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Nutt was fired Monday, two days after the Rebels lost 30-13 at Kentucky, their 12th straight SEC loss.
The Rebels, who take on Louisiana Tech on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, are 2-7 overall, 0-6 in conference play.
Tuesday was their first day at practice since a Monday afternoon meeting in which Nutt confirmed the news of his dismissal.
The Rebels worked out in shoulder pads and shorts.
"Coach Nutt has been one of the best coaches and one of the most influential people in my life, and I'm sure a lot of people on this team would say the same thing," junior linebacker D.T. Shackelford said.
Junior defensive end Jason Jones did say the same thing.
"You never want to see one of the greatest coaches in the game leave, especially when you came in with his first class," Jones said. "It was devastating. He's more than just a coach, more than just a coach."
Shackelford and Jones were chosen by the school's media relations staff to represent the team in a short interview session.
Shackelford sustained a torn anterior cruciate knee ligament (ACL) in the spring that has kept him out of action this season.
His absence is one of the factors coaches have pointed to explain the team's shortcomings.
Though he's been unable to play, Shackelford has been at each practice offering encouragement and leadership as much as possible.
He said he didn't see Nutt's firing coming.
"No, I didn't. I felt like we had a good coaching staff. Now the score didn't show that, and the record don't show that. Sometimes it happens that way," he said.
As Nutt did when he spoke with media after the announcement on Monday, Shackelford talked about the need to finish strong and thanked Nutt for sticking it out with the players.
'Business as usual'
In the portion of Tuesday's workout open to media, there were no outward signs of anguish from players or coaches.
Defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix described the workout as "business as usual."
On Monday, Nutt pledged the full attention and effort of he and his coaching staff for the final three games.
Nix said it's the staff's responsibility to separate the personal aspect from week-day preparation and not be thinking ahead to the next job or of relocating their families.
"You can't worry about those things. If that was the approach we'd have done that before the season started, because we knew the expectations, and we knew some of the things we had to do to succeed. We kept falling short, and that's a part of it," Nix said. "The professional side of it is you keep working, do the best you can and get your guys as prepared as possible."
Shackelford says he sees a positive future for Ole Miss football and that Nutt and his staff will have an impact on the program after they're gone.
"I know that Ole Miss football is going to go on, I know that. You can't forget about the stuff you've been taught and think just cause coach Nutt's gone we can't carry on and do the stuff we've been taught to do," he said. "The ball's going to keep rolling. We're going to have a season next year. We'll have a good team. We'll work our butts off. We have to keep pushing."
parrish.alford@journalinc.com