There’s no such thing as a perfect haul in college football recruiting. It’s an inexact science. There will be misses. There will be mistakes. But Ole Miss is perhaps on the verge of a pretty-close-to-perfect haul when it comes to its its 2024 transfer portal defensive line class.
The No. 1 edge defender in the transfer portal? Check. Florida’s Princely Umanmielen is in the boat.
The No. 2 edge defender in the transfer portal? Check. Tennessee’s Tyler Baron is committed.
That’s a championship pass rush foundation for a program that’s long featured an elite offense under Lane Kiffin and Hugh Freeze before him but has fallen short because of defensive deficiencies. The Rebels have peaked in the top 11 of the College Football Playoff rankings each of the last three seasons, yet they failed to finish better than 48th nationally in yards allowed per play in that stretch.
Umanmielen and Baron help address that issue. The Rebels finished just 48th nationally in pressure rate last season. Nabbing the top two edge rushers on the open market is a major upgrade, one that helps close the gap between Ole Miss and the SEC’s annual elite, with adds Texas and Oklahoma to the fold in 2024.
Ole Miss is not close to finished.
The Rebels hosted the No. 1-ranked player in the transfer portal, Texas A&M defensive tackle Walter Nolen, over the weekend. The trip has gone well, per a source, and there’s growing buzz across college football chatter the Rebels are in a good position with Nolen. Ole Miss even picked up a Crystal Ball pick for Nolen from Inside the Rebels’ David Johnson.
There’s plenty of competition for Nolen. He’s already taken an official visit to Oregon and other teams are also trying to make a push. But the Rebels have gained a ton of momentum in this process.
Nolen is the type of player who’d elevate what is already a great Rebels transfer portal class into, arguably, an all-time one. There are only three defensive linemen ranked in the top 10 of the 247Sports transfer portal rankings. The Rebels could sign all of them. It’d be the type of haul that changes the landscape of the SEC.
Ole Miss already has the offense necessary to compete with championships. Jaxson Dart led a top 25 offensive unit this year and he’s expected to be back for 2024. As is superstar running back Quinshon Judkins, who hinted at a return after another portal season of whispers regarding his status. Where Ole Miss has so often come up short is its lack of championship-caliber depth and talent on defense. Well, the Rebels have already signed the top two edge rushers, top linebacker (Chris Paul Jr., from Arkansas) and several starting-caliber defensive backs this cycle. Add Nolen to that group and the Rebels immediately become a different sort of threat.
The new SEC will be an annual gauntlet, but Ole Miss’ schedule is quite favorable by SEC standards (no Alabama, for starters). There’s a real window for the Rebels to make a run next fall as the 12-team playoff era begins, and they’re gunning for it. Nolen won’t make or break Ole Miss’ 2024 chances. But the conversation around what’s possible for Ole Miss would begin to shift if you add him to an already excellent transfer class.
Ole Miss wouldn’t just a fun dark horse, as they usually are. The Rebels would just be one of the favorites in the new 16-team league.
