Hugh Kellenberger

The Clarion-Ledger

OXFORD -- Looks like another member of Ole Miss' football program is headed to Auburn.

Ryan Aplin will become a graduate assistant at Auburn, AL.com reported today. Aplin spent the last nine months as an administrative intern for Hugh Freeze at Ole Miss.

Aplin played quarterback for Freeze and Auburn coach Gus Malzahn at Arkansas State, and both coaches wanted to hire Aplin once his playing days were over.

"I think I'm getting ready to lose another one to Auburn and I can't stop the young guy because I don't have a spot for him and they do," Freeze said to reporters at the SEC meetings Tuesday, hinting to Aplin's departure. "We all love the guy."

This comes on the heels of offensive tackle Austin Golson's transfer to Auburn, announced earlier this month.

The loss of an administrative intern, a job created for Aplin, is in and of itself not a huge deal. But Aplin has a bright future, and now there's the matter of play calls.

Freeze spent the spring changing his play calls, in part due to former Freeze disciple Tyler Siskey moving to Alabama. Now, with a player and a staffer at another SEC West rival, Freeze confirmed to the Clarion-Ledger that he'll have to change the play calls again.

"It's quite a bit easier when we're all standing out there with them and they're not going at a fast tempo," Freeze said in April. "We'll see in fall camp. The good thing is they're having their player-guided practices in June and July. That'll hopefully be a big emphasis."

A new NCAA rule adopted last fall allows coaches to make eight hours per week for eight weeks mandatory, including two hours each week of film study. Ole Miss can use that time to teach the new play calls, helping with the transition into fall camp.

The rest is to be spent on weight training and conditioning, which traditionally includes a lot of seven-on-seven work that suddenly becomes even more valuable to Ole Miss. Players like quarterback Bo Wallace are going to be expected to be on the ball and picking it up quickly, in order to help those who are not when the coaches are not around.