The Flagship: What happened with Quinshon Judkins, and how his departure impacts Ole Miss in 2024
In this edition of The Flagship, Ben Garrett and Zach Berry of the Ole Miss Spirit/On3 (OMSpirit.com) have the full need-to-know rundown on star Rebel running back Quinshon Judkins entering the portal. What led to the move? Where do the Rebels turn now? Does the loss of Judkins change anything for their title hopes in 2024?
Here’s a brief excerpt from their extended conversation.
BEN: Quinshon, he and his family have been a hard negotiator for three years now. Ole Miss and Quinshon re-negotiatied before the bowl. (Ole Miss) thought everything was done. We (the Spirit) were told last night, when we heard Ole Miss was cutting him loose, that if he gets into the portal, it’s over. If you’re asking me today if Quinshon Judkins is done as an Ole Miss Rebel, from everything I know right now, yes, I think he’s done. This has been a long time coming in a lot of ways. I don’t want to rail anybody on any side here. He could come back, of course, but this development is going to be surprising to a lot of people, and it’s our fault that it is, because we should have been talking about this as early as last night. Now the next step is what it means.
ZACH: It’s been trending in this direction. I’ve heard some money numbers that are ridiculous. I don’t know many programs that could justify some of the numbers I’ve heard.
BEN: Quinshon is established. He set the single-season Ole Miss rushing record as a freshman. As a sophomore, another 1,000-yard season. Ole Miss, you don’t let a good player like that walk without a good-faith attempt to keep him. Ole Miss has, time and again, made a good-faith attempt to keep him. I think it’s less about the number he wants and more he hasn’t been a great locker room guy, especially the last year and in the Peach Bowl, for example. Jaxson Dart had to call a timeout and go to the sidelines and beg Lane Kiffin to pull Quinshon because Quinshon was stirring some things up in the huddle. There are things that have happened.
