Inside the transfer improvement of the dominant Ole Miss defense

• Chris Low, ESPN Senior Citizen WriterNov 13, 2024, 11:50 AM ET Close College football press reporter Signed up with ESPN.com in 2007

• Graduate of the University of Tennessee

OXFORD, Miss.– Nobody likes a bully, however Lane Kiffin believes the very best thing that happened to his Ole Miss football program was being pushed around a year back by the SEC’s most significant, baddest bully over the past couple of seasons.Georgia did everything however take Ole Miss ‘lunch cash in a penalizing 52-17 beatdown last season in Athens, leaving Kiffin, athletic department officials and the school’s NIL program, the Grove Collective, to do some serious soul-searching.”I keep in mind stating in the 2nd half of that game,’This will not occur once again, ‘and after that thinking about it on the whole plane trip home,’ How is this not going to occur once again?” Kiffin told ESPN.The response: Ole Miss needed to end up being the bully, and that’s precisely what occurred Saturday night in the Rebels’28-10 bludgeoning of the Bulldogs in Kiffin’s first signature win– a declaration win, truly– at the school.The definitive victory, which helped lift Ole Miss to No. 11 in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings, offered some validation after a preseason filled with buzz for the Rebels, who boasted among the more talented and higher-priced rosters in the country, a lineup brimming with transfer portal heavyweights in the line of skirmish. “Maybe it’s not as much now with the way Lane has actually raised our program to national significance, but it’s difficult to go recruit five-star after luxury here at Ole Miss,” athletic director Keith Carter said.”However when you can go get guys that are those same caliber guys in the portal, it’s an equalizer.”We showed that our roster is as good as Georgia’s.”

Jared Ivey teamed with transfers such as Princely Umanmielen and Walter Nolen to make life miserable for Carson Beck. Andy Altenburger/Icon Sportswire Kiffin, the self-anointed portal king, generated 25 transfers this offseason with an eye on growing and more physical on the offensive and protective fronts, adding a”

twitch” pass-rusher, a physical cornerback and another huge tight end who could complement Caden Prieskorn, who transferred in from Memphis a year previously. “It wasn’t going to suffice to simply have a terrific running back and throw the ball for a great deal of lawns to beat Georgia,” Kiffin said.”And if you’re going to be a championship-caliber team, you have to

beat Georgia, and you may have to beat them twice. The only way you do that is beat them at their own game– in the line of skirmish. “Kiffin likewise needed to change his thinking.”I made a decision to play in a different way than I ever utilized to play. Play to our defense and do not make errors and don’t have turnovers and don’t make penalties,”

Kiffin said.”We had one turnover on the very first series versus Georgia and zero charges on offense or special groups. “It was a team effort that transcended the locker room. When former Ole Miss linebacker Walker Jones took the reins as executive director of the Grove Collective in 2022, his brand-new finest phone buddy quickly ended up being Kiffin.”

Coaches keep a truly tight inner circle, and I offer Lane a lot of credit for letting individuals like myself and others behind the curtain to comprehend how he wished to construct the lineup, develop the program, and the style of players he was looking for,”Jones said. “He needed to trust me in addition to others. What we were able to do speaks to the alignment across the board with Keith [Carter], Lane and myself. If you don’t have that tight alignment and trust amongst all those stakeholders, you’re going to spin yourself in circles. “The Rebels zeroed in right away on defense and included among the more desirable protectors in the portal in Texas A&M deal with Walter Nolen, ESPN’s top total possibility in the 2022 class. Skilled edge rush Princely Umanmielen transferred from Florida in addition to linebacker Chris Paul

Jr. from Arkansas and cornerback Trey Amos from Alabama. The Rebels had already boosted their defensive line in previous years with JJ Pegues from Auburn and Jared Ivey from Georgia Tech.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated At one point throughout Saturday’s win over Georgia, former Duke and Ole Miss coach David Cutcliffe leaned over in journalism box and said,”Keep an eye out there on the field, and a lot of the plays that are being made have come from guys who came here from other SEC schools. “The Rebels lead the country with 46 sacks and 103 takes on

for loss, which

is 18 more than the second-place FBS team (Duke ). Practically a 3rd of those takes on for loss(34)are from first-year transfers, and the number goes up to 61 if you consist of all transfers.Georgia scored on its very first ownership after an Ole Miss turnover at its own 21-yard line. But after that, the Rebels’ defense took over the game. The Bulldogs managed just one field goal the rest of the method, were held to 60 rushing lawns and turned the ball over 3 times. “I informed a few of our guys, I was like, ‘They’re not going to score once again. This game doesn’t require to be close,'”stated Umanmielen, who had two sacks and six quarterback pressures versus the Bulldogs. “I don’t think they’re on our level.”The Ole Miss defense– ranked 6th nationally in scoring (12.9 points permitted per game )– had not had fun with that sort of edge under Kiffin, nor did it have this level of talent. The Rebels sacked Georgia quarterback Carson Beck five times, and his longest pass completion was to running back Money Jones for 29 backyards early in the third quarter.”I keep in mind some of our guys coming off the field saying,’Carson doesn’t want to play any longer,’

that he wants’ No mas,’ “Kiffin stated, referencing boxer Roberto Duran’s notorious line to end his 1980 fight with Sugar Ray Leonard.Ole Miss ‘metamorphosis over the offseason didn’t just come on defense. Kiffin noted that 3 of the starting offending linemen in the win over Georgia, consisting of the entire left side of Diego Pounds( 6-foot-6, 340 pounds )and Nate Kalepo (6-6, 335), came via

the portal. Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart, after leaving the game for a while early with an ankle injury, had a cleanpocketmuch of the game and consistently discovered open receivers down the middle of the field. Trey Amos, who played moderately at Alabama last season, helps conclude Georgia’s Nate Frazier. Justin Ford/Getty Images It was a strategy that was hatched before the season even started.”We had Georgia practices, so we might put in specific schemes just for them, both sides of the ball, “Kiffin stated.” We ‘d go over their pressures numerous times to pick them up and get guys open.”That loss in 2015 stuck to everybody, however the essential thing was what we were going to do about it.”Kiffin dismissed the story that Ole Miss simply headed out and bought a group in the portal. He likewise heard the restlessness among the media and fans previously in the season, after a home loss to Kentucky and an overtime loss at LSU, that the season was rapidly ending up being a disappointment.”Every group in the leading 10 has gone out and paid a great deal of cash for good players. That’s where we are

in college football now,”Kiffin said.” However you can’t purchase culture. It resembles a combined household. You all follow the exact same guidelines and all purchase in despite the fact that you all came from various parents. It’s the same with our team. You’ve got to have the right pieces and ideal coaches to encourage the players and get them to play together and take lesser functions sometimes.” Jones stated he and Kiffin and the rest of the Ole Miss staff

went to work on this year’s group before last season had actually even ended, meaning convincing the similarity Ivey and Pegues, receiver Tre Harris, kicker Caden Davis and Dart to come back for another season rather of turning pro.”We were able to keep all the ones Lane wanted to keep,” Jones said. “Retention was our first top priority.” Running back Quinshon Judkins left for Ohio State, but Kiffin and the personnel weren’t happy to pony up to keep him. They chose to spread out the cash differently in the portal chase.Allstate Playoff Predictor How will Saturday’s leading games

impact the College Football Playoff chase after? What are the existing chances for the top 4? The Allstate Playoff Predictor has the answers. Check back each week as the odds are updated following that week’s games.”We had an excellent roster in 2015, but what occurred in the Georgia game was a wake-up call for all of us,”Jones stated.

“And we invested money sensibly because we knew what kind of nucleus we had returning. There were some excellent players we walked away from because some of the leaders on the group– Dart, Harris and Pegues– didn’t have an excellent feel about them from a cultural fit, and we moved on.”Ole Miss’NIL expenditures for football increased by about 60 %from 2023 to 2024, Jones said, and hovers someplace in the variety of$ 13 million for this year. Still, that’s not in the leading tier amongst college football programs, that includes the likes of Ohio State, Texas and Oregon. But Ole Miss did rise into a tier that consists of, among others, Miami, Tennessee and Florida.”The real numbers for all these schools aren’t truly out there, and a lot of the perennial powers are paying a lot of money too, “Kiffin said.”What I feel excellent about is that we have the ideal mentality guys, guys who didn’t come here for just a paycheck

. These guys came here to be a part of a potential championship team.” The thing that gets lost in some cases about us is that we won 11 games last year. No one was coming here to be a part of a restoring group.”It’s the reason the Ole Miss players branded this season” The Last Dance,”a departure from the Chicago Bulls ‘three-peat champion teams in the 1990s. Approved, Ole Miss hasn’t smelled a champion considering that winning the SEC title in 1963, however the theme originated in Oxford when players like Dart, Harris and Pegues decided to hang around for another season and partner with newbies like Umanmielen, Nolen, Paul and Amos to see whether they might take some Ole Miss history.”They were all coming together another year, and that’s why they named it’The Last Dance, ‘” Kiffin said.One of the important things Kiffin is most thrilled about is that his group must be as healthy as it’s been all season going into the stretch run. Harris(groin)should be back versus Florida on Nov. 23 after a bye week.” We have not had Tre for the last three games, and he’s the best receiver in the nation,” Kiffin stated of Harris, who still leads the SEC with 987 receiving yards.Kiffin is also enthusiastic of getting running back Logan Diggs in the lineup. Diggs, a transfer from LSU, tore his ACL in the championship game last year and has been unable to play this season. Diggs was at practice Tuesday. He’s a big, physical back who would fit well into what Kiffin wishes to continue to do with his offense. He also has comprehensive experience at LSU and Notre Dame.

“I always believed we might struggle at times at the start of the year due to the fact that we had a lot of brand-new players, and a few of those guys like Juice [Antwane Wells Jr.]

and Baronial [Umanmielen] had offseason surgeries and weren’t with us in the spring, “Kiffin said.”I believed we might stumble early but would

be actually strong towards the end of the season.”Ole Miss (8-2, 4-2)still should face Florida on the road and Mississippi State in the house to liquidate the routine season, and Kiffin’s many challenging difficulty now may be bringing his group(and the Ole Miss neighborhood) back to earth. There was some talk of recognizing the football group at halftime of an Ole Miss basketball game after the win over Georgia, but Kiffin quickly squashed that idea.”What do you say:’Here’s the Ole Miss football group that did what it was supposed to do ‘?”Kiffin quipped. “We won one game. We beat Georgia. That’s what we expected to do. We’re not having some parade.”Kiffin stated he”channeled”his old employer, Nick Saban, in preparing yourself for Georgia last week. “When somebody has success, you want to copy it,”Kiffin stated. “All week, I was saying, ‘What would Coach

[ Saban] do? What would Coach do? ‘Since he owned Kirby [Smart], was 5-1 against him. “And after the breakthrough win, Kiffin connected to Saban for some suggestions on how to get his group refocused on what lies ahead.Saban’s response was vintage:” Individuals are infected with success when they think anything done in the past will have any effect on what takes place in the future. “With the method the Rebels played against

Georgia, the future for the Ole Miss football group is significantly brighter than it was a week earlier.