Ole Miss coach Freeze confident in resolution of Tunsil situation

Mississippi coach Hugh Freeze speaks to the media at the Southeastern Conference NCAA college football media days Thursday, July 16, 2015, in Hoover, Ala.
Mississippi coach Hugh Freeze speaks to the media at the Southeastern Conference NCAA college football media days Thursday, July 16, 2015, in Hoover, Ala.

HOOVER, Ala. - With a muddied off-field situation lingering around one of his best players, Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze is hopeful the potential distraction will reach a resolution before the start of the season.

The Rebels believe they have the tools to compete in the brutal SEC West, and their chances would get a great boost if star offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil's situation is cleared up by the time the season kicks off.

Tunsil was arrested late last month after both he and his stepfather, Lindsey Miller, pressed domestic violence charges in an altercation involving Tunsil's mother and allegedly stemming from his interaction with football agents.

Miller then told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger he met with two members of the NCAA enforcement staff about Tunsil's relationships with agents and alleged that violations, including falsified academic records and gifts from the university, occurred during Tunsil's recruitment.

"There's very little to report," Freeze said as SEC Media Days concluded Thursday. "We obviously will cooperate fully with the NCAA process or the law-enforcement process. We will cooperate fully with that. I'm very confident in the way we do things and what we can control.

"I'm very confident in the person that Laremy Tunsil is, too, and we look forward to that coming to a conclusion at whatever time is appropriate."

Tunsil was the nation's top offensive tackle and No. 14 overall player coming out of high school in 2013 according to Rivals.com, and he was part of a class that was ranked seventh nationally following Freeze's first season in Oxford.

A 20-game starter at left tackle the past two seasons, Tunsil was an All-SEC selection last season and projects as a top-10 pick in the 2016 NFL draft.

Tunsil hasn't been suspended by Ole Miss, nor has the program acknowledged any formal NCAA inquiry into the situation.

"Coach Freeze really doesn't talk to us about that kind of stuff, but we support (Tunsil) right now," linebacker C.J. Johnson said. "We really don't make too much light into the situation that's going on with him right now. We're planning on having him come this season."

The Rebels return 16 starters on offense and defense for Freeze's fourth season and have a strong core of seniors and talented juniors that were part of that 2013 recruiting class.

Ole Miss won its first seven games in 2014 and rose to third in the national polls before it lost to LSU and Auburn by a combined seven points, but the Rebels bounced back from a 30-0 shellacking at Arkansas to beat rival Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl and play in one of the College Football Playoff's premier bowls.

TCU demolished Ole Miss 42-3 in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, though, and that defeat has been a motivator during the Rebels' preparations this offseason.

"It's how we lost that game," Johnson said. "If it was a seven-point loss, I don't think it would have been as big of an emphasis as it is on it now. The fact that we didn't play our best and it was on a national stage, we kind of felt embarrassed by it. That motivated a lot of us this summer."

Freeze told the Rebels during a team meeting earlier this offseason, Johnson said, that they had the talent to compete for a national championship in 2015.

Tunsil's presence, with the distraction out of his mind, would help the cause.

"He's doing what he has to do," tight end Evan Engram said. "He's not letting that distract him. We're not distracted by that. We're supporting him and rallying around him."

Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.

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