Randolph Tackles Links Course

One would think as a native Mississippian, that former Ole Miss golfer Jonathan Randolph would find the going tough at Bandon Dunes Resort in Oregon - site of this week's U.S. Am Public Links Championship - as it is a links style course. Not so. The All-American shot even par 70-71--141 to finish second in stroke play qualifying and earn the No. 2 seed in match play, which begins today. Check out this story by Michael Trostel of the USGA.

Joe David and Jonathan Randolph
Joining Randolph in match play is rising senior Joe David of Madison, Tenn. The two were teammates for three years and helped the Rebels to three NCAA Regional appearances. This week, they're enjoying playing in Oregon and hoping a Rebel can take home the trophy. Randolph faces Max McKay of St. Augustine, Fla., at 12:40 p.m. CT. David meets Derek Ernst of Clovis, Calif. at 2:20 p.m. Live hole-by-hole scoring is available at www.USGA.org.

ZG Works Out For Hawks

Zach Graham finished his Ole Miss career as a 1,000-point scorer and he continues to pursue his dream of playing hoops at the pro level.

This week, Graham is working out with his hometown team at the Atlanta Hawks mini-camp.

Hawks head coach Larry Drew had some good words about the former Rebel in this story from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Stadium Improvements Underway

If you've lived under a rock for the past two months, then you may not have seen the gameday survey results and improvement plan we announced back in May. A series of upgrades are in store for Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, and among the 100 improvements in 100 days is the replacement of the outdated helmet on the west exterior of the stadium. Our crew is still reviewing potential visuals for its replacement, but the helmet bid farewell today. Check out our creative guru Micah Ginn's footage of the job.

The Next Level

Recently graduated Ole Miss hoops guard Zach Graham has been busy pursuing his dream of a pro career this summer.

Graham has participated in pre-NBA Draft workouts with his hometown Atlanta Hawks and the Golden State Warriors. He is in Salt Lake City today going through workouts with five other players for the Utah Jazz.

Graham and Chris Warren, the Rebel backcourt duo that led Ole Miss to 20 wins and an NIT bid during their senior year, both have an outside shot at being picked in Thursday's NBA Draft (6 p.m. CT, ESPN).

Mincy Named Assistant at Lipscomb

Former Ole Miss women's basketball player Jada Mincy has been named an assistant coach at Lipscomb University.

Mincy, who played at Ole Miss from 2003-07 and helped lead the team to an Elite Eight appearance as a senior, had been an assistant at McNeese State for the previous two years.

While with the Rebels, Mincy made three postseason appearances with Ole Miss. She ended her career having played in 92 games and made 66 starts. She averaged 4.3 points per game and 6.1 rebounds per game during her career.

The official release from Lipscomb can be found here.

Chasing The Dream

Former Ole Miss golfer Kyle Ellis is in his third year on the mini tours still chasing his dream of a career on the PGA TOUR. The Clarion-Ledger caught up with the former Rebel and Senatobia native in its latest weekly column on amateur and professional golf. Click here to read more on Ellis and his latest happenings on the NGA Hooter's Tour.

Countdown To Kickoff: 80 Days

As the summer heats up, the days until kickoff slowly count down and we sit just 80 days away from the season opener against BYU.

To celebrate Flag Dag on the blog, we would like to honor all former Rebels who have served their country in the Armed Forces, including former Ole Miss wide receiver and current U.S. Army Major Sheldon Morris, who never passes up a chance to show his Rebel Pride.

Impressive Home Schedules

ESPN blogger Chris Low recently listed Ole Miss with the SEC's fourth-toughest non-conference schedule next season. Of course, the SEC foes are pretty good too. The challenging slate continues again in 2012, which will make for some big-time matchups at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium over the next two seasons. In other words, LOCK UP YOUR TICKETS NOW!

To put in perspective how awesome our home schedules are the next two years, the good folks in the UMAA Foundation have dug up some staggering numbers on just how strong they are compared to everyone else's next two home slates. Our home opponents for the next two seasons not only combined for the last six national championships (Alabama, Auburn, Florida [twice], LSU and Texas) but over the last three years:
- Appeared in eight BCS bowl games (first in nation).
- Won five BCS bowl games (first in nation).
- Combined for 18 bowl wins (first in nation).
- 10 of the 14 opponents have won a bowl game within the past three years (first in nation).
- Appeared in 25 bowl games (first in SEC and third nationally behind Michigan and Michigan State's schedules).

Did I mention to LOCK UP YOUR TICKETS NOW?

Armintie Ready For 2011 WNBA

Ole Miss women's basketball assistant coach Arminite Price was one of 28 former SEC players on opening day rosters for the 2011 WNBA season which kicked off this weekend. Price, who is in her fifth season in the WNBA, came off the bench to record 13 points and three steals in 20 minutes of action as the Atlanta Dream fell to the NY Liberty 94-88 in OT. Fans will have a chance to catch Price, who played at Ole Miss from 2003-07, and the Atlanta Dream Thursday night on ESPN2 when the Dream hosts the Washington Mystics at 6 p.m. CT. Fans can also follow the Dream for free through WNBA LiveAccess on several games throughout the season.

Homegrown Rebel

Mississippi has had several tennis players go on to become All-Americans at Ole Miss. There was Dave Randall (Tupelo) in the late eighties and then Courtney Chapman (Jackson) in the late 90s. Most recently, Jackson native Devin Britton became the youngest to win an NCAA Singles Championship in 2009, and Grenada product Kristi Boxx earned All-America honors in 2010. Can Oxford native Zach Wilder, who signed with the Rebels Tuesday, join that elite club. Time will tell, but if genes have anything to do with it, perhaps a successful career is in his future. His dad, Dr. Mark Wilder, the dean of the School of Accountancy, was an All-American at Alabama. Click here to read an article in the Oxford Eagle on Zach, a four-time State Champion.

Freshman Rebels Arrive On Campus

A total of 20 incoming Rebel freshmen from various sports are already on campus, as they are enrolled in first summer term which began today. For football, 16 of the 23 newcomers have arrived, including seven prep All-American selections from the celebrated class that dominated recruiting in Mississippi like no school ever has.

Here are those new student-athletes that are enrolled in Ole Miss' first summer term.

Football

Justin Bell

Chief Brown

Serderius Bryant

Uriah Grant

Mitch Hall

Woodrow Hamilton

Ethan Hutson

C.J. Johnson

Maikhail Miller

Donte Moncrief

Collins Moore

Aaron Morris

Denzel Nkemdiche

Cody Prewitt

Kameron Wood

T.J. Worthy


Men’s Basketball

Aaron Jones

Jamal Jones

Jarvis Summers


Soccer

Rafaella