Todd Wade: I've Never Seen Anything Like Trinidad At Ole Miss | Keys to Charlotte

Ole Miss legend Todd Wade watched the Louisville tape twice, and he came back with the most specific diagnosis anybody has offered of what's wrong with the Ole Miss running game. His read: pass protection was excellent — Trinidad Chambliss got hit a couple of times and that's football — but the run game is stalemates and turn-back blocking rather than drive blocking. And he corrected the popular explanation along the way. The story going around is that Ole Miss linemen were early or late getting to the second level. Wade says that's a symptom: on a combo block you have to get movement on the down lineman before you worry about the linebacker, and when you don't, it's the defensive lineman who blows the play up, not the linebacker. The fix is fundamental — play lower, and let your body travel down with that first step. Also from a man who was on the roster in 1997: asked whether he'd ever seen an Ole Miss quarterback make a more NFL-level throw than Chambliss's first touchdown against Louisville, his entire answer was "No. I don't think we've ever seen anything like him at Ole Miss." Plus why Chambliss's scrambling is different from most quarterbacks who run — he's a late, smart runner, and at that point he's effectively an All-SEC running back. On the offensive line personnel: Tommy Kinzler started at right tackle and went out, and Wade thought the replacement was seamless — confident, no mental errors, no drop-off he could find on a second viewing. Then the disagreement worth listening to. Steven suggested a good number of players will have one eye on LSU this week. Wade, from experience, said that's not how it works inside a season — and that the glaring problems from Louisville are their own motivation. And why the biggest jump in football happens between Game 1 and Game 2, which turns out to be about conditioning more than scheme. Prediction inside — Wade's number covers.