SEC Spring Check-In: Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin are going for it all in 2024
Before the Texas Longhorns officially join the Southeastern Conference on July 1, Inside Texas is going around the SEC to check in with each of Texas’ new conference mates for updates on the latest spring storylines, important roster notes, and much more as the Longhorns embark upon life in a new league.
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Jake Thompson, beat writer for OM Spirit, took the time to answer a few questions about the Ole Miss Rebels as they enter year five under Lane Kiffin. The Longhorns are not scheduled to face Ole Miss this season. The two teams last squared off in 2013. Ole Miss won in Austin, 44-23, but were forced to vacate the victory by the NCAA.
1. How much different will the SEC be in ’24 not only with Texas and Oklahoma joining, but also the elimination of divisions?
It is a new era for SEC football but a welcomed one in my eyes. Not only adding two more teams with the Longhorns and Sooners but eliminating the divisions adds intrigue this fall.
While it does simplify things in terms of now knowing teams need to be in the top two of 16 to get to Atlanta, there is also the idea it creates a more complete race for the SEC title game. Losing one game in the new SEC standings gives the feeling it is not an end-all as losing a game against a SEC East or West opponent would feel.
2. What is the spring storyline to track on offense for the Rebels (transfers, star recruits, coaches coming and going, etc.)?
The singular microscope that will be on the Ole Miss offense is at offensive line. There were some additions with Washington transfers Nate Kalepo and Julius Buelow, North Carolina transfer Diego Pounds and Southern Mississippi transfer Gerquan Scott.
Play of the offensive line was the biggest weakness for an offense that was one of the top in the nation in every other position. Spring practices are going to be very dialed back this year, according to Lane Kiffin, so how much progress gets made is to be determined until we can get a lot of time looking at the group during camp in August.
3. What’s the spring storyline to track on defense for the Rebels?
The easy cop-out answer is also the front line on this side of the ball with Texas A&M transfer Walter Nolen and Florida transfer Princely Umanmielen joining JJ Pegues and Jered Ivey.
But for me it is how the secondary progresses under new position coach Bryan Brown. There are a lot of key losses in defensive backfield, with Deantre Prince leading a group that left for either the NFL or other things. Kiffin made the move to bring back a former player in Brown to lead the entire group of safeties and cornerbacks under one umbrella in 2024 and I’m interested in seeing how that helps.
4. Which returner from the 2023 roster was the most important for Ole Miss?
Hands down it is quarterback Jaxson Dart. Full stop.
If Kiffin was not able to keep his soon to be third-year starter for 2024 there would not be as much hype and pomp and circumstance around the Rebels as a CFP darling pick. Dart was the catalyst for this run they are dubbing as ‘The Last Dance’ and keeping him is huge.
I argue, and maybe it is not so much of a stretch, that Dart was bigger to keep than former Rebels running back Quinshon Judkins. The new Ohio State transfer’s loss will be felt to a degree as that position group is lacking in depth at the moment, but not having Dart and asking Walker Howard to become the guy with little experience in big-time minutes of SEC games would be a tall order.
5. Which transfer portal addition was the most important for Ole Miss?
I avoided going with Nolen earlier but not this time.
The former Texas A&M defensive tackle made a splash his sophomore season in College Station but there is still more potential to be tapped there. Ole Miss defensive line coach Randall Joyner has the chance to make his group one of the best in the SEC, if not the country, with the aforementioned potential starting four up front.
Kiffin and Pete Golding went after Nolen hard and got their gift early with a Christmas Eve commitment. The spring will be the first chance to see how he is going to help the Rebels win more battles in the trenches in 2024.
6. Which class of 2024 signing was the most important for Ole Miss?
Kamarion Franklin. The defensive lineman out of Lake Cormorant, Miss. was the big get out of this year’s signing class. Franklin was part of a big coup from Golding to land three of the top in-state defensive linemen in this recruiting cycle.
It was evident how the front line of the defense was a key focus, followed by the secondary, in order to shore up depth concerns and get numbers that might contribute this season.
7. The game Rebel fans have circled on the 2024 schedule is…
There are two that could be argued as the answer, maybe three as LSU always counts as a big game to Ole Miss fans.
But the answer is a home game with Georgia on November 9 and the home game with Oklahoma on October 26 a close second. A rematch with the Bulldogs could carry even more weight, depending how the eight games before it go, and the stakes raised even higher thanks to the new CFP format of 12 teams. One SEC loss would not cause stress for Ole Miss and avoiding Alabama this year means the Georgia game has even more opportunity tied to it.
Everybody remembers what happened in Athens last November but things feel different (as of mid-March) with the Bulldogs coming to Oxford this year. I was honestly shocked Ole Miss did not get sent to new SEC cities of Austin and Norman, but hosting the Sooners comes just shy of being most-anticipated game this year.
8. What are Rebel fans’ impression of Texas?
In the last couple years when Ole Miss fans think of Texas it is because of one name: Manning.
Arch Manning being the quarterback of the Longhorns always made Texas end up in some message board conversation, and it still does. But not being in the SEC served as a barrier keeping the conversations from going any further.
But the Longhorns are SEC-bound come July and that means they matter greatly from 2024 on. Ole Miss fans know Quinn Ewers coming back for another year makes Texas another CFP and national title threat, causing them to still be a potential obstacle if it and Ole Miss made it to Atlanta in early December.
