Ole Miss Football Recruiting

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Ole Miss RB room taking shape for win-now Rebels

Transfers shake out
Andrew Olson | 

Kiffin knows better anyone that the transfer portal giveth and the portal taketh away.

Ole Miss turned heads around the college football world with its winter work in the NCAA transfer portal. Kiffin's staff acquired the No. 1 2024 portal class.

Rebels were also on the other end of a major portal story. After becoming the first SEC player since Hershel Walker to have 15 or more rushing touchdowns in each of his first two seasons, Quinshon Judkins opted to hit the portal. The two-time first-team All-SEC selection and back-to-back 1,000-yard rusher opted to play for Ohio State.

The additions of Walter Nolen, Juice Kiffin, Princely Umanmielen and others made it clear that Ole Miss was determined to contend for a national championship in 2024. Judkins' departure, though, meant the running back room needed addressing.

At one point, it looked like Kedrick Reescano might be a piece to Ole Miss' running back room puzzle. The former 4-star recruit, however, will play elsewhere next fall as he entered his name into the transfer party. With the dust settled it's hard to blame either.

Kiffin's first portal running back move was to sign Logan Diggs, an LSU transfer, in January. Diggs, who played at Notre Dame in 2021 and '22, has 336 carries for 1,705 yards and 14 touchdowns in his career. He's an unknown for 2024, though, as he recovers from injury.

Ulysses Bentley IV returns for his COVID year. He gives the Rebels a veteran ball-carrier, and was productive in a complementary role last season, rushing 95 times for 540 yards and 4 touchdowns. Bentley logged 170 carries for 913 yards in 2020 at SMU, but hasn't taken on that kind of workload.

In "win-now" mode, Kiffin felt that Reescano wasn't up to being his Week 1 RB2. He went out and got added two experienced, productive running backs to the roster.

Kiffin's first portal spring addition at running back was Jacory Croskey-Merritt. At New Mexico State, Croskey-Merritt rushed 189 times for 1,190 yards and 17 touchdowns in the 2023 campaign.

Days later, Kiffin turned to the portal again for another running back. This time, he brought familiar face Henry Parrish Jr. back to Oxford.

Parrish is plenty familiar with Kiffin's offensive approach, spending his first two season (2020 and '21) in Oxford. Parrish logged 161 carries for 816 yards and 5 touchdowns over his first two season, solid production for a younger back in the rotation. Parrish returns after posting 625 yards at a 6.3 yards per carry clip, both career-highs, at Miami.

Even though Ole Miss will lack the star power of Judkins, Bentley, Croskey-Merritt and Parrish gives the Rebels a solid 3-man rotation at running back. With Diggs potentially returning as a fourth option, it's hard to see why Reescano opted to try his luck elsewhere.