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OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss plays Florida State, Alabama and Georgia in the first month of the fast-approaching football season.
That tough early stretch of SEC football was put into real life perspective at Tuesday’s practice.
Six kids, all of whose parents were killed Sunday in a fatal plane crash that claimed the lives of six Mississippians, were mingling with coaches and players.
“The hurt that I feel for those families. I went home and spent some time with my kids. I just can’t imagine,” Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said. “Man, you search for answers, and you’re just at a total loss for words. I know the Oxford community. I know that they will rally. We’re here to help.
“I told our team, ‘You’re not promised another day. What we can do today is rise up today and be the best man we can be, whether it’s a football player or just using the platform God has given us to make a difference.”
The twin-engine plane went down near Tuscaloosa, Ala., killing three couples, three of them local dentists. Drs. Jason and Lea Farese, Dr. Michael Perry and his wife, Kim, and Dr. Austin Poole and wife, Angie, unwillingly left behind 11 children.
“I hate that. It’s sad, and it makes you appreciate life a little bit more,” sophomore offensive lineman Sean Rawlings said, “how strong these kids really are to be out here smiling and trying to make the best of the moment.”
It hit home for Freeze, one of the daughters being a good friend of one of his own daughters.
“I couldn’t even think about life without my parents,” redshirt freshman DB Montrell Custis said. “And for them to go through something like that and see them smiling the next day, it just builds a smile to my face. They are part of our family, and we can all just love each other and stay together.”
