Ole Miss fans hoping for Rich Rodriguez to work a miracle this spring in Oxford were likely disappointed by the weekend performance of the Rebel offense in the Grove Bowl but the reality of the situation is the unit needs more time before they are ready to see the field come the fall.

That’s something the program’s new offensive coordinator noted on Saturday when he stated that not only is he having to implement a new scheme in Oxford, he had to teach the fundamentals of offense to many of his players this spring.

“Overall, the whole spring we put in a lot more than I thought we would have. They handled it pretty well. Certainly, we have a long way to go in every position,” Rodriguez said following the Grove Bowl. “The inexperience shows up sometimes and you have to teach fundamentals and a new scheme, and they make it a little bit more difficult, but they are still working hard. This summer will be one of the most important summers that some of these guys have ever had. It is a really important summer for our staff as well, but we have a great strength staff.”

The way Rich Rod tells it, his unit is going to be thin and young next season and the time and development they put in this summer will be critical for their development. The coaching staff, outside of the strength staff, won’t have many opportunities to work with their players due to NCAA offseason rules so it’s up to them to put in the time that’s needed to prepare themselves for the fall, the way Rodriquez sees it.

“We got a bunch of freshmen coming in and some of them are going to play. We are still looking for guys to come in this summer to compete because we are young but we aren’t going to be deep, either. We need to get deeper and fortunately, or unfortunately, whatever the case may be, it’s going to be with some new faces,” Rodriquez continued.

“If the guys we have make a commitment to having the best summer of their competitive lives as far as getting ready and do what our strength coaches will have them do, then we’ll be a better football team in August. If not, we won’t be better.”

While it’s true to say Ole Miss is far from fielding a competitive SEC offense, the major bright spot from the Grove Bowl was the performance of redshirt freshman Matt Corral. Based on his performance, the young signal caller looks prepared to take control of the offense in Oxford. If he emerges as the leader of the unit, Ole Miss will have a centerpiece to build around in the fall.

“Matt (Corral) has had a good spring. Today might not have been his sharpest day but it is important to him. The great thing about Matt is when he makes a mistake he recognizes that and wants to correct it right away,” Rodriquez concluded.

You can check out Rodriquez’s entire post-spring game press conference below: