Rebel players comment on Coach O...

[ssimelo]

REMEMBERING ORGERON: Several Ole Miss players were asked Monday about their memories of their time with Orgeron. To a man, their comments were far more tame than a couple of remarks made Saturday night.

"He was always good to me," Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead said. "He was one of the people that helped get me to Ole Miss, so I'm grateful for that. …I think for some of the guys, it may be (emotional) and there may be more build-up to it, but I think when it comes down to it, it's another game and we're going to prepare for it in the same way."

Lockett recalled Orgeron being a dynamic recruiter when he recruited him out of Hahnville, La. Lockett said he was planning to go to Alabama before Orgeron sold him on Ole Miss. Lockett said he has "mixed feelings" this week facing Orgeron, acknowledging that he "really wasn't thinking about Ole Miss" before Orgeron's sales pitch yet nothing that the Rebels didn't win many games during his two years under Orgeron's direction.

Running back/wide receiver Dexter McCluster said Orgeron's energy attracted him to Ole Miss.

"It'll be fun to show him he did a good job recruiting and to show him the player I've become," McCluster said. "Everybody's excited about it. Everybody wants to go out there and win. By him being our former coach, we have a connection with him. …It's emotional for everybody. Everybody's eager to go out there and show him what we've become."

McCluster recalled Orgeron's penchant for physical practices, from the pounding of two-a-days to the contact practices late in the season.

"It's real different," McCluster said. "We're almost wound down with this season and everybody's healthy and feeling good. He was hard core really, but that's just the type of coach he was. He wanted to get after it and hit every day. Sometimes, we did get a little beat up and me, not being as big and I was a lot smaller then, taking those beatings (made it) pretty hard for me to stay healthy."