OXFORD — The irony of the date is unmistakable.
It’s Dec. 20, 2023, and this year, that’s National Signing Day. Ole Miss did its part today, signing 21 prospects to join the program in time for the 2024 season.
As of midday today, Ole Miss was ranked No. 18 in the Rivals’ team rankings, No. 19 in the same rankings on On3. It’s a solid high school/community college class. By Southeastern Conference standards, it’s solid. Not excellent. Not bad. Solid.
Ole Miss signed one five-star prospect and 11 four-star prospects. Among SEC foes, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma, Auburn, LSU, Florida and Tennessee were ahead of Ole Miss in team rankings. Texas A&M, Missouri, Kentucky and South Carolina were just behind the Rebels.
“On paper, collection-wise, this might be the best class we’ve signed since we’ve been here,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said.
Of course, those rankings no longer tell anything resembling the full story. Not even a little bit.
Kiffin talked about his 2024 signing class on Wednesday afternoon, but let’s be transparent here. Everyone inside the Manning Center, even as preparations for the Dec. 30 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl contest versus Penn State continue, is looking ahead to a date 365 days away.
After all, on Dec. 20, 2024, the college football world won’t be talking about who has the cutest little signing day tweets or the best trendy catchphrase for social media. No, the college football world will be glued to the first round of the College Football Playoffs.
Make no mistake. Ole Miss is all-in on 2024. Only a handful of the guys who signed with Ole Miss today will have any real impact on the field in the fall.
Maybe five-star defensive end Kamarion Franklin will play a role. Same for four-star defensive tackle William Echoles. Four-star junior college linebacker Raymond Collins is likely ready to battle for a spot on the two-deep. Four-star wide receiver Deion Smith could play a huge role in the passing game.
But you get the point. When your eye is on making it to a game a year from today, guys finishing up high school finals before Christmas likely aren’t going to be immediately impactful.
No, the reason Ole Miss is getting so much attention on Wednesday is because of what Kiffin and Co. have done in the transfer portal. Wednesday’s haul is easily Kiffin’s best since arriving in Oxford four years ago, but it’s his success in the portal that has Ole Miss not just emerging as a candidate but more of a favorite to land one of those coveted 12 playoff spots a year from now.
No one works the transfer portal better than Ole Miss and Kiffin. No one. Maybe some do it just as well, but no one does it better. Ole Miss’ season isn’t even over yet, and the Rebels have seemingly plugged gaping holes in their roster via the portal.
If Franklin, Echoles, Jeffery Rush and others help on the defensive line in the fall, it will just be a bonus. Ole Miss jumped in the portal on Dec. 4 and began plugging away, adding battle-tested SEC talent to its defense. Defensive ends Princely Umanmielen and Tyler Baron were dominant players at Florida and Tennessee, respectively. Chris Paul Jr., known by friends and teammates as “Pooh,” was Arkansas’ best linebacker. Tamarion McDonald was a starting safety at Tennessee. Decamerion Richardson was Mississippi State’s best cornerback. Key Lawrence started his career at Tennessee before playing three seasons — primarily as a nickel back — at Oklahoma. Louis Moore (Indiana) and Tahveon Nicholson (Illinois) have extensive experience playing in the defensive backfields of the Big Ten. It’s a portal class that is ranked no lower than third nationally already.
That was an intentional plan, one that was cemented during a 52-17 loss at Georgia last month. There was no denying that night that Georgia was bigger, longer and just more physically dominant than Ole Miss, and Kiffin vowed in the aftermath to do something about it.
“This really started in Athens, Georgia,” Kiffin said. “You guys sensed my disappointment after that game in the way that I coached and some other things. I said we’re going to do everything in our power to change the way that we look, especially on defense.”
In less than three weeks, Ole Miss built what should be a monster of a defense in 2024. And that’s before the Rebels add, as expected, former five-star prospect and current transfer portal native Walter Nolen. Nolen, who starred at Texas A&M the past two seasons, visited Oxford last weekend and is expected to enroll at Ole Miss next month. He’s the impact interior lineman the Rebels hope Echoles and Rush grow into over the next year or so.
“We might not be very good,” Kiffin said, “but we’re going to look a lot better. We’re (adding) players that were already significant players in the SEC. …Our warm-ups didn’t look very good (at Georgia). That’s nothing against our players and how hard they play. A lot of that is just size. That’s not a secret. We aren’t a very big team. Especially defensively, we’re a very short team. I love our players and I love how hard they play, but length matters sometimes. That’s why the (NFL) draft is the way it is. We’ve improved overall. …We have a chance to be an elite defense in the SEC.”
There were no Signing Day dramatics for Ole Miss on Wednesday. The Rebels had their class complete by 11 a.m. They’ll take a little break before reporting to Atlanta on Christmas Day.
But the portal remains, and Ole Miss will dive back into it soon, searching for offensive line help, another tight end, maybe another receiver and perhaps some running back depth. There’s no reason to believe Kiffin won’t address those needs. He’s used the portal masterfully over the past three years, building a program that has won 28 of its 38 games since the start of the 2021 season. Among SEC foes, only Georgia and Alabama have fared better.
“NIL and collectives are important in this,” Kiffin said. “We used to say they weren’t, but they are. But also our winning shows kids a lot that you can come here and win. I definitely feel that helps and and I definitely feel now going in to schools, living rooms and college campuses nowadays for players, there’s a different feeling when you walk in as Ole Miss than there was when we got here.”
So, sure, there will be breathless commentary about recruiting classes, winners and losers and all of that today. And that’s fine. Just know it’s sort of disingenuous, especially in the age of the transfer portal, (possibly) unlimited transfers, NIL and team-building.
Some of the guys Ole Miss signed Wednesday will become stars. Some will become solid contributors. Some will be in the transfer portal in less than a year.
For Ole Miss, Wednesday was a day to add to the roster, but it wasn’t THE day. That day no longer exists. No, Wednesday was just another day on the march to next Dec. 20, a day that will either mark success or failure for a fast-rising program that has seemingly mastered the art of roster-building in a brand new environment.
Kiffin didn’t have to say that Wednesday. His returning players have said it for him. Jared Ivey, JJ Pegues, Caden Prieskorn, Tre Harris, Jordan Watkins and Caleb Warren have all announced they’re returning for another season in Oxford. Jaxson Dart and Quinshon Judkins are expected back as well. The same is true for Khari Coleman.
“That speaks to the college locker room and culture that they have,” Kiffin said. “The players want to come back. They want each other to come back. Almost all of them did. That’s very unique nowadays. …That’s been really neat and that’s a huge credit to our players and coaches and culture.”
On Wednesday, Ole Miss added 21 guys to that locker room. They’ll add more next month and maybe more in May. Kiffin referenced “The Last Dance,” Wednesday, referring to the Netflix documentary about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. That last Jordan team was title or bust. Kiffin didn’t draw a direct line, for that would be too dramatic, but make no mistake, the Rebels believe they can go further next year, and every step the program takes, including Wednesday’s signing class, is designed to be a step toward that goal.
