Greg McElroy explains where Austin Simmons needs to improve following 2 INT game vs. Kentucky
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Greg McElroy was a championship quarterback at Alabama, but he was hardly perfect, especially when he first started seeing the field for the Crimson Tide.
So, McElroy knows what new Ole Miss starting quarterback Austin Simmons is going through right now. Asked to replace a star in Jaxson Dart who is now playing in the NFL, Simmons is also carrying the pressure of trying to get the Rebels to the College Football Playoff for the very first time.
No sweat, right? Well, Simmons’s uneven play on Saturday at Kentucky forced Ole Miss fans to sweat out a 30-23 victory. But there were a lot of positives within the shaky win, the top one being that it was a win, period. Last season, Ole Miss lost at home to Kentucky, a loss that threw its season off track. The Rebels and, most importantly, Simmons, didn’t let that happen again on Saturday, even after staring at a 10-0 deficit early in the 2nd quarter.
What could’ve been a here-we-go-again scenario turned the other way because Ole Miss wouldn’t let the same thing happen again against the Wildcats. McElroy took notice of all of this and spoke about Ole Miss’s win on his Always College Football podcast on Sunday. Simmons helped Ole Miss take a 17-13 halftime lead after early hole, and after Kentucky tied the game at 20-20 midway through the third quarter, the Rebels scored the next 10 points to take control and hold off another Wildcat upset.
“I thought this was a great win for Ole Miss. It showcased poise, it showcased resilience, and they overcame some adversity,” said McElroy. “(In a) 10-0 hole, the quarterback throws 2 first-quarter interceptions. Again, that’s Austin Simmons. He’s got to understand when to cut it.”
Simmons overcame those early mistakes, didn’t throw another interception, and finished 13 of 24 for 235 yards passing. He didn’t throw a TD pass, but that was OK, because Ole Miss got the win. McElroy had some advice for Simmons going forward.
“You know, hey, bad snap, don’t try to force it into coverage. Bad pass rush, bad protection, don’t try to force it over the middle. He’s got to understand when to cut his losses. Simple as that,” said McElroy.
Simmons’s next lesson will come in Week 3 when No. 17 Ole Miss hosts Arkansas in primetime at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
