Ole Miss head football coach Hugh Freeze is wisely keeping his eye on the Texas game and not the suspension of defensive back Trae Elston.  Freeze said via press release:

“We are disappointed to lose Trae for this weekend, but we are moving forward as a team and focused on Texas.”

There is no appeals process available to Ole Miss even if Freeze did want to challenge the SEC’s ruling.

Fresh off a surprising 2-0 start, Hugh Freeze and his Rebels got a bit of bad news from the SEC this morning.  The league has announced that freshman defensive back Trae Elston will be suspended for this weekend’s game against Texas due to an illegal hit he doled out in last week’s Ole Miss/UTEP game.

According to the league’s release:

“This action was the result of a flagrant and dangerous act which occurred at the 3:18 mark in the fourth quarter.  The action is in violation of Rule 9-1-4 of the NCAA Football Rule Book, which reads, ‘No player shall target and initiate contact to the head or neck area of a defenseless opponent with the helmet, forearm, elbow or shoulder,’ and Rule 9-1-3 which states, ‘No player shall target and initiate contact against an opponent with the crown (top) of his helmet.’”

To be sure, many Rebel fans won’t like it, but we give the league a thumbs-up on this one.  When it comes to player safety, MrSEC.com is a big proponent of doing anything and everything to protect the athletes on the field.  (And we’ll make the point again later today.)  The video below shows that at least one UM fan was proud of the fact that Elston teed up a defenseless receiver.  More than likely, that same fan would have decried such a vicious hit had a UTEP player endangered a Rebel receiver in the exact same manner.

Take the rah-rah team stuff out of it and no player should be allowed to launch himself in the manner below at a defenseless foe.  And that has as much to do with the safety of the person launching himself as it does the person being targeted.

UPDATE — As expected, I’ve already gotten six emails from angry Ole Miss fans.  All said Elston’s hit was legal.  Two actually said they’re tired of this pro-Mississippi State website.  Gotta love some folks.  Write something that doesn’t jive with their school and the writer must secretly “hate us” or “love our rivals.”  Yeesh.

This was not a legal hit.  Read the rule — already posted above — and look at the stills below.

“No player shall target and initiate contact…

to the head or neck area of a defenseless opponent…

with the helmet, forearm, elbow or shoulder.”

Elston could have seriously injured another player with that hit.  That doesn’t make him a bad guy, just means he made a bad play.

If there’s a fanbase in the country that should realize that athletes’ safety must come first, it’s that of Ole Miss.  Unbelievably, it seems a few folks in Oxford need to be reminded that the bronze bust players rub before taking the field at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium is that of former Rebel Chucky Mullins, paralyzed during a game in 1989.

Or maybe Mullins has become nothing more than a lucky charm for current Rebel players and fans.  I’m disgusted that in a situation like this — where a player is suspended for clearly violating a league rule — so many people will defend him and curse the decision simply because the color jersey he was wearing.

And the ol’ “Well, they didn’t suspend this guy” argument that’s now popping up in our comment boxes doesn’t hold water, either.  The league needs to be consistent in its rulings, no doubt.  I agree completely.

But if I get a ticket for driving 90 miles per hour, it’d be hard for me to use the “but that guy was also driving 90″ defense.  A) Because I was indeed driving 90 miles per hour and B) because the police officer would have clocked me, not him.  Fair?  Maybe not when compared to other driver.  But when held to the actual legal standard, absolutely fair.

So much for Bo Wallace beating out Barry Brunetti for the starting job.  Oh, sure, he’ll start for the Rebels against Central Arkansas in their opener, but after that… Hugh Freeze says all bets are off:

“To me it’s still ‘co’ (starters).  Bo will take the first series and we’ll see how he will do, but Barry will get his chances, too.  To me it is about who can move our football team and produce over the first couple of weeks…

I think it’s a good thing if you’re looking over your shoulder.  A lot of people don’t.  I think they better know they have to compete and they have to produce.  I want them focused on what their job is and do your job and do it well.  If you do that, you don’t have to worry about a whole lot.”

Not against Central Arkansas, anyway.

Yesterday was the first day of two-a-days at Ole Miss and new coach Hugh Freeze had good things to say about his offensive line:

“I know (coach) Matt (Luke) is working extremely hard with them and they are studying a lot of film to find their mistakes and coming out and trying to work on those in individuals and carry that over into the team settings.  There is no doubt they got better, you see the results of us getting more positive yards running the football.”

One of those players doing the running yesterday was converted quarterback Randall Mackey.  Freeze told The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal that Mackey could be a valuable asset at running back and at receiver.  “I’ve said from Day One with Randall that if he gets his act together off the field, he fits into what we do, and he can be a very valuable part,” Freeze said.  “Hopefully that will continue the way it’s going right now.”

On Tuesday, Steve Spurrier quipped that if he made the SEC’s schedule, his South Carolina team would be playing Ole Miss this year and Georgia would be playing LSU, rather than the other way around.  Asked about that comment, Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze smiled and said:

“Oh.  I heard he said something to that regard.  I guess my thoughts would be: 2013.  I think they’re on our schedule and we will circle that date and look forward to maybe changing his perspective of what about he thinks of Ole Miss football.”

Betcha Freeze won over a lot of Rebel fans with that response.

(CORRECTION — This headline initially said “they’re” instead of “their.”  Apologies for all flubs or typos like that over the past three days.  If you compare this site to others, I think you’ll see that no one’s typed as many words, notes and opinions as well have.  Any errors have been errors of frazzled nerves and rushed fingers.  Thanks for your understanding.)

New Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze is about to makes his big debut at SEC Media Days.  Will have a dear in the headlights look or will be cool, calm and collected?  (Or as cliched as that last sentence?)

We’re about to find out…

* Freeze opened by saying he realizes he’s taken an unusual route to his job.

* The coach said no one is happy about UM’s current state and that his players appear ready to accept some personal accountability to help lead Ole Miss “out of the wilderness.”

* The coach played up Oxford as a recruiting tool, noting that it was recently named as the #1 college town in America.

* Freeze said he’ll circle the 2013 date when South Carolina comes to UM… since Steve Spurrier said Tuesday that if he made the SEC schedule, he’d play Ole Miss and Georgia would play LSU.

* Freeze credited Dan Mullen and his staff for doing well in the Egg Bowl, but he made it clear that he understands what that rivalry game means.

* Asked about the academic woes he inherited at Ole Miss — about 40 kids in academic danger when he arrived — Freeze said some changes needed to be made.  He says “for whatever reason personal accountability” was lost in the final semester under Houston Nutt (though he didn’t mention Nutt by name).

* Freeze wants to be up-tempo, but he doesn’t feel he can do that 100% of the time in Year One due to a lack of depth on defense.

* The coach says he’s not worried about sending a negative message to his players, stating that they know the situation.  He says about 60% of his team has bought into his plan for fixing the program and he needs “to get to about 80% to have a fighting chance.”  He said he hopes to get to 80% by the start of the season.

* Freeze is very calm.  Reminiscent of James Franklin’s first Media Days session last year.  Freeze isn’t awestruck by all the cameras in his face.  Very, very impressive for a guy who was coaching high school ball in 2004.

* Barry Brunetti and Bo Wallace will be competitors for the starting quarterback job and Freeze says that competition could go into the early season.

* The coach said safety Charles Sawyer is a “maniac” in the workout room.

* Freeze said he needs more leaders on offense, though he’s happy with what he has on his defense.

* Asked to compare the talent at Arkansas State last year to Ole Miss this year, Freeze simply talked up his ASU team.  He said his team was “deeper” at some spots.

* Freeze made it clear that naming guys as “co-coordinators” is just a name thing done to help his guys move up in their careers.  There are clear men in charge and clear #2-type guys.

* Freeze says he considers Memphis “to be in-state for us.”  He says that playing at Memphis saves him money — through busing as opposed to flying — that he can add to his recruiting budget.

* Freeze also pointed out that Ole Miss went 2-2 with Arkansas and LSU that last four years.  (Correction on my point… I’d initially typed 2-2 in two years, but Freeze said 2-2 in four years, meaning 2-2 against both schools.)  His point being that a little “personal accountability” — he’s big on that, obviously — can make a difference.

Our overall grade for Freeze’s “performance” based on comfort, friendliness, openness… we’ll give him a 5.  It’s easy to see what Archie Manning and the Ole Miss search committee liked about Freeze.  From his drawl to his demeanor to his confidence, he looks like more of a fit for UM than, say, Mike Leach — the man he’ll forever be compared to because that’s who Ole Miss could have hired.  Now, if he can only turn the Rebels’ program around.

New Ole Miss football coach Hugh Freeze says his school is about to tweak its drug policy and it sounds like the goal is to make the plan tougher.  After all, it’d be hard to make it much more lenient.

Currently, UM football players can test positive for drugs in their systems twice without facing so much as a single-game suspension.  Only three other BCS-level schools are so easy on second-time offenders (Clemson, Purdue and UCLA).  By comparison, Ole Miss’ SEC running mates Georgia and Kentucky are downright draconian in their policies… actually doling out suspensions to first-time offenders.  Imagine.

Longtime readers of MrSEC.com know that we’ve been calling for a one-pee-cup-fits-all policy in the SEC for a while now.  With the revenue now pouring into the SEC via two massive television contracts, there’s plenty enough cash for each school to a) hire the same outside company to handle testing, b) administer the same amount of tests, and c) administer the same types of tests (hair versus blood versus urine, etc).

Instead, each SEC school can currently create its own policy and hand out its own penalties.  In a fair world — we know, there’s no such thing — one independent company would handle all athletic testing across the SEC and report its findings back to the commissioner’s office.  The commissioner would then turn to a penalty chart that demanded a first offense carry X punishment, a second offense carry Y punishment, a third offense carry Z punishment, and so on.  An appeals process could easily be set up as well.

Unfortunately, it does not appear that Mike Slive has any interest of getting into the blood sample collection business.  Which leaves things right back in the hands of the schools.  Some — like UK and UGA mentioned above — hand out tougher penalties than others.  While UM doesn’t suspend for first or second offenses and tops out only at a three-game suspension for a third-time offender, LSU, for example, has no “that’s it, you’re outta here” line in the sand at all.  Three positive tests in Baton Rouge — according to a Fanhouse report in 2010 — would result only in suspension for one year, not dismissal from the Tiger team.  At Florida, an athlete can botch five tests before being booted from his or her team.

So kudos to Ole Miss for at least saying the right things regarding its policy.  Double kudos for doing so without being prompted.

Freeze told The Jackson Clarion-Ledger that he doesn’t “know exactly what (the new policy) is going to be at this point, but we’re going to get that done.”  And new athletic director Ross Bjork added:

“To me, I think we need to make sure our student-athlete understand we can’t tolerate drug use.  That’s the message we have as educators first.” 

Sounds good.  And again we salute — saaaaa-lute — University of Mississippi officials for saying the right things.  But the proverbial proof will eventually be in the pudding.

Or, in this case, in the literal pee cup.

These next couple of weeks are going to be filled with business meetings and sales calls, so we hope you forgive us if we go a bit more headline-heavy in the coming days.  Here are some of today’s top stories from across the SEC:

1.  This writer says the NFL does have a farm system… Alabama and LSU.

2.  Former Alabama guard Charles Hankerson is transferring to Wyoming.

3.  UAB head coach and ex-Arkansas assistant Garrick McGee — who’d been mentioned in connection with the  Razorbacks’ opening — says John L. Smith’s the right guy for the job.

4.  The “Rebel Road Trip” tour will take Hugh Freeze to Jackson, Mississippi tonight.

5.  Texas A&M’s spring game won’t really be a “game” so much as one of those funkily-scored practice sessions.

6.  Kevin Sumlin has been pleased with three Aggies who’ve been excelling in spring drills.

7.  Florida hybrid linebacker Ronald Powell should be back at some point this season after successful ACL surgery yesterday.

8.  Here are five reasons Gator fans can expect (hope) for a better offense in 2012.

9.  Georgia is filling out future basketball schedules.

10.  Missouri’s Gary Pinkel says there’s “mammoth” interest in his school’s SEC opener against the Dawgs in Columbia this fall.

11.  Some folks aren’t happy that the Cincinnati Reds will honor Kentucky’s national title-winning basketball team tonight.

12.  UK defensive back Marcus Caffey put his quick feet to use in Lexington this spring.

13.  Former South Carolina forward Anthony Gill is transferring to Virginia.

14.  Do you care what Gamecocks hoops coach Frank Martin’s mother thinks about Ozzie Guillen’s Fidel Castro remarks?  If so, you might be Cocks fan.

15.  Derek Dooley thinks things are on the upswing at Tennessee…

16.  But apparently that upswing didn’t carry over to the classroom.  Ouch.

17.  Mizzou defensive back Robert Steeples has decided to transfer.

Ole Miss quarterback candidate Bo Wallace can take a punch.  At least that’s what the photo at left and a since-removed YouTube video seemed to show yesterday afternoon.

Over the weekend, Wallace — a juco transfer who’s competing with Barry Brunetti for the Rebels’ signal-caller duties this spring — reportedly got into a dust-up with a few UM frat boys.  The video showed Wallace take a punch before being surrounded by a larger group of men.  Wallace never appeared on tape to have tossed any haymakers himself.

According to The Jackson Clarion-Ledger, that’s the story Wallace has told head coach Hugh Freeze and for that reason the quarterback will not face any kind of punishment from the team.

He will however have this photo of himself getting punched in the face kicked around the internet for a day or two.  For comparison’s sake, here’s a nice headshot of Wallace when he’s not locked in a fracas.

1.  Auburn’s quarterbacks were taking some snaps under center this morning at practice.

2.  Safety Robert Lester sees promise in Alabama’s retooled secondary.

3.  Alas, there won’t be a Nick Saban High School in Montgomery.  (At least not yet.)

4.  With Spring Break complete, Arkansas will return to the practice field this week.

5.  It seems NFL scouts were “disappointed” Hog QB Tyler Wilson didn’t enter this year’s draft.

6.  LSU and New Orleans Saints fans have gone from Heaven to Hell over the last three months.

7.  Ole Miss’ Jamal Mosley — a seldom-used tight end a year ago — could become a valuable utility man for the Rebs.

8.  Hugh Freeze saw a slight drop-off as his team put on pads yesterday.