Jeremy Liggins is being held out of Ole Miss practice for ‘violation of team standards’

Jeremy Liggins, who was listed as the starting left tackle when Ole Miss released its first preseason depth chart last month, is being held out of fall camp because of “a violation of team standards,” Hugh Freeze told reporters after the opening practice on Monday. Freeze didn’t provide any details or mention when Liggins might return, simply saying "we're working to get him out there as soon as we can."

There will probably be a few headlines out there that read something along the lines of “Ole Miss Suspends its Projected Starting Left Tackle,” but this isn’t that dramatic. The reality is that you’d be hard pressed to find many people who thought Liggins, a converted tight end/fullback hybrid who’s never started a game on the offensive line at any level of football, had a realistic chance to come out of camp with the starting job.

The more likely scenario, even before this suspension, was that redshirt freshman Alex Givens or superstar recruit Greg Little ended up filling the spot vacated by Laremy Tunsil. Givens, a 6’6, 297-pound former four-star, drew rave reviews from coaches while taking the majority of first-team snaps during spring ball. Little, who recently showed up in Oxford as the No. 1 rated offensive tackle prospect in the 2016 recruiting class, took his first collegiate practice snaps on Monday. Hell, you could make the argument that Liggins’ absence is a good thing, at least in the short term: it simplifies the rotation and means more snaps for Givens and Little.

Freeze said that both Givens and Little, as well as junior Rod Taylor, are competing at left tackle while Liggins sits out. Taylor, who’s a natural guard, spent the back end of last season as the backup blindside protector, taking some snaps there during the second half of the Sugar Bowl after Tunsil’s exit.