Ole Miss roster largely intact for the TaxAct Texas Bowl vs. Tech
OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss has historically been a unique football program. It is not located in a highly populated region; it is not the flashiest of places nor has it typically been a destination for an influx of five-star players.
What Ole Miss absolutely has that many other programs do not have is it is a hard place to leave.
As we approach bowl season, teams are scrambling to fill their depth charts with players due to their rosters being depleted because of both the NFL Draft and the transfer portal.
But Ole Miss is heading to the TaxAct Texas Bowl later this month to play Texas Tech with a roster that is largely intact.
“We may have had one or two conversations (with players opting out), but no one is doing that, which is awesome,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said Monday. “(The players are) committed to their team, to playing. But yes, there were some individuals who had discussed that.”
Wide receiver Jonathan Mingo and offensive lineman Nick Broeker are two players who could easily opt out of the bowl game and prepare for playing in the Senior Bowl and the upcoming draft. But both are going to put on an Ole Miss uniform one more time for their team.
“I’m just trying to finish out my career on a good note,” Mingo said Tuesday. “We lost the last game. It wasn’t my best game, personally. For me, it wasn’t my best season either. I just want to end my career on a good note. Just going out with my brothers and playing one more time. Who we’ve got right here won’t be the same again after this last game, so I just want to finish off on a good note,” he added.
“I love it,” Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart said of his teammates participating.
“I think it just shows it’s a testament to them as people that you know they want to start things with everybody and they want to finish it with everybody and you know they’re a part of something that they prove is bigger than themselves and you know they got something to prove every time they step on the field and you know for this bowl game I know they want to go out with a bang and they want to light it up, so it’s been a blast.”
Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart
Other Rebels have decided to enter the transfer portal and could leave the team now while looking for another home. But, even so, many have opted to come back for the bowl game.
As of Wednesday morning, 16 Ole Miss players had entered their names in the portal. Nine of them, however, remain on the Rebels’ roster, making them eligible to play against Texas Tech,
“It’s just kind of the world we live in now,” Dart said. “Just with the transfer portal and everything like that but I think it’s a pretty cool opportunity for guys that they’re able to go into the transfer portal but still be around and practice with us and develop their skill sets and we you know, we’re super tight off the field so it’s just fun having the guys all together.”
One player who could have left Oxford is backup quarterback Luke Altmyer. This time last season, it looked as if the Starkville native would become the heir apparent to Matt Corral who left after the Sugar Bowl to declare for the NFL Draft.
Yet the relationship between Altmyer and Dart – who eventually won the starting job – seems to have help keep Altmyer in a Rebels’ uniform for one more game.
“Luke and I are really good friends, and we’ve had a lot of time just be around each other and kind of strengthen our friendship and go through the whole year and just talk through things. It seems like every day we’re just goofing around in the locker room or just talking about people, talking about things off the field,” Dart said.
“So, like I said me and him have a really good relationship. I remember when he got into the portal he wasn’t really sure if he was going to play in the bowl game and he was obviously busy with a lot of other things. A lot of schools want to contact him and stuff…I had a talk with him, and I was just like, ‘Bro, I want you to come back and finish this thing out with us. We’d all love to have you around.’ I know that I’d love to have him around…“
Jaxson Dart on Luke Altmyer
Teams like Alabama, Oklahoma and Florida are being hit hard by players opting out of their bowl games. But fortunately, the Rebels should be at or near full strength in their postseason appearance.
Ole Miss and Texas Tech will meet Dec. 28 in Houston’s NRG Stadium at 8 p.m.
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.
