Where does Ole Miss sit in On3's 2023 post-spring SEC power rankings?
There are 105 days until Ole Miss football tees it up and kicks off its 2023 campaign, starting with Mercer. Spring is in the books and the downtime of the summer months before fall camps begin is in full swing.
Plenty to look back on when it comes to evaluating how spring went for the teams among the Power 5 conferences, specifically the Southeastern Conference.
With that in mind On3’s Jesse Simonton revealed his post-spring power rankings for all the major conferences. He unveiled his SEC rankings on Monday and has Ole Miss sitting fairly high up.
Ole Miss lands at No. 5 in Simonton’s SEC power rankings and has the Rebels just behind the heavy hitters of the conference.
Anchored by sophomore running back Quinshon Judkins there is a lot to like with the Ole Miss offense this fall. Jaxson Dart exited his second spring with the Rebels as the favorite to be the starter once again, though a healthy Spencer Sanders could make August camp interesting for the junior.
There are still questions marks on offense, including the offense line and its depth though fifth-year head coach Lane Kiffin once again hit the portal to try and shore up the front lines on offense with Victor Curne and Quincy McGee.
The wide receivers group lost Chris Marshall after Ole Miss dismissed him from the program earlier this month. Kiffin worked to fill the void by landing former Michigan State wideout Keon Coleman but lost out to Florida State, though the Rebels are not done in that position room.
Ole Miss bringing in Pete Golding as its newest defensive coordinator is another reason Simonton is high on the Rebels.
After four years at Alabama Golding crosses SEC inter-division lines and joins Kiffin’s staff with the task of rebuilding and re-molding a maligned defense. Ole Miss was the No. 9 defense in the SEC in 2022 in scoring.
The spring saw changes come from Golding in the form of a four-man front that should help create more pressure and allow Jared Ivey, Cedric Johnson, JJ Pegues and the rest of the Ole Miss defensive line have more success.
Since the rankings were released by Simonton on Monday it has been a good week for Ole Miss on the defensive side of the ball. The aforementioned defensive line got boosted by the portal commitments of Stephon Wynn and Isaac Ukwu on Thursday and Friday.
Earlier in the week it was also revealed that cornerback and longtime Ole Miss commit DeShawn Gaddie, Jr. was officially enrolled, giving more depth to a secondary in need of it.
The Rebels have hype in many areas and positions heading into the 2023 season and this week only helped justify and bolster that hype.
