New Kids on the Block: Ole Miss brings 50+ newcomers to the season opener against Mercer
OXFORD, Miss. — As the old adage goes in sports, “you can’t tell the players without a scorecard.” With the emergence of the transfer portal in college football, that saying should be altered to, “you can’t tell the players without a scorecard that is updated on a daily basis.
A look at the Ole Miss roster tells us the Rebels have brought in 28 transfer players. (They rank as the No. 3 portal class in the nation.) Combined with the 21 returning Rebels who had transferred to Ole Miss in years prior, that puts the current roster total of transfers at 49 for the 2023 season. There are also 28 freshmen on the team this year. That’s a lot of new kids on the block.
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin has been a master at working the transfer portal and after serving as the coach of the Oakland Raiders where he saw true free agency, he knows each new member of his team believes he will come right in and earn a starting role. But that is not necessarily what will happen for everyone.
“You have a bunch of new players, the majority of them have played a lot and have come in with the right attitude of buying into the team and what can they do, even in reduced roles at times from what they’ve done before or what they were hoping,” Kiffin said. “Everybody hopes they’re the guy, that’s just how it works. It’s definitely easier now than when you get into the season and things aren’t going the way you want them to go. I’ve been very pleased about that.”
Ole Miss has players on this season’s roster who have transferred from Oregon State, FAU, Texas-San Antonio, Miami (Fla.), Miami (Ohio), Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech, UCF, UAB and Washington among others.
Kiffin talked earlier in fall camp about meshing so many new players together.
“That’s an ongoing challenge for us to bring people along and that was a big message in the team meeting…You have to do work to come together, this isn’t an individual sport. You have to do a lot of work off the field with each other to build trust and prepare.“
Lane Kiffin
Further adding to the equation of putting together a roster that adds up to success, is the fact players can transfer in to a new school just before the season, as long as they had entered the portal by the required dates in the allowable windows.
Kiffin was asked about one such player this week — Chris Graves, a freshman cornerback from the University of Miami — who is so new, he does not even have his picture on the Rebels’ roster yet. He transferred to Ole Miss on July 30, right before the beginning of fall camp.
“I would say that’s more of a role model, roster management move. Not a lot of numbers there, had some injuries and some different things at corner. Like you would in the NFL, you look to bring in a number out there. That was not a situation where we said, ‘Hey we’ve got a lot of players at this position and here’s this really good player we’re just going to add him.’ That was more of a needed addition.”
Lane Kiffin on the transfer of CB Chris Graves
With players transferring so close to the season, the athletic department’s compliance staff must scramble to make sure all details are addressed before putting a player on the field. Kiffin believes Graves’ path to the Vaught-Hemingway Stadium turf is secure.
“We do expect him to play,” Kiffin said of Graves. “All the information we’ve got is that he’s eligible immediately. He does have a long way to go to learn what he’s got to do since he just got here.”
Another player without a picture on the roster is Jam Griffin. The Oregon State running back transfer, who joined the team August 4, has added to the depth in the Ole Miss backfield, but he is also expected to contribute in other ways.
“Jam’s done well at running back and special teams. Very competitive, really exciting out there. He’s made a bunch of plays. He’s a really good addition to be able to make this time of year and we’re really excited about him.”
Lane Kiffin on Jam Griffin
Griffin is not the only multidimensional player who is making his debut for Ole Miss. Defensive back John Saunders, Jr., a transfer from Miami (Ohio), is expected to bring a lot of talents to the team.
“He can do a lot of things,” Kiffin said. “Really long, and he can run well. We’re excited about him. Great culture guy, student of the game, studies really hard. We’re excited about him on defense and special teams.”
One other new player on the team may not be seeing the field for just a little bit longer. Highly-touted wide receiver Zakhari Franklin, a UTSA transfer, has been recovering from an injury but reports are he is progressing well thus far.
“He’s not out there practicing yet, unfortunately, so it’s hard for me to answer what he looks like when he’s out there. Obviously, we know what he’s looked like before, had a couple thousand-yard seasons there, big time playmaker, but we don’t know that yet. Anticipate him out there soon.”
Lane Kiffin on Zakhari Franklin’s debut following injury
Soon is a great way to describe the upcoming season. Mercer comes to Oxford Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff.
Ole Miss fans have until then to get their lineup cards updated.
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.
