Post-SEC Spring Power Rankings: #4 - Ole Miss Rebels
The self-proclaimed “portal king” Lane Kiffin has put together another impressive class in 2024. Headlined by Juice Wells, Walter Nolen, and Princely Umanmielen, the Rebels are gearing up for another run at the SEC championship game.
Despite impressive squads each of the past two years, though, Kiffin has failed to materially challenge for a spot in Atlanta by year’s end. This year, however, the schedule is much more favorable—in other words, they don’t face Alabama.
They do host UGA, however, which will be one of the top games of interest in the entire conference for the upcoming year. OU at home will no doubt be an exciting shootout. Keep an eye on the back-to-back road games in Columbia, SC, and Baton Rouge as a potential slip-up spot for the Rebels.
For all the success the Rebs have had in the portal as regards incoming players, though, they’ve had some serious losses as well. Chief among these is star RB Quinshon Judkins, who took the SEC by storm in his freshman year before an encore performance in 2023. Henry Parrish and Logan Diggs are talented, but I’m not sure they can successfully recreate Judkins’s impact in the aggregate.
The Rebs are a dark-horse SEC championship pick for a reason, however. The UGA game will be quite telling as to whether they are still outclassed by the cream of the crop in the conference, or if they’ve taken the next step to be a real threat.