Twenty-Two Names to Know for the Ole Miss Season: No. 3 Walter Nolen

OXFORD, Miss – As we lead up to week one in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for the kickoff of Ole Miss football’s 2024 season, The Rebel Walk team is highlighting one player each day for our ‘Ole Miss 22’ rankings. We’ll break down who they are, how they got here, and what we expect from each.

Today, we take a look at the No. 3 player on the list, defensive lineman Walter Nolen.

Former top high school recruit Walter Nolen shook the college football landscape by entering the portal at the end of the 2023 season, once again proving the ‘portal king’ tag to Lane Kiffin‘s name to be correct when he made his decision to head to Oxford. Nolen joins a stacked defensive line that was built during the 2024 offseason for Ole Miss, along with the help of many key returning pieces. In just a few short days, Rebel fans will get to see what they have all been waiting for; the Ole Miss debut of Walter Nolen.

How did Nolen arrive at Ole Miss?

On December 3rd, 2023, Nolen entered the transfer portal, making him the third-overall-ranked player in the portal overall as well as the top-ranked defensive lineman. With a player like him entering the portal, it was not long before the ‘portal king’ made some moves.

Nolen was almost immediately linked to the Rebels upon his entry, and with a defensive coordinator such as Pete Golding, the Ole Miss faithful liked their chances at landing the elite prospect.

Just three weeks later, Nolen announced his commitment to the Rebels. The monster of a defensive tackle arrived in Oxford in time for spring camp as well, giving himself a leg up coming into the 2024 season.

HUGE GET FOR OLE MISS. Former Texas A&M DT Walter Nolen has committed to the Rebels. Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss are EATING this portal szn.

📈📈📈 pic.twitter.com/RHZd5OpR9I

— College Football Alerts  (@CFBAlerts_) December 24, 2023

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Career Outlook

Coming out of Powell High School in Tennessee, Nolen was the second-ranked player in the country overall and the top-ranked defensive lineman. The elite bull rusher decided to sign with the Texas A&M Aggies over the Tennessee Volunteers, playing a handful of meaningful snaps over the course of two seasons in College Station.

In 2022, Nolen appeared in 10 games as a freshman for the Aggies. The ‘space-eater’ tallied 29 total tackles, one sack and a forced fumble in a rotational defensive tackle role for a struggling Texas A&M team.

An impressive freshman campaign earned Nolen a spot in the 2023 starting lineup for the Aggies. He recorded 37 total tackles as a sophomore over the course of 11 games, adding four sacks and a pass deflection as well.

Since his arrival in Oxford, Nolen has already received plenty of hype and preseason honors. He made the watchlist for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and the Outland Trophy Awards as well as being named to the Preseason All-SEC First-Team Defense. The Ole Miss defensive front is expected to be one of the more elite groups in the country, with Nolen at the forefront.

Fall camp and the 2024 season

Throughout the fall camp of 2024, Nolen showed flashes of the sheer power he has off the line of scrimmage. Although there were not many cases in which media was allowed to view contact portions of practice, the few that we did see told us all we needed to know about the Walter Nolen hype.

Walter Nolen REFUSING to be moved during inside run drills today. @TheRebelWalk pic.twitter.com/G0WtRZg5SL

— Kam Wicker (@kam_wicker) August 21, 2024

The jury is still out on just how good the Landshark defense will be as a whole in 2024; however, one thing Rebel fans can count on is the Ole Miss defensive line wreaking havoc on every snap come Saturdays with Walter Nolen likely trying to avoid a double team.