The big news out of Ole Miss football’s Monday press conference is similar to the news that came out exactly one week ago.

After undergoing a minor procedure on his knee last week, Ole Miss expects freshman quarterback John Rhys Plumlee to play Saturday against Auburn.

Ole Miss returned from the bye week on Sunday, practicing then for the first time since the prior Wednesday. Plumlee did not practice on Sunday, yet head coach Matt Luke said he talked to him in the training room and that the swelling in Plumlee’s knee had gone down significantly by then. Plumlee will be a limited participant in practice on Tuesday and expects to practice in full on Wednesday. The team anticipates he’ll play as normal on Saturday in Auburn.

“He’s pretty sharp for a freshman, mentally. The biggest thing you miss when you don’t go through the whole practice is some of the mental stuff,” offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez said. “He’ll be able to do just about everything. I don’t really have any concern that we’ll be limited with our plan (on Saturday).”

The bye week proved fruitful as a whole in terms of getting players healthy. Along the offensive line, Ole Miss had sat out four players from practice over the bye week to heal up. On Sunday, Eli Johnson, Ben Brown, Michael Howard and Alex Givens all practiced at full contact. In the running back room, both Scottie Phillips (knee) and Jerrion Ealy (concussion) also both practiced in full on Sunday.