Kiffin Roster Building New Way of College Football Recruiting

OXFORD, Miss. — In this age of college football recruiting it’s becoming less about freshman and more about transfers. Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin has set a trend of recruiting quality  over quantity from the high school ranks while implementing same plan in the portal.

The Rebels signed the nation’s No. 17 high school recruiting class in 2024 while also snagging the best portal haul of any program in the FBS. After a road loss to Georgia, Kiffin knew his team needed to add more experience and depth to an already talented returning roster.

A deeper defensive line was the start as former Texas A&M lineman Walter Nolen transferred during the winter portal window which turned heads across the country. Former Florida defensive end Princely Umanmielen looks for a reset with a legitimate playoff contender. He spent the past four seasons with the Gators and recorded 24.5 tackles for loss and 15 sacks.

Other impact transfers include Chris Paul (Arkansas), Juice Wells (South Carolina), Trey Amos (Alabama), Dae’Quan Wright (Virginia Tech), Key Lawrence (Oklahoma), Henry Parrrish (Miami) and JUCO wide receiver Deion Smith.

A point of emphasis was grabbing guys out of the portal who have played in meaningful games throughout their careers. The loss to Georgia really showed Kiffin and defensive coordinator Pete Golding what they truly needed to better threaten the SEC.

“That’s a Top 10 matchup at that point with playoff ramifications,” Golding said, “and we’ve got a lot of guys that have never been in that spot. I didn’t think about it like that. It was just the next game for me, but we’ve been in tons of those.

“But for them, I felt like that moment kind of got too big, and that was the big emphasis of taking guys from the SEC, from programs that have been in big-time venues and stadiums and games so they realize it’s just another game.”

If the moment was truly too big at that point in Kiffin’s program then it shouldn’t be much of a problem now to slay the Georgia’s, Alabama’s and Texas’ on the schedule this coming season. Five transfers have been added who have played in the Playoff while nearly two handfuls have played on teams that have been in contention during the 4-team format.

This type of depth with the added funding in its NIL group, Grove Collective, has allowed Ole Miss to be true contenders this fall. The Rebels aren’t paying players to just pay them either, the university as a whole no longer wants to compete for titles but win them. Recruiting players out of the portal with the same mindset as the rest of the team and staff will be valuable throughout the grind of a 12-game regular season and expanded playoff.

“When you try to change the culture on a side of the ball, it takes a little bit of time,” Golding said of the Rebels defense. “That grit and determination I thought was there, I just felt like it was a different look in their eye during the game. I didn’t feel like it was the same thing.”