'Some good, some bad': Ole Miss OC Charlie Weis, Jr. taking lessons from 2022 into this season
The Ole Miss offense was one of the best in college football last year but it was not without its faults in key situations. Offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, Jr. is using that as motivation to try and make the Rebels even more dominant in 2023.
Weis was hired by Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin in January 2022 after former coordinator Jeff Lebby left for the same position at Oklahoma. With 19 months under hit belt at the helm of the offense, along with co-offensive coordinator John David Baker, Weis is more confident entering his second season in Oxford.
Of course with any good coach there are always lessons to be learned from a previous season and Weis is leaning on the shortcomings the Ole Miss offense had in key moments in the back half of 2022 campaign when looking at his growth.
“I think last year there was some good, some bad in it,” Weis said when speaking with the media after Friday’s practice. “Just getting back working with coach Kiffin again and getting back in that flow has been really good. We really took a lot of time this offseason to really attack some of the areas where we were not as effective last year to find some better solutions for that. I think that’s been the biggest thing is looking back on last season, seeing where we as coaches could improve and get our players in the best possible situations.”
On top of doing self-reflection and self-evaluating Weis and the rest of the coaches went out and did some of their research and studies to try and find things they could implement to help shore up some of the shortcomings on offense from a season ago.
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A major area that has been a focus for Ole Miss is the red zone offense, which ranked as one of the worst in the SEC last year.
Between the 20 yard-lines Ole Miss was one of the most effective offenses in the country, but it was those final 20 yards to the end zone that the Rebels continue to struggle.
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Last season the Rebels were in the red zone 64 times and came with some form of points 51 times putting Ole Miss 12th in the SEC with a conversion rate of less than 80 percent. Out of the 51 scores 42 were touchdowns and nine others were converted field goal attempts.
To compare, Georgia led the SEC with 83 trips to the red zone and failed to come away with points only two times.
“There’s a bunch of those areas but red zone is definitely one that we look to improve upon, for sure,” Weis said. “Excited to continue to grow in that area.
“There’s a combination of different things. As we go through, it’s really good this year knowing what we have personnel-wise and having a much better understanding of our roster going into this season. There’s obviously is a lot of new players that we have but a lot more continuity compared to last year. I think we’ve got a really good understanding of where we are with those guys, finding stuff in the red zone to make sure we use our people in the best situations.”
