OXFORD, Miss. — On Wednesday, the Rebels completed their second practice of the second week of fall camp. Head coach Lane Kiffin offered the media some time after, also bringing out wide receiver Deuce Alexander and safety Kapena Gushiken. Here’s what Alexander had to say regarding his transition and the competition at Ole Miss.

Competition in the WR room

“Just every day we come in to compete, we love to compete in the room with each other, and against the defense and [defensive backs],” Alexander said. “We make each other better by just pushing each other better, we know it’s a crowded room.”

In a wide receiver room like Ole Miss’, having a crowded room is the best situation for Kiffin and the staff. With plenty of new players from the portal and out of high school, the wide receiver room has so much depth that the competition in practice will only increase the talent’s production come Week 1.

Alexander is just one of many transfers Kiffin brought in, and not just the only receiver either. The Rebels also added Oklahoma State WR De’Zhaun Stribling, Penn State WR Harrison Wallace. The staff did add Alabama WR Caleb Odom, but he has moved to tight end after Arkansas transfer tight end Luke Hasz’s injury.

Kiffin said he hopes that the wide receivers will be a strength of the team, and with record-setting QB Jaxson Dart now gone, these experienced wide receivers will need to lead the offense.

If the receivers can truly stand out and lead this Rebels team to a good season, the image of a consistently high-powered offense, no matter who’s leading it, will stand out to recruits.

Why pick Ole Miss?

“The coaching staff, just to begin with, and then the history of the offense and the receivers they’ve put in the NFL,” Alexander said. “That’s my end goal: to go to the league, and they have a lot of guys there.”

The Ole Miss brand has become something different during Kiffin’s tenure, something better. It’s become a brand that’s thrown around with the best. Although the Rebels may not have been the last ones standing at the end of the season for a while, a culture is growing, and everyone knows it.

A culture that is dominant and fierce, one that stands down to nobody, and it won’t take long for Ole Miss to consistently be at the top of the rankings and hoist the national championship trophy.

Alexander has the potential to be a leader in a wide receiver room, something that Ole Miss needs as it is hoping for success with its new starting quarterback, Austin Simmons.

A WF loss to Ole Miss helped his decision

“It definitely did [play a role], just watching the scoreboard go up,” Alexander said. “Different ways they used guys in the offense, it definitely made an impact in my decision.”

At this point, every game for Ole Miss is a recruiting pitch. Whether it’s with high school recruits at a game for Ole Miss or the opponent, or players on opposing teams, the Rebels’ success speaks to them. Players may not know they’re going to enter the transfer portal in that moment, but later, when it comes time to decide where to go, the memory of playing Ole Miss still lives.

Now, as the Rebels go through an offensive change and some defensive questions, any success this year is representative of the coaching staff’s ability to work with and develop anyone. That is something more appealing than anything for recruits.

With great potential for success this year, the greater the potential for a great transfer and a high school class. Nobody knows what opponents Ole Miss faces could be contributing to future success for the Rebels next year.