With a locker room full of returning talent and a national playoff picture that offers more opportunity than ever to highly ranked teams, the Ole Miss football season is full of promise.
Written by Eugene Stockstill | Illustrated by Frank Estrada
For those who live for game days in Oxford, a college town that has one of the premier collectives in the country and a team that finished last season ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press Top 25, there is a lot to love about the prospects of the upcoming season. Following the school’s first 11-win season in its history, multiple preseason polls have Ole Miss as one of the 10 best teams in the country.
“There’s a lot of buzz,” said Keith Carter, Ole Miss’ athletic director. “This year we seem to have an opportunity for our program to have a really special year … This is exactly what (Coach Kiffin) and I talked about, and here we are today.”
The excitement is not just coming from within. Here’s what ESPN analyst Greg McElroy had to say about it all on his “Always College Football” YouTube show:
“I think (defensive coordinator) Pete Golding is an excellent defensive mind. He has his best contingent of talent by a mile this year since arriving in Oxford a few years ago. So, very optimistic about what the defense is going to be, which is why … many people think (Ole Miss is) a dark horse national championship contender, and rightfully so. They gotta stay healthy ... But they definitely have the pieces that you would want moving forward into the 2024 season.”
Quarterback Jaxson Dart, whose name surfaces during Heisman Trophy speculations, is back. So are wide receiver Tre Harris and tight end Caden Prieskorn. Add to that the incoming wideout Deion Smith (Holmes Community College), receiver Juice Wells (South Carolina), defensive end Princely Umanmielen (Florida) and defensive tackle Walter Nolen (Texas A&M), who made EA Sports College Football 25’s Top 100 players, and you get a sense that lots will be happening on the field.
“The collection of the players and the depth is what’s exciting,” Carter said. “I think you’ve got to give a ton of credit to Coach Kiffin. He’s entering his fifth year. He’s done a great job of building our program. We feel like we can compete with the big boys.”
When it comes to competing, college sports are big business these days. The two most significant changes in recent years: NIL (that stands for “name, image and likeness”), which allows players to cash in on their star status as college student-athletes, as well as an online trade portal that lets students transfer with relative ease to a new school.
As a result of these shifts, spectacular running back Quinshon Judkins left Oxford to play with Ohio State this year, a grassroots example of how challenging it has become to compete in football at the national level.
“Quinshon’s a great player, there’s no doubt about it. He had two great seasons for us,” Carter said, but he was quick to add that Kiffin and his coaching staff have worked hard to respond. “With the offense that we run, we’ll have an opportunity.”
Kiffin and Carter have both gone on the record about their problems with the financial end of college athletics, but the school seems to have adjusted well.
“Coach Kiffin is pretty vocal, and I’m the same way. We don’t love the system. It needs refining,” Carter said, but “so far, it’s really helped us build our roster.”
Two other big changes that Ole Miss has no control over will affect this college football season: the SEC has added two teams and will no longer have east and west divisions; and a revamped national playoff format is likely to amp up the competitive edge even more.
Carter says those changes should give Ole Miss football fans plenty to cheer about.
“I’m excited for Texas and Oklahoma to come into the league,” Carter said. “It’s fun for student-athletes. It’s fun for the fans. It solidifies the SEC as one of the top conferences in the country.”
The Oklahoma Sooners are coming off a 10-3 season that ended with a loss to Arizona in the Alamo Bowl. Ole Miss will play Oklahoma in Oxford on Oct. 26. The Texas Longhorns, who were 12-2 and finished first in the Big 12 Conference, lost to No. 2 Washington in the Sugar Bowl, costing them a chance to play in the national championship game.
With the new additions, the SEC boasts 16 teams. This year, rather than play for eastern and western division championships, all 16 teams will hope to be among the top two that play in the SEC championship game on Dec. 7 in Atlanta.
The winner of SEC championship (and possibly other ranked SEC teams) will go on to play in the national playoff bracket, which now starts off with 12 top teams. Here’s how it will work: the top five ranked conference champions will be selected to compete, along with the top seven at-large teams. The top four conference champions will receive first-round byes. Bracket play will begin Dec. 20-21 with the first round of four games for the teams ranked No. 5-No. 12. Each of those games is to be played at the campus of the highest seeded team. After round one, the eight remaining teams will play quarterfinal games in the Fiesta, Peach, Rose and Sugar Bowls on Dec. 31-Jan. 1. The final four teams will play in the semifinals (the Orange and Cotton Bowls) on Jan. 9-10. Finally, the National Championship game will take place Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
“Expansion to 12 … it gives the season a lot more life … and gives them something to play for. I think that’s really good for college football,” Carter said.
So how are Ole Miss players coping with all the hype as the pressure mounts around the high expectations for the season? The answer may surprise you a bit.
“All the guys are playing pickleball,” Carter said, even Kiffin. “They’ve really gotten into it.”
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