Ole Miss' Hugh Freeze: 'I'm more motivated than I've ever been'
6:40 PM CT
Greg Ostendorf
ESPN Staff Writer
OXFORD, Miss. -- Ole Miss began fall camp Sunday, and despite enduring what has been a tumultuous offseason, there was still a sense of optimism around the team.
"It hasn't stolen our joy at all," head coach Hugh Freeze said Monday. "It's a lot easier than you guys really believe because of the kids. They understand that they have zero control and zero to do with a lot of the things that are going on.
"When you get to control what you can control -- and that's everything that happens on that field, off the field in social decision, academic decisions and in this room -- that's what you should concentrate on. When you see the kids doing that, it's quite a motivator for our coaches."
In January, Ole Miss received a notice of allegations from the NCAA that listed 28 violations against the school's athletic department. Thirteen of those involved the football program, nine of which were alleged to have occurred under Freeze's watch. Most of those nine revolved around All-America left tackle Laremy Tunsil, who on draft night admitted to taking money from an Ole Miss coach and sparked a continued investigation by the NCAA.
In late May, Ole Miss announced that it had self-imposed the loss of 11 scholarships in football over a four-year period from 2015-18.
The program is still under investigation by the NCAA and there is no timetable for a resolution, but this is an Ole Miss team that is coming off a 10-win season, has beaten Alabama back-to-back years, and has hopes of dethroning the Crimson Tide atop the SEC in 2016.
"I'm more motivated than I've ever been," Freeze said. "For the young men that choose to come to this wonderful university and sacrifice to try and change the narrative around this program, we're very motivated to develop them, to give them the best chance to compete in a very difficult conference and a very difficult schedule. And they deserve that.
"There's a tremendous amount of motivation to remain consistent."
Ole Miss, ranked No. 12 in the recently released Coaches Poll, opens the season in Orlando against No. 4 Florida State.

