setting up an early season matchup of ranked SEC squads. In any event , this will be a huge game for both teams; for Ole Miss, it's a necessary hurdle to prove they're ready to meet expectations, and for South Carolina, it's an opportunity to establish ourselves as a surprise team.

Let's see how we stack up against Ole Miss.

Offense

Quarterback

The Rebels return junior quarterback Jevan Snead. Snead is widely regarded as having one of the best arms in college football and could very well be the top overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft if he has a good year. While I have high hopes for Stephen Garcia this year, it would be hard to say that any signal caller not from Gainesville, Austin, or Norman doesn't have a strong disadvantage against Snead, who comes into this season as a dark horse Heisman contender.

Verdict: Strong advantage Ole Miss

Running Backs

Ole Miss returns a plethora of talent for what should be a tailback by committee approach. Cordera Eason, Brandon Bolden, and Enrique Davis are all backs that can run for both speed and power, and all will see time on the field. And none is was the Rebels leading rusher last year. That honor would go to Dexter McCluster, who is a receiver but lines up under center in the "Wild Rebel" formation, from which he often runs the ball. McCluster is the fastest of this group. All of these options are good news for Houston Nutt, a master at coordinating effective running attacks. I expect a much improved running game for the Gamecocks this year, but it won't be as good as what Ole Miss brings.

Verdict: Slight advantage Ole Miss

Wide Receivers and Tights Ends

Although they lose Mike Wallace, the Rebels return a set of big play receivers in McCluster, Shay Hodge, and Markeith Summers. This group has tons of speed and Ole Miss as a team averaged over 15 yards per completion last year. That's scary against our young secondary. I like the Rebels here.

Verdict: Slight advantage Ole Miss

Offensive Line

This is the big question mark for what is an otherwise star-studded Ole Miss offense. Star left tackle Michael Oher and both guards are gone, leaving big shoes for the new crop of players to fill. The Rebels have talent coming to play, including tackle Bradley Sowell, who will take over for Oher. However, they won't have much time to gel before playing us (again, we're their first big-time opponent), and an injury to Sowell or right tackle John Jerry could spell disaster. I would say we have a slight advantage here if our guys continue to improve.

Verdict: Slight advantage South Carolina

Defense

Defensive Line

Although they lost Peria Jerry to the NFL from a unit that led the SEC in tackles for a loss, Ole Miss has what is probably the league's best defensive line. Greg Hardy and Jerrell Powe are the two everyone is talking about, but Marcus Tillman and Kendrell Lockett are also pretty good. I like our defensive line a lot this year (although I worry about depth), but I think Ole Miss has a slight advantage here.

Verdict: Slight advantage Ole Miss

Linebacker

Ole Miss graduates its best players at the linebacker positions, Tony Fein and Ashlee Palmer. The Rebels do return some solid players with significant experience, such as Patrick Trahan. However, this is a question mark area for them; they certainly don't have anyone like Eric Norwood. If we can hold their linemen at bay, I like our chances to run the ball against these guys as well as to set up mismatches in the short to mid-range passing game.

Verdict: Strong advantage South Carolina

Secondary

Although they return some experience at these positions, there are concerns here for the Rebels, as Ole Miss's secondary was the weak link in an otherwise stout Ole Miss defense last year. This isn't to say they're a horrible unit. They played well at times, such as in the Cotton Bowl against a high-flying Texas Tech offense. However, Ole Miss was usually a team you could pass against if you could protect your QB long enough; don't forget, this is a team that Chris Smelley more or less torched. While we have some questions here due to departures, we have some talented players returning and some good incoming talent that should give us a slight advantage here.

Verdict: Slight advantage South Carolina

Special Teams

The Rebels return one of the conference's better placekickers in Joshua Shene. Their main return guys last year were Marshey Green and the departed Mike Wallace; both of the punt and kickoff return units were better than average last year, but losing the speedy Wallace leaves a hole to fill. Their coverage units were also pretty good. With a lot of question marks to answer after losing Ryan Succop, Captain Munnerlyn, and coach Ray Rychleski, I'd say we're at a disadvantage here until we prove otherwise, although I do like our return units when Chris Culliver has the ball.

Verdict: Slight advantage Ole Miss

Head Coach

In the wake of Ole Miss's surprising 2008, pundits everywhere have proclaimed the greatness of Houston Nutt and have derided Arkansas for ever letting him get away. I can't say I agree with this sentiment. Nutt is certainly a good coach and has no peer in terms of motivating his teams to win big games. However, he has some shortcomings that have kept him from the top despite the fact that he had the talent in place with his last two Arkansas teams to win the SEC. First of all, the guy seemed afriad of the forward pass at Arkansas, even when he had Mitch Mustain under center. To his credit, he seems to be embracing post-1960s football these days at Ole Miss. Second of all, his bickering with coaches and off-field shenanigans cost him Mustain, a few other players, and talent offensive coordinator Guz Malzahn for the 2007 season, which could have been a big one for Arkansas. Finally, although he brought some good players to Arkansas, for the most part he's been a very average recruiter, unless you call signing 35+ players this past year at Ole Miss the sign of recruiting prowess. Lest we forget, Nutt's success in Oxford has come courtesy of Ed Orgeron's recruiting talents. This isn't to say that Nutt isn't a better coach than Orgeron; he is. I just don't think he's the genius everyone is saying he is right now. A couple of years ago, before he upset number one LSU in Baton Rouge, nobody was saying this stuff. I'd call comparing him to Spurrier, who has a great legacy but hasn't produced as of late, a push.

Verdict: Push

Overall

My general impression when comparing these teams is that we should have a slightly better defense than Ole Miss, while they should have a much better offense than us. This isn't necessarily to say that we won't have a good offense this year; the fact is, Ole Miss projects to have a truly great one if they live up to expectations. The thing I like about how we match up against them, though, is the Ole Miss offensive line / USC defensive line matchup. We should be able to get some pressure on these guys, which could be key to keeping them from scoring 30+ against us. Of coure, the battle between our o line against their d line will be important, as well; if we can't contain Hardy and Powe, we could be looking at one of those five sacks, four turnovers games we've grown accustomed to. The other thing I like about this game is that it's in Columbia on a Thursday night. All in all, I think the Rebels are probably a slightly better team than us, but I think we'll manage to pull out an upset here.

Prediction: Gamecocks by a field goal

P. S. This prediction has homer written all over it; expect this game to be brutally tough to win.

Previewing Texas Tech vs. Ole Miss: Linebacker

Seth C — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:00:07 -0000

LINEBACKER

Player	Ht/Wt	Class	Position	Tackles	TFL	Sacks
Bront Bird	6'3"/220	So.	LB	58	3	1
Marlon Williams	6'0"/224	Jr.	LB	65	3	2
Brian Duncan	6'1"/238	So.	LB	90	2	0
Victor Hunter	5'11"/256	Jr.	LB	20	1	0
Ashlee Palmer	6'2"/222	Sr.	LB	48	5	1
Allen Walker	6'1"/215	So.	LB	37	3	2
Jonathan Cornell	6'1"/225	So.	LB	42	4.5	3
Patrick Trahan	6'3"/225	Jr.	LB	24	3.5	1
Lamar Brumfield	6'0"/224	Jr.	LB	20	2	0
Tony Fein	6'2"/245	Sr.	LB	51	5	0

Texas Tech

Brian Duncan is focused.

I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the resurgence of the Texas Tech linebacking corp. At some point during last year's offseason, Ruffin McNeill determined that it was imperative to send out on the field more athletic linebackers than we've seen in the past. The result was the emergence of Brian Duncan, who should have been named to some of the all-conference teams, led the team with 90 tackles, 59 of which were solo tackles. Duncan is by far and away the best linebacker that Texas Tech has had, perhaps since Zach Thomas. Duncan's been on a tear of late as he's had 7, 11, 11 and 5 tackles over his last 4 games and had a huge interception against Baylor.

McNeill prefers to play a traditional 4-3 defense, despite the Big 12's move towards more offenses running the spread. That typically means that Marlon Williams, for most of the season, was covering the opposing team's slot receiver. I think there was a movement towards the latter part of the year to move away from Williams in the slot, preferring a bigger safety or defensive back, which in turn limited Williams time on the field. Against Kansas, Williams had 4 tackles, but over the next 3 games (Texas, Oklahoma State, and Oklahoma) Williams had 2, 2 and 5 tackles, before returning to form with 9 tackles against Baylor. In my opinion, Williams is much better playing the run than the pass and he excels against more traditional teams, which is Ole Miss.

As the season moved on, it seemed like Bront Bird became that linebacker that tended to initially cover a team's tight end or slot receiver. Bird, a former safety in high school, seemed to struggle a bit in pass coverage and much like M. Williams, Bird is better suited playing the run. Bird tends to run very hot or cold in terms of involvement, but I think that's partly because of playing time, not necessarily the inability to make a play. Bird will have one game where he makes 10 tackles and then not show up in the boxscore.

Victor Hunter is the bowling ball run stopper. He is your goal-line stand guy that tries to plug the middle of the field. He doesn't see a ton of playing time (i.e. due to the number of spread offenses), but he's effective at what he does.

Mississippi

Ashlee Palmer is excited.

The SEC is not typically a spread-offense conference, it's more traditional in offensive schemes (for the most part). The difference between the linebackers for Ole Miss and for Texas Tech is that the Ole Miss defensive line does a ton of the dirty work, leaving the Rebel linebackers to make a few tackles each game, which is a good thing.

While perusing the Ole Miss linebacker stats, it's apparent that they each contribute 3 to 4 tackles a game. Leading linebacker tackler Tony Fair's last 4 games were 2, 2, 5 and 2 tackles. Ashlee Palmer: 4, 1, 3 and 0. Granted, 2 of these last 4 games were absolute blow outs, but it's still interesting to note that this is a collective effort. If there is one linebacker that has the ability to take over a game, it's Palmer, who had a very nice stretch early in the year with 5 tackles against Florida, followed up with 9 against S. Carolina an 8 against Alabama. Keep in mind that Palmer was the player that the Ole Miss staff thought might not make it because of grades, but was eventually fully reinstated.

Of course, the difficult part about playing Texas Tech is that the Ole Miss linebackers may be completely taken out of the entire game play because Texas Tech will run 4-wide more times than not. You'd have to think that the Ole Miss staff will have, at the very least 5 defensive backs at any given time, probably more, and as a result, the linebackers may get squeezed.

With that being said, these linebackers are part of the same defense that is #6 in the country at stopping the run, and although the defensive line deserves quite a bit of the credit, I think it would disingenuous to not credit the Rebel linebackers as well. Collectively, these guys get it done.

I'd love to hear from Ole Miss fans to find out what they think we'll see in terms of matchups during the Cotton Bowl.

Conclusion:

I think this is a pretty close matchup and interesting to look at the numbers. Only a few of the Texas Tech linebackers see much playing time, while Ole Miss prefers to rotate, at the very least 6 linebackers, that each make a some impact during every game. Ultimately, the Ole Miss has a better defense and despite my thinking that we may not see the Rebel linebackers receive much playing time, they still get my vote.

Previous Matchups

Quarterbacks :: Running Backs :: Receiver :: Offensive Line :: Defensive Line :: Linebackers :: Secondary :: Special Teams :: Coaching

Matchup	Advantage
Quarterback
Running Back
Receivers
Offensive Line
Defensive Line
Linebacker

Poll

Who do you favor in this matchup of linebackers?

Texas Tech

84 votes

Mississippi

84 votes

168 votes | Poll has closed