'The energy has shifted': AJ Finley and the Ole Miss defense ready to show off against Troy
In just over 72 hours Ole Miss will kickoff its 2022 football season and finally all the talking and prediction making can stop.
That is exactly what safety AJ Finley and the Ole Miss defense is ready for. A spring and fall camp that saw co-defensive coordinator Chris Partridge take more of the reins after the departure of D.J. Durkin has created a new attitude.
Some of that new amplified attitude has been seen throughout practices and a fall scrimmage, but on Saturday the defense gets to go full bore against Troy.
“I feel like we’re going to do great under Chris Partridge,” Finley said. “We got a lot of things, not a lot of new things but I feel like the energy has shifted. We all fly around. It’s a different defense I feel like.
“Saturday, it’s always fun to get back out there with the guys because you look forward to not beating up on the same guys over and over. But it’s fun to go play somebody else.”
Related: ‘Oxford and Ole Miss, special place’: Saturday will be an Ole Miss homecoming for Troy’s Jon Sumrall
Finley should be more ready than most of the Ole Miss defense after spending most of fall camp dealing with an injury.
The injury did not seem major and Finley was always expected back by Ole Miss’ season opener against Troy. But he did not get to do as much hitting as he would have liked.
When Finley was on the field towards the end of camp he was wearing the black no-contact jersey. Mostly out of precaution to preserve what Partridge and the rest of the defensive coaching staff knew what they had in him.
With Finley semi on the shelf this fall it allowed for the secondary to test out the depth is accumulated through the transfer portal and high school recuriting.
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True freshman Davison Igbinosun is slotted to be a starter on Saturday, according to Ole Miss’ first depth chart of the season.
“I feel like we got a lot more depth than last year,” Finley said. “We’ve got guys, honestly, at almost every DB position that can rotate in and be just a starter if they needed to. So, I feel pretty comfortable going into the first game that we’re going to be pretty good with depth.”
Finley has become a major part of the defense and of the turnaround the program has seen over the last couple years.
When Finley arrived at Ole Miss in 2019 the Rebels were coming off a 5-7 season the year prior. Since then he has witnessed the arrival of Lane Kiffin and the program returning to a New Year’s Six bowl game.
The expectations have risen and they have continued to rise for Ole Miss heading into this season. Finley is well aware of it.
“The expectations have definitely risen,” Finley said. “Coming in my freshman year, I don’t know how many games they won the year before but I feel like the expectations weren’t really that high. We didn’t have a bowl game to look forward to, so I feel like the culture’s changed since then. We have a goal in sight. So I feel like that is one of the biggest reasons why we’ve changed and the culture’s changed in the program.”
Related: JAKE’S TAKE: Some bold-ish Ole Miss predictions for 2022
Watch Finley’s full post-practice interview from Tuesday below.
