I'm not familiar with rabbiteye types.
However, on my plants, I've had a few buds that looked like they were about to open while there were still leaves on the plants, in the fall. These buds never opened in the spring. Perhaps the partial opening in the fall is when the buds died. This only happened to the larger fruit buds, not the smaller leaf buds.
I'd just leave 'em be, and see what happens. If they do open and produce flowers, you probably want to strip them off. Your young plants will grow stronger and produce better, in the long run.
Gary
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