Ole Miss is stacked with NFL talent, per Senior Bowl director

Credit Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin and his staff for putting in the work both on the recruiting trail and in the transfer portal.

It's a new era in college football, where players can be even more mobile than NBA stars. You can play as a freshman at Florida and not like the vibes, so you play at Ole Miss as a sophomore. Heck, you could play at Alabama as a junior and at Auburn as a senior if you wanted to.

That's the freedom of the transfer portal in 2024 and beyond, and smart coaches and recruiters have learned how to poach the portal for better players.

Kiffin has been one of those coaches at Ole Miss. In fact, according to Jim Nagy, the director of the Senior Bowl, Ole Miss was more active than any other school in the SEC.

“Ole Miss this year? We talked about it, you know, when we got here to Dallas. You and I connected and we talked about it. They hit the portal hard,” Nagy told Andy Staples of On3 at SEC Media Days. “I mean, of the SEC teams, it was Ole Miss. Around the country, Louisville hit it hard, Ohio State hit it hard, Miami hit it hard. But, in the SEC, it was Ole Miss.”

The Rebels weren't just bringing in players to bring them in, either. Kiffin brought in talent. So much so that Nagy believes Ole Miss has over 20 players with NFL talent on the roster.

“We’re getting ready to push our watchlist out on Aug. 21. It’s going to be way bigger than I’d like it to be. I like that thing to be around 400. But, because this is the last year of the extra COVID year, it’s going be over 700 names,” explained Nagy. “Ole Miss is probably going to have the most.”

Kiffin brought in 24 players via the transfer portal, including former Houston cornerback Isaiah Hamilton, former Jacksonville State EDGE Chris Hardie, former Miami running back Henry Parrish and former Alabama cornerback Trey Amos.

The Rebels also landed transfer commitments from players from Michigan, LSU, Washington, Florida, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas A&M, amongst other schools.

Amongst the players expected to be in the NFL in 2025 is wide receiver Antwane Wells Jr., EDGE Princely Umanmielen and quarterback Jaxson Dart, among others.