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The scene from Ole MissSandwiched between trips to Austin and St. Louis, I've stopped off for a few days in Oxford, Miss., to catch up with former USC coach Ed Orgeron, the new head coach at Ole Miss.A little background: I've been a fan of Coach O's ever since I did a story on him and the USC D-line for ESPN The Magazine two years ago. It was hard not to come away with a real admiration for him considering just how hard his guys played for him and how much everyone around USC respected his work ethic and passion for the game. It's a pretty impressive statement about him that Trojan fans actually have become Ole Miss fans, too, these days just because of Coach O.He's also one of the more unique characters in college football. His bellowing Cajun voice could be heard all across the SC campus, and sure enough, I hadn't even slammed the door on my rental car outside the Rebels football complex before I could recognize that distinctive ruckus.A few observations from the day around Oxford:• Ole Miss' new indoor facility and football complex is pretty impressive and probably rivals any other set-up I've seen, save for maybe Texas.• Patrick Willis is going to be Orgeron's first stud here. A junior middle linebacker, Willis could've played on that USC team last year. (RB Jamal Pittman, a 240-pounder, is probably the other Rebel who could've played on that team.) Willis has awesome closing speed and hits like a truck. He absolutely blasted RB Vashon Pearson when he came on a blitz, sending the 205-pound back sprawling about five yards in the air. It was one of the most vicious pops I've seen in probably two years. Willis has had to make a big adjustment from last year's 4-2-5 scheme to Orgeron's 4-3 but the coaches are raving about his development this spring.• Jamarca Sanford, a redshirt freshman safety, is another name to remember. "He's a rattlesnake," Orgeron gushed as he observed some practice tape Monday night with his defensive coaches and saw play after play of the 200-pounder flying to the football.• Michael Spurlock has some eye-popping talent and perhaps the quickest release of any QB I've seen in college since Michael Vick. The ball just jumps out of his hand. But QB coach Noel Mazzone has his work cut out for him settling Spurlock and showing him when to zing the ball and when not to.• Oxford is really nice and different, although everyone down here smokes. That stinks. And so do my clothes now. More on the trip down south later.• Orgeron will get players here. A few days before his Junior Day earlier this month, one of his aides, who has been with the program for a few years, said he was going to set up about 30 or 40 seats for the crowd Orgeron was to address. "What, are you kidding?" Orgeron barked. "You put 300 seats in there and we'll fill 'em all up." He did, getting more than 100 players and almost 200 parents and prep coaches for the day.• There already is an urban legend about Orgeron's take-over here. One of those wild rumored things sparked by the Internet and message-board craze that then grew and grew and grew. It centered on Orgeron's first team meeting here that supposedly was equal parts Bob Knight, Vince Lombardi and the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket. Chances are, if you're reading this blog, you've heard the story. Trouble is, it's not true. There was only a few things Orgeron railed about that day, some of the same speech he gave to his players at USC. But to the level that supposedly raged? Not quite.