OXFORD, Miss. -- Players started arriving at 8:31 on Friday morning, exactly one minute after Ole Miss was set to receive its official punishment from the NCAA. A bleary-eyed offensive lineman swung his silver pickup truck into an open parking space near the front of the football offices, locked his doors and walked inside.
A couple of junior defensive backs showed up a few moments later, and more and more players would trickle in over the course of the next hour and a half. They didn’t wear grim faces; they’d been through this before. Rather, they were more focused on finding a place to park.