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Listen, I never imagined the day when I would honestly be citing “depth” as a strength at Ole Miss, either, but here we are. Arguably no coach has exploited the transfer portal more effectively than Lane Kiffin, who has not only improved the Rebels’ front-line talent but also succeeded in stacking it, at nearly every position.
By my reckoning, of the 50 or so two-deep players who are in line for regular snaps on offense and defense, only a dozen signed with Ole Miss out of high school, half of whom are offensive linemen.
Importantly, we’re not talking about a Colorado-style, “tear it all down and start over from scratch out of sheer desperation” rebuild here, either — Kiffin has made Oxford a destination for established vets, not second- and third-chance projects off the scrap heap.
Transfers formed the core of the 2023 team that set the school record for wins (11) and earned Ole Miss’ highest finish in the AP poll (9th) since 1969.
The most indispensable piece of that outfit, senior QB Jaxson Dart (originally at USC), is back in ’24 for his third year as a starter.
I don’t know that any of that necessarily justifies Playoff-or-bust expectations in a league where at least 8 other teams with equally stacked rosters are thinking the same thing. But the fact that it’s even in the air at a program that has rarely thought in terms of national relevance speaks for itself.
Rebels at a Glance …
2023 Recap: 11-2 (6-2 SEC; won Peach Bowl; 9th AP)
Best Player: QB Jaxson Dart
Best Pro Prospect: Edge Princely Umanmielen
Best Additions: Umanmielen (Florida), DL Walter Nolen (Texas A&M), WR Juice Wells (South Carolina)
Best Name: RB Ulysses Bentley IV
Most Grizzled: OL Jeremy James (6th year; 49 career starts at guard/tackle)
Emerging Dude: Sophomore LB/Edge Suntarine Perkins
Biggest strength: Wideouts Tre Harris and Antwane “Juice” Wells are as imposing a pair at the position as any in America. Both dealt with injuries in 2023 to various degrees, but when they’re on the field together, the prospect of the defense leaving either in single coverage is a pick-your-poison situation.
Nagging concern: Lack of next-level talent on the offensive line. This might be the most experienced OL in the country — all 10 guys on the two-deep are 4th-, 5th- or 6th-year vets who have combined for 220 career starts and more than 16,000 snaps at the FBS level — but it doesn’t feature a single guy projected to play on Sundays.
Looming question: Does Jaxson Dart have more to offer in big games? He took a big step forward from 2022 to ’23, improving his production across the board while cutting his interceptions in half. Still, he was overmatched in losses to Alabama and Georgia. If his growth curve ends there, all of the work that’s gone into upgrading the rest of the roster will have been in vain.
The schedule: Assuming they don’t slip on a banana peel in any of the games they’re favored to win, the Rebels’ fate hinges on October toss-ups against LSU (in Baton Rouge) and Oklahoma (in Oxford). A win in either game tips the scales toward a Playoff bid. Losses in both drops the margin for error to zero with the lowest-percentage date on the schedule, Georgia, still on deck.
RELATED: Predicting every Ole Miss game in 2024
The upshot
The Kiffin project appears to be sustainable, or at least sustainable enough that we don’t have to pretend like this is the Rebels’ One Big Shot before receding back into the pack. They’re not going anywhere anytime soon (probably). Make no mistake, though: The alignment of a stacked roster, a tenured QB, a manageable schedule and a plausible CFP bid is not a situation anyone invested in Ole Miss football is in danger of taking for granted anytime soon.
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Matt Hinton, author of 'Monday Down South' and our resident QB guru, has previously written for Dr. Saturday, CBS and Grantland.
