Ole Miss best recruiters in college football apparently

[jbcarol]

Key veteran DB transfer from Oklahoma, reveals SEC destination
Paul Harvey | 4 minutes ago

Key Lawrence is a defensive back and veteran contributor during his time at Oklahoma. Originally beginning his career at Tennessee, Lawrence spent the past 3 seasons with the Sooners in a Key role.

Now, Lawrence is on the move and revealed a commitment to Ole Miss on Thursday.

During the 2023 season, Lawrence was 1 of 4 Sooners with multiple interceptions.

Lawrence joins CB Tahveon Nicholson (Illinois) and safety Louis Moore (Indiana) as secondary pieces to commit to Ole Miss in the portal.

The former Sooner will get the chance to face his old team in October when Oklahoma visits Oxford.

[jbcarol]

Report: Florida transfer EDGE Princely Umanmielen expected to commit to Ole Miss

By Nick Schultz

Florida transfer EDGE Princely Umanmielen is expected to commit to Ole Miss, according to a report from Matt Zenitz. He's coming off a monster year for the Gators in 2023 before entering the transfer portal.

Umanmielen is one of the top transfers to hit the portal so far this cycle.

Earlier this week, Umanmielen took a visit to Ole Miss, as OM Spirit's Zach Berry reported.

Princely Umanmielen played high school football at Manor (TX), where he was a four-star.

[jbcarol]

Class of 2024 QB Anthony Maddox commits to Ole Miss

By Hayes Fawcett

Class of 2024 QB Anthony Maddox of Hattiesburg (MS) Oak Grove High announced his commitment to Ole Miss Saturday afternoon.

The 6-foot-2, 175 QB decommitted from Texas A&M yesterday.

"Man, Ole Miss is a great place. Coach Lane Kiffin, and Coach Weis together as an offensive mind is crazy. Seeing the production that Jaxson Dart has put in over 2 years leads me to think I could do even more once I get there."

[jbcarol]

First and 10: Portal King? Lane Kiffin is bring in elite transfers as Ole Miss inches closer to Playoff contender
Matt Hayes | 20 minutes ago

He laid out the plan early last month, so we shouldn't be surprised. It had nothing to do with insulting his current team.

It had everything to do with hanging a sign and proclaiming Ole Miss open for business.

Or, open to those elite players looking for sweet NIL deals.

We're 2 weeks into the opening of the winter transfer portal, and already Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin is making good on the promise he made after the Rebels were clobbered by Georgia in a statement game.

Kiffin said Ole Miss needed more 5-star players like Georgia has. It sounded bad, but the truth often arrives with a hammer.

So far, Kiffin has commitments from an All-SEC receiver (South Carolina's Juice Wells), 2 productive edge rushers (Florida's Princely Umanmielen and Tennessee's Tyler Baron), a high volume tackling linebacker (Arkansas' Chris Paul Jr.), and 4 defensive backs — all part of our nation's No. 1 portal class...

[jbcarol]

Former Mississippi State CB Decamerion Richardson commits to rival Ole Miss

By Alex Weber

State cornerback Decamerion Richardson has committed to the Bulldogs' Egg Bowl rivals, Ole Miss.

Richardson had been a Starkville resident for four years, though he needed a couple of seasons to really get going.

Richardson finished No. 9 in the SEC with 50 solo tackles and 85 total to go along with three passes defended. This fall, the numbers were similar, though Richardson defended seven passes and made 79 total tackles, good for 10th in league.

Back in high school, Richardson attended and played football for Bossier High...

[Hogginintheville]

Is there any chance here? He was Bobby's top HS QB target and was committed to A&M for months. He just de-committed.

[Beardog]

Committed to Ole Miss

[jbcarol]

Finebaum calls Ole Miss an upper-echelon SEC team after transfer portal commitments

By Kaiden Smith

Lane Kiffin's seemingly mastered recruiting out of the transfer portal, boasting a strong list of commitments through the portal just three weeks into December.

Big names like Princely Umanmielen, Tyler Baron, and Juice Wells have all decided to stay within the SEC but take their talents to Oxford ahead of the 2024 season, already setting up the Rebels for success early in the offseason. Which led to Cole Cubelic asking college football analyst Paul Finebaum on 'McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning' if he's ready to put his stamp of approval on Ole Miss having an exceptional football team that can make next year's 12-team College Football Playoff.

"I am, I think it's pretty apparent Cole that Lane Kiffin has taken this program to an occasional contender, but mostly pretender, to a legitimate upper elite echelon SEC team," Finebaum admitted. "I know we obsessed this year so much about well he can't beat Nick Saban, but Kirby Smart's got that problem and so do about 13 of the SEC coaches.

"But ultimately he's moved on, he's made difference where he can, he has a great collective as you guys know, and it's hard to find anybody more effective right now in the portal than Lane.

"Well Greg [McElroy] I mean you that he's always been more on the cutting edge and he's not very much younger anymore than many of the coaches, he just looks younger and acts younger," Finebaum explained. "But I think he just has this innate ability for relatability. For a guy that we all know can be awkward, quirky, he can look right into these player's eyes and communicate. He's always been able to do that and I think his reputation on the offensive side is unparalleled."

[jbcarol]

Ole Miss signs DL William Echoles over Bama

[jbcarol]

Lane Kiffin offers simple explanation for why Ole Miss is out-recruiting Mississippi State
Bryce Lazenby |

"The different direction of the two programs in-state," Kiffin explained. "You know, that always helps, when one program's going one way and the other one's going the other."

[jbcarol]

Walter Nolen finally speaks about transfer: 'Ain't nobody stopping Ole Miss but Ole Miss'
Bryce Lazenby | 

The former Texas A&M Aggie commented on choosing the Rebs:

"Ain't nobody stopping Ole Miss but Ole Miss," Nolan told Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports. "If you look on paper you can already see the team. I think they're going to be something serious. I think Coach Kiffin is a great coach. When it's time to lock in I think he can teach you some things and get you ready to go to the next level."

Nolen was rated as the top player in the transfer portal.

Rebels have added plenty of talent via the portal thus far. Decamerion Richardson, Tyler Baron, Princely Umanmielen, Chris "Pooh" Paul Jr. and Juice Wells are just some...

[jbcarol]

First and 10: Crushing the transfer portal is Billy Napier's only chance to survive at Florida
Matt Hayes |



4. The portal king, again

Imagine of (sic) Kiffin had the ability to recruit high school players to Alabama or Georgia or LSU or Florida.

While Mississippi is a wildly underrated state for high school recruiting, it's not Florida or Georgia or Louisiana. And it certainly doesn't have the pull of the aforementioned blue-blood programs.

But that doesn't mean Kiffin isn't continuing to rebuild Ole Miss on an annual basis by recruiting the portal better than anyone in the SEC. In the past 3 weeks, Kiffin has landed:

— A starting All-SEC wide receiver (South Carolina's Juice Wells).
— A starting SEC cornerback (Mississippi State's Decamerion Richardson) and starting Big Ten cornerback (Illinois' Tahveon Nicholson).
— 2 starting SEC edges with a combined 28.5 sacks (Tennessee's Tyler Baron and Umanmielen).
— Added the best interior (defensive) linemen in the SEC in Texas A&M's Walter Nolen.
— 3 starting safeties with a combined 10 career interceptions and 24 passes defended (Indiana's Louis Moore, Tennessee's Tamarion McDonald, Oklahoma's Key Lawrence).
— A starting guard (Southern Miss' Gerquan Scott).
— One of the SEC's best defensive players in 2023 (Arkansas LB Chris Paul Jr.).

[jbcarol]

Tennessee offensive line transfer Gerald Mincey to take official visit to Ole Miss

by:
Thomas Goldkamp
•

Tennessee offensive tackle Gerald Mincey will take an official visit to Ole Miss this weekend, according to a report from OMSpirit.

Mincey is transferring after two years at Tennessee, where he played quite a good deal.

Mincey told OMSpirit he's hearing from Ole Miss as well as A&M, Kentucky, Florida State, Miami, Notre Dame, Missouri, Florida, Cal, Oregon State, Maryland, North Carolina, Baylor and Arizona State.

The lanky offensive tackle played high school football at Cardinal Gibbons (FL) High.

[jbcarol]

Ole Miss lands transfer commitment from highly-touted OT Diego Pounds ✞

Spenser Davis | 3 minutes ago

Rebels landed a commitment from former North Carolina offensive tackle Diego Pounds. He will now join Ole Miss' well-regarded transfer portal class...

[jbcarol]

Zach Berry@Zach_Berry
·

Sources tell @OMSpiritOn3 Alabama linebacker Kendrick Blackshire is set to take a visit to Ole Miss. The 2021 four-star prospect was recruited by Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding

https://on3.com/teams/ole-miss-rebels/news/ole-miss-football-recruiting-2024-transfer-portal-kendrick-blackshire-linebacker-alabama

[jbcarol]

LSU transfer RB Logan Diggs commits to Ole Miss

by: Wade Peery

LSU transfer running back Logan Diggs has officially found his new home in the transfer portal. He committed to the Ole Miss Rebels. Diggs announced the move

[jbcarol]

Michigan transfer DB Amorion Walker commits to Ole Miss

by:
Steve Samra
•

Ole Miss Rebels have landed a commitment from Michigan transfer defensive back Amorion Walker, as he'll take his talents to Oxford.

He has played both wide receiver and defensive back during his time with the Wolverines. In his two seasons with Michigan, Walker played in 12 games. This year, he played in five games, tallying three tackles and one pass breakup.

Walker played his high school football for Ponchatoula High (2022)

[jbcarol]

How Ole Miss is building on talent through transfer portal

by:
Wade Peery
•

Acquiring talent through the transfer portal is the new reality of college football. And it's something that Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels have been simply dominating this offseason, currently ranking No. 3 in our nation.

They've reeled in some of the best players in the country, such as former Texas A&M defensive tackle Walter Nolen. On the Thursday evening edition of Andy Staples On3, OMSpirit's Zach Berry discussed the Rebels bringing in one of the nation's best hauls.

"Yeah, you've gotta always reload the trenches. That was what Nick Saban did. Princely Umanmielen, Walter Nolen, to go along with J.J. Pegues, Jared Ivey, T.J. Dudley. They have a lot of true sophomores that they're excited about. But you have to shore up that pass rush. Being effective against the run. Being able to stone people at the line. Demand those double teams to free up other people," Berry said.

Nolen was considered an elite player coming out of high school, being a Five-Star Plus+ prospect and No. 1 overall in the 2022...

[jbcarol]

Tennessee transfer, former Alabama safety Brandon Turnage commits to Ole Miss

by:
Nick Schultz

Tennessee transfer safety Brandon Turnage has committed to Ole Miss. He entered the transfer portal on Dec. 4 following three years with the Volunteers and starting his career with Alabama in 2020.

Turnage only appeared in one game with the Crimson Tide before transferring to Tennessee in 2021. In three years with the Vols, he totaled 48 tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss and an interception. He appeared in 12 games this past season and had nine tackles in that span.

After entering the portal, Turnage became the No. 27-ranked safety transfer so far

Brandon Turnage played high school football at Lafayette (MS) High

[jbcarol]

Alabama DB transfer Trey Amos commits to Ole Miss

by:
Barkley Truax
•

Former Alabama defensive back Trey Amos has committed to Ole Miss out of the NCAA transfer portal, per On3's Hayes Fawcett.

His commitment comes following his visit to Oxford over the weekend, and he will have one year of eligibility to play for head coach Lane Kiffin and the 2024 Rebels squad.

[jbcarol]

Washington transfer OL Nate Kalepo commits to Ole Miss

by:
Grant Grubbs
•

Former Washington offensive lineman Nate Kalepo has committed to Ole Miss out of the NCAA Transfer Portal, according to On3's Hayes Fawcett.

Kalepo spent five seasons with the Huskies, making 40 appearances and 18 starts. Kalepo started all 15 games in the 2023 campaign. He started at right guard at Michigan State, and at left guard in all other contests.

The Washington native was named the UW coaches' offensive power player of the week following the win over Utah. Kalepo was a pivotal piece to Washington's front five, which won the Joe Moore Award

[jbcarol]

Washington transfer OT Julius Buelow commits to Ole Miss

by:
Grant Grubbs
•

Buelow spent five seasons with the Huskies, making 31 appearances and 14 starts. In the 2023 campaign, Buelow played in 12 games, missing two contests due to injury. He started in nine of his 12 appearances.

Buelow was a pivotal piece to Washington's front five, which won the Joe Moore Award

[jbcarol]

Ole Miss adds first 2025 commitment with elite LB out of Louisiana
Paul Harvey | 47 minutes ago

Ole Miss picked up its first commitment for the 2025 recruiting cycle via a pledge from linebacker Corey Amos. Listed at 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds out of Opelousas (LA) High School, Amos held other key offers from Mississippi State, Miami, Michigan and Penn State before committing to Kiffin's program.

Amos is a 4-star prospect and the No. 30 LB in the country for the 2025 recruiting class. He's also the 6th overall player from Louisiana.

[jbcarol]

Walter Nolen included on ESPN's list of transfers with the most to prove in 2024
Paul Harvey | 

Walter Nolen has a lot to prove entering the 2024 season after transferring to Ole Miss following a coaching change at Texas A&M.

Originally a 5-star recruit and the nation's top defensive lineman for the 2022 recruiting class, Nolen began his career with 66 tackles, 11 TFL and 5 sacks across the 2022-23 seasons. After Jimbo's firing and the hiring of Elko, Nolen transferred to Ole Miss to join Lane Kiffin's program.

Now, Nolen enters the 2024 season as a piece of a star-studded transfer class for the Rebels. 247 Sports rated Ole Miss' transfer class No. 1 overall for the cycle, and Nolen was rated the best of that group.

According to ESPN's Chris Low, it all adds up to Nolen being the transfer player with the most to prove this season. After flashes of looking like an All-SEC competitor his first two seasons, Low is looking to see if Nolen can elevate his play into that of an every-down enforcer for Ole Miss.

Here's what Low had to say about Nolen's upcoming season:

Nolen was the No. 1 recruit in the country when he signed with Texas A&M to headline the Aggies' top-ranked recruiting class in 2022. He showed flashes of being an All-SEC performer with 11 tackles for loss and five sacks in his first two seasons in the SEC. The key now is being that kind of player on every down, as Ole Miss will look to Nolen to be an enforcer in its defensive line on what should be Lane Kiffin's most talented defense yet in Oxford. The 6-4, 295-pound Nolen was one of the most coveted players in the 2023 transfer portal. If he plays to that level and becomes a more consistent player — along with some of the other key transfers Ole Miss brought in — the Rebels should be right in the middle of the 2024 playoff chase.

With the introduction of the 12-team Playoff, Ole Miss is an intriguing team to watch

[jbcarol]

Kiffin offers candor on Ole Miss benefitting from NCAA's 'disaster' approach to transfer portal
Andrew Olson | 

Lane Kiffin knows how to work the NCAA transfer portal. Ole Miss raided the portal for top talent ahead of the 2024 season as it looks to break through and make the expanded College Football Playoff.

Kiffin, though, still stands by his assessment that the current college football landscape is a "disaster" when it comes to managing the transfer portal and NIL rules.

"So, there was a system that they put in place. I said in the SEC meetings, in college football with regards to the portal, NIL is a disaster. I said that last year, and then they really changed a major thing in the system. And now everybody can transfer multiple times. So that creates really different ways of going about this. And, you know, now you've got to worry about losing all your guys multiple times, twice a year because there's as of now there's two windows.

"So I think that you could have had a plan and maybe you could say our last year plan worked well because we won 11 games and were very portal-heavy. And now you got to adjust again. So it is what it is until they figure out some semblance of a system that would model professional sports, and these would be employees, and they would have real contracts and everybody would know."

Kiffin was candid in recognizing that he is a critic of a system that serves Ole Miss well. To much fanfare, Ole Miss signed the No. 1 transfer portal class, as ranked by 247Sports. The Rebels picked up 17 portal commitments, 8 by @Blue-Chip standards.

[jbcarol]

Transferring back to Ole Miss makes sense for Henry Parrish Jr., Rebels
Andrew Olson |

Miami leading rusher Henry Parrish Jr. could be heading back to Oxford.

According to multiple reports, Parrish is not with the Hurricanes and is expected to enter his name into the NCAA transfer portal. The spring window for undergraduate entry into the portal opens on April 16.

Parrish is set to begin his fifth college football season. He signed with Ole Miss as part of the 2020 recruiting class and played 10 games in a true freshman season that does not count.

Matt Zenitz
@mzenitz
Sources have mentioned Ole Miss as an early place to keep an eye on as a potential landing spot for Henry Parrish, who started his college career with the Rebels before transferring to Miami. He was Miami's leading rusher with 625 yards last season and with 617 yards in 2022.

https://247sports.com/college/ole-miss/board/103605/contents/potential-henry-parrish-reunion-228928022

[jbcarol]

Dear commits to Ole Miss Rebels

by:
Chad Simmons
•

Schools across the SEC footprint wanted Quitman (Miss.) four-star running back Akylin Dear. Nobody more so than Lane Kiffin.

Dear has been a top target for the Rebels since he was offered last February. He's been to Oxford on numerous occasions and was visited by Ole Miss coaches at the end of January and met Lane Kiffin for the first time.

Dear returned earlier this week for a visit to Oxford and locked in a commitment.

"I've been feeling like Ole Miss is home. And I'm ready now."

Rebels beat out a host of SEC rivals to land Dear
Alabama, Florida, State, and A&M were among his other major suitors.

Kiffin himself has made Dear feel like a top priority.

Dear is the No. 34 overall prospect and No. 2 running back in the 2025 cycle.

[jbcarol]

Alfred commits to Ole Miss Rebels:

'I knew it was home since I got here'

by: Chad Simmons
•

Saraland three-star wide receiver Dillon Alfred has committed to the Ole Miss Rebels during a visit to Oxford, he tells On3. He picked the Rebels over schools like Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas among others.

"I knew it was home since I got here," he said.

He is the fourth recruit to join Ole Miss' 2025 recruiting class. Fellow commits include Quitman (Miss.) top-40 running back Dear, Opelousas (La.) three-star linebacker Corey Amos and Daphne (Ala.) three-star EDGE Talib Graham.

[jbcarol]

FSU, Ole Miss standing out in self-evaluation of rosters

by: Barkley Truax
•

The transfer portal (error) in college athletics sees thousands of athletes changing programs on a yearly basis. Some head coaches have been able to evaluate their rosters and reach into the portal to secure (more) exactly who they need to succeed the following season better than others.

Cody Bellaire, who has held staff positions at LSU, Texas A&M, Baylor and Texas Tech, joined Andy Staples on Friday morning to discuss which programs are the best at adapting to this aspect of recruiting out of the transfer portal.

"I think there's two that really stick out," Bellaire told Staples. "Florida State is one. The second one would be Ole Miss. And the way they've essentially transform their rosters in two years time, maybe a year? The thing that I don't think a lot of people realize too. ... Now, this is a rule that's in place already. And I don't think people are aware of this. When I joined Joe McGuire at Texas Tech, that first year, you can essentially kick anyone on the current roster to the curb, and so essentially, you can clear out room on your current roster off the jump immediately when you step on campus.

"I don't think people realize like, how cutthroat it really is and how easily teams can essentially flip a roster in one to two years."

Coaches like Mike Norvell and Lane Kiffin have utilized talent from the portal and have seen immediate success.

"It's very interesting to me because Ole Miss and Florida State, they were able to do it and not have any headaches," Bellaire continued. "And to your point, Andy, it's about the evaluation of the roster. And it's about understanding the big thing. I think that's going to be another change in this, people are going to have dedicated staff members that are essentially salary cap machines. And they're going to say, 'Hey, these guys are all worth X amount of money, these guys are all worth X amount of money.

"We can afford to lose this tight end that's commanding $250,000, and we can say, 'Okay, let's use that $250,000 to get two corners and a running back. And that makes us better.'"

Bellaire believes this mindset is the next step in the evaluation process for how coaches will ultimately understand where funding needs to go to make their team better. So far, Bellaire believes Norvell and Kiffin are two of the best at it.

[jbcarol]

Henry Parrish Jr.
@DoubleTay_21
·