Lance Fremin's Ready for the Adjustment


Posted Jun 5, 2003


When the Mississippi all-stars take the football field Saturday night against the Alabama all-stars, one of the most important players on the field for the Mississippi team will be a player who has very rarely played the position he will be starting at during the game. Lance Fremin, who played offensive guard for Starkville High School the past few years, will be playing center.

The confident Fremin, a first team MAC All-State performer his senior season, doesn't have any qualms about taking on that challenge. In fact, he has played every position along the offensive line during the past few days in practice and sees it as an advantage.

"I've played everything from tackle to tackle," said Fremin, while taking a water break during Wednesday's practice. "I like doing that because it gives me a chance to learn everything and show all my abilities."

While he's taking advantage of his opportunities, playing so many positions has been an adjustment, especially due to playing them all in such a short period of time.

"Just learning the plays and which way to go has been the hardest thing," said Fremin, a three-time All-Area and All-Region selection. "As far as playing the positions, I've played them before."

Although he has played all the offensive line positions at one time or the other in high school, playing the center position caused one very noticeable problem not only for Fremin but also for starting quarterback Omarr Conner. Omarr played in the shotgun scheme in high school which meant that he hadn't taken the under center snap exchange. During the one-day mini-camp that caused quite a few dropped snap exchanges.

"It was a combination of me not playing center very much and Omarr not being under center very much," explained Fremin. "His hands weren't far enough under and I wasn't getting the snap just right. We got together after the mini-camp and practiced it. We have it down pat now."

Practicing with Omarr solved that problem. However, Fremin also had another way to improve his center skills; his dad, Jerry Fremin, is the current offensive line coach at Gulf Coast Community College.

"It has helped a lot," said Fremin of having a dad who coaches the position that he plays. "He has taught me everything. He has told me all the secrets of the offensive line."

Fremin knows offensive center is where his future lies, not only for Saturday's game but at Mississippi State, the college he signed with last February. However, that hasn't prevented the all-star coaches from giving him a chance to play on the defensive side of the ball. As a defensive end, during one practice this week, he got himself a sack, although it wasn't exactly the way he would have wanted to get one.

"It was an accident," said the 6-foot-2, 275-pound Fremin, doing his best to hold back a grin. "I wasn't supposed to hit the quarterback but I got pushed into him by the pulling guard. I kind of wrapped him up and fell to the ground."

Fremin probably won't be doing any wrapping up of Alabama quarterbacks this coming Saturday night since most, if not all, of his playing time will be on the offensive side of the ball. In fact, the only wrapping up of a quarterback he has plans for is wrapping his arms around either Omarr Conner or Akeem Lofton, Mississippi's two quarterbacks, after they have scored a touchdown against the Alabama defense.


Gene Swindoll is the owner of Gene's Page, the unofficial source for Mississippi State sports on the internet. The URL for Gene's Page is http://mississippistate.theinsiders.com. You can contact him by emailing swindoll@genespage.com.



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