Ole Miss tight end Michael Trigg working hard, learning from veteran Casey Kelly
OXFORD, Miss. – Michael Trigg has not yet played a single snap lining up at tight end for Ole Miss in a game, but the sophomore has already started to receive praise nationally and in his own locker room.
Earlier this week, Trigg was named to the John Mackey Award watch list as one of the best tight ends in college football. Of the 13 players on that list, ten of them are from the Southeastern Conference.
Closer to home, Rebels’ wide receiver Jonathan Mingo said earlier Trigg reminds him of former Florida tight end Kyle Pitts who is now with the Atlanta Falcons after being selected with the fourth overall pick in the 2021 Draft.
One Rebel, the one who makes the biggest decisions, thinks Trigg has not achieved that kind of comparison just yet.
“Some of these guys, we think they’re older than they are because they transfer, but he just finished his true freshman year,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said of Trigg. “(He’s) got a very high ceiling. There’s a lot of very talented players out there so there’s a lot of work to be a great player. I would not call him Kyle Pitts.”
Trigg did not get to play his entire freshman season at Southern California due to an ankle injury and opted to transfer to Ole Miss in January. He had a productive spring for the Rebels, catching three touchdowns in the Grove Bowl to conclude spring drills.
Learning from Casey Kelly
“I thought my spring went all right,” Trigg said after Friday’s practice.
“I felt like I could have known my plays a little better, I feel like that’s what I’m working on right now because Casey Kelly, I feel like he knows the plays like the back of his hand and that’s how I want to be so he just helps me with that right now.”
Ole Miss tight end Michael Trigg
Kelly, a junior from Niagara Falls, N.Y., not only provides experience for Ole Miss at the position, but he is acting like a mentor for Trigg.
“We’ve probably gotten closer (since the spring),” Trigg said of Kelly. “I probably call him, like I mean we get out of meetings around like nine now since fall camp, so I probably call him like ten and we go over the script for tomorrow so I can be good (for the next practice),” he explained.
Tight end room stocked with talent
Besides Trigg and Kelly, the Ole Miss tight end room is stocked with talent. Trigg pointed out one of the new players as a future star. Kyirin Heath, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound true freshman from Mansfield, Texas, has impressed Trigg early in fall camp.
“Oh, that’s my dog, I like him. He’s got a big body, big frame, athletic, kind of reminds me of myself but he’s just a little bit bigger honestly.”
Michael Trigg on TE Kyirin Heath
Trigg is still the lead dog on the Rebels’ tight end depth chart. He is 6-foot-3, 245 pounds, but his most impressive trait might be his wingspan.
In that way, perhaps Trigg could be compared to Pitts.
Just don’t let Kiffin hear anyone say that.
(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.
