Former Oxford High Star and Auburn transfer J.J. Pegues talks Ole Miss: ‘I Always Wanted to Come Back’
OXFORD, Miss. – J.J. Pegues is known for his speed on the football field, but he showed even more elusiveness when he was preparing to leave his hometown as a December, 2019 commit in the Class of 2020.
The former Oxford High star was on then-newly hired Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin’s recruiting radar but Pegues was too fast for Kiffin, getting out of town before he could even meet with the new Rebels’ coach.
“I didn’t know J.J., I mean never even saw him when we got here (in 2019). I think that first week I recall we tried to get a meeting with him,” Kiffin said Tuesday.
“We only had a day or two or something and couldn’t get one and he was at that all-star game, and then he made his decision (to attend Auburn), so I knew the player, but I didn’t know the kid. He’s got great energy, awesome to be around. So we lost a lot of neat kids in that last class with a lot of energy, and like we say, ‘juice,’ positivity. So that was really cool, we knew he was a good player but to get that, too.”
Pegues was slated to play in the Mississippi-Alabama all-star game when Kiffin first tried to contact him, but Pegues was ready at that point to put his recruitment to an end.
“I remember like it was yesterday,” Pegues said after practice Tuesday.
“He called my coach, Coach Cut (Chris Cutcliffe, head coach of Oxford High) and we were just finished getting ready to leave to go to the Mississippi-Alabama and I was like, ‘All right now I’m just ready to go get to work in the Mississippi-Alabama game,’ but I feel that’s a big regret in the past.”
J.J. Pegues on Coach Kiffin reaching out to recruit him in 2019
Yet after last season, Pegues decided it was time to head home.
“Once I knew the season was over at Auburn, I started to have second thoughts about the place there, and I always wanted to just come back but I never knew when,” Pegues said.
“And once (former Auburn coach Gus) Malzahn left and then I tried out the other stuff, I really just didn’t like the environment and like just some of the coaches there, so I just decided once I hit the transfer portal to just come back and ever since then it’s been great,” Pegues explained.
“Community has been on my side, family, you know, get the home cooked meals from your grandma, so it’s been great,” he added.
Pegues is a rarity in college football. He gets to play Southeastern Conference football in his hometown. Some may have thought that would be a lot of pressure on the rising junior.
“At first that’s what I was thinking, just coming back home and everyone who went to my high school and family who’s still around I feel they got so much expectations for me,” Pegues said.
“But at the same time, I have to humble myself and my family’s always talking to me like ‘you don’t have worry about what they think, just do what you got to do and whatever happens is in God’s plan.’”
J.J. Pegues on returning home to play
Pegues played in 13 games for the Tigers last season, recording 17 tackles, two of them for loss.
Now, he will be vying for playing time for the Rebels, but at Ole Miss Pegues will be playing a new role than he has before.
“At first it was difficult playing a zero (technique), but I started to adapt,” Pegues said. “Like K.D. (Hill) took me under his wing and brought me closer and closer, and I got more comfortable at doing what I was doing and learning the defense.”
The addition of Pegues will make the defense stronger this season than it has been under Kiffin’s tenure.
“I think depth-wise with the defensive line it is by far the best it’s been since we’ve been here,” Kiffin said. “That’s one of the things we’ve said from day one really needed to be fixed there. So, I do feel good about that position and a lot of competition going on there.”
The competition is something Pegues will have to adapt to during his time in Oxford. But he will not have to get used to where his college career will continue, a place where he had a feeling he would eventually play.
“I knew it was always Ole Miss. But I still gave other schools opportunities and chances, but I always wanted to come back.“
J.J. Pegues on coming home
His first chance to impress his hometown fans in a Rebels’ uniform will be April 23 during the Grove Bowl.
(Feature image credit: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss)
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
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