Stephon Wynn, Jr. had a 'dream plan' but he is at Ole Miss set to wrap up an unorthodox college career
Stephon Wynn, Jr. started his college career at Alabama and expected to be on his way to the NFL. Five years later he is now back in the SEC and wearing an Ole Miss jersey still working on that pro dream.
Any high school football player that signs with the Crimson Tide is doing so with the plan to remain in Tuscaloosa until their NFL Draft stock is sufficient and then head off to play on Sundays. The plan changed for Wynn four years into his Alabama career and after a brief stint in the Big 12 he is back where he started and once again reunited with a familiar coach.
Following one season with Nebraska Wynn opted to hit the transfer portal. When that happened Pete Golding was quick to reconnect with his former defensive lineman from Alabama. The new Ole Miss defensive coordinator managed to get Wynn to Oxford and is now a major player in the Rebels defensive front.
From 2018 to 2023 the journey Wynn took was not the one he envisioned signing out of IMG Academy.
“I’ve been at several different places. Played a lot of ball at different places,” Wynn said after Thursday’s practice. “I’ve enjoyed the ride, and I’m grateful to have another opportunity to play the game here.”
Four years at Alabama would seem like enough of a resume for any player to get to the NFL but Wynn made the decision to go try his luck at Nebraska where he played in all 12 games for the Cornhuskers in 2022.
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From there it was the portal and back to the Southeastern Conference with Golding and Ole Miss.
Now Wynn is ready to complete what turned into an altered “dream plan.”
“Everybody coming out of high school is like, ‘I’m going to Alabama, I’m going to be three-and-out and I’m going to the league.’ Like that is your dream plan,” Wynn said. “But in reality you can’t control some of the factors that go into it. One of the main things for me was just growing and learning that I only can control what I can control.”
Despite being at his third school and his sixth year of college Wynn is not letting that creep into his mindset and make him insecure. Ole Miss is now the final chapter of a book Wynn did not see being written this way.
This is the new ‘dream plan’ that took an unorthodox turn. Wynn is getting to write a new plan with Golding back in his corner in the Ole Miss defense.
“We have a relationship going way back, when I was just a kid,” Wynn said of Golding. “It’s just grown over the years. When I left ‘Bama it was nothing with him or nothing like that. Just for my own personal reasons.”
But now that Wynn is back in the fold with Golding at Ole Miss he has become the go-to guy in the defensive line room. Having the familiarity is paying off for Wynn when asked by his teammates what some Golding-isms might mean in practice.
“There’s a lot of similar things that were doing here that I did (at Alabama),” Wynn said. “I can look at (Golding) and be like, ‘Oh yeah, this is how you got to do it. This is how he wants it done.’ I know him pretty well so I kind of know some of the things that he wants.”
