Ole Miss returns several key contributors from 2023 and added big names through the transfer portal. The aim is clearly to reach the expanded college football playoff field. But the question that looms darkly in the background for the Rebel Black Bears is: what if they don’t?
Ole Miss is coming off its first 11 win season in well, forever. No really, 2023 was the first time Ole Miss has reached the 11 win plateau in school history. That bred historically high expectations for 2024 are as high as they’ve ever been in Oxford. But as Ole Miss fans have learned time and again over the past six decades, the higher the hopes, the steeper the fall.
Shot (At A Title) Through The Dart
Coach Joey Freshwater got a major boost on New Year’s Day when quarterback Jaxson Dart announced that he would be returning for his senior season. The USC transfer has been the starter in Oxford for the last two seasons and enjoyed a bit of a breakout season in 2023. Dart threw for 3,364 yards, 23 touchdowns and only 5 interceptions while completing 65.1% of his passes, one of the more efficient stat lines in the SEC. He added another 389 and 8 scores on the ground.
It’s no stretch to say both a) that Jaxson Dart could be the best quarterback in Ole Miss history not named Manning, and b) if something injury-wise happens to him or he underperforms then the Rebels are in some trouble.
Dart returns a pair of key receiving options in Tre Harris (54 catches for 985 yards and 8 TDs in 2023) and Jordan Watkins (53/741/3TDs). Returning a multi-year starter at quarterback and two of the team’s three leading receivers is a leg up that’s almost unique in today’s college football universe. But the Ole Miss offense also brings back tight end Caden Prieskorn, the team’s fourth leading receiver in 2023 with 30 catches for 449 yards. As if that wasn’t enough firepower, former All-SEC receiver Antwane Wells Jr. left South Carolina and also decided to jump on the Lane Train. In short, Ole Miss will test secondaries across the field, and be in a position to exploit matchups against any team that can’t put four legit lockdown defensive backs on the field.
It’s not all sunshine offensively, however. All-SEC tailback and former SEC rushing champ Quinshon Judkins transferred to Ohio State, leaving Ulysses Bentley IV (540 yards, 4 TDs in 2023) as the leading returning rusher. The Rebels however went into the portal to pick up transfers Henry Parrish Jr. (Miami) and Jacory Croskey-Merritt (New Mexico). Parrish led the ‘Canes in rushing last season with 625 yards on 100 carries and in particular could be a big addition if he can stay healthy.
Ole Miss returns 3 starters from the 2023 offensive line and, in a running theme for this team, added some help through the portal, including former Washington guard Nate Kalepo, who started 15 games for the Huskies last season.
The Scoreboard Has Two Sides, And That’s The Problem
Coming into their matchup with Georgia last season there was talk that the Bulldogs might have trouble slowing down the Rebels’ high octane attack. But in a solid recreation of the classic “Call an ambulance! But not for me!!” meme, it was Mike Bobo’s Georgia offense than hit big plays and consistently marched down the field when needed to ring up 52 points in a win for the ‘Dawgs.
Afterward Kiffykins admitted that his team needed to get bigger, stronger, and deeper on defense to contend for SEC titles. It appears Ole Miss boosters were listening, and filled the Rebel NIL till with enough spending money to bring an elite talent infusion to Oxford.
Defensive tackle Walter Nolen transferred from Texas A&M after being the headliner in Jimbo Fisher’s 2023 class that was supposed to turn around the Aggie program, but instead devolved into a mess before mostly leaving town. He’ll look for a fresh start at Ole Miss. Princely Umanmielen was second-team All-SEC last season at Florida and led the Gators with 7 sacks. In addition to Nolen and Umanmielen, former Alabama cornerback Trey Amos and former Arkansas linebacker Chris Paul come aboard for 2024. Defensive coordinator Pete Golding also returns starting defensive linemen Jared Ivey and JJ Pegues, along with safety John Saunders Jr.
In short the Rebels starting 11 on defense looks great. My concern is what they’ve got behind that, and I’m not sure it matches with what Georgia, Alabama and Texas have in reserve.
The Bottom Line
On paper this Ole Miss team is the best in decades, perhaps ever. But it’s also not the first Ole Miss team we’ve said that about. The good news for a staff breaking in so many transfers is that they begin the season with a murderer’s row of (stares in utter terror) of: Furman, Middle Tennessee State, Wake Forest, Georgia Southern, Kentucky, and South Carolina. In short, it should be week seven, when the Rebels travel to Baton Rouge for a night game against LSU, before they’re ever really tested. The Fightin’ Lanes also dodge Alabama and Texas and get Georgia at home. In short, if Ole Miss doesn’t finish 10-2 or better Lane Kiffin will owe a lot of folks an explanation.
And some of those folks have a say in whether he stays employed in Oxford. Again, Kiffin made a good bit of noise publicly in 2023 about his team’s talent differential with the SEC big boys. It felt as if he was probably making the same or stronger pleas in private. While it might not be fair to say that Ole Miss boosters shelled out this offseason to tell Kiffin to put up or shut up, it is probably fair for them to ask, given the talent returning and incoming, “If not now, when?”
Score prediction: Georgia 45, Ole Miss 32. I predict the best Ole Miss team in decades falls after a respectable effort against a Georgia team that should be a bit better than the banged up squad that manhandled the Rebs in 2023.
Go ‘Dawgs!!!