Nine days removed from the Sugar Bowl
the state of the Rebels' roster, coaching staff and a massive win for Ole Miss Hoops
Hope everyone had a great weekend and a good start to the new year. We’ve got a couple podcasts out from last week out on the end of Ole Miss’s season and where the program goes from here with Weldon Rotenberg, followed by a state of the program and state of college football discussion Michael Borkey. Check those out here or anywhere you get podcasts.
A week of catching up at my day job, plus some work on a feature story, kept me away last week. So, we’ve got a lot to catch up on today, and I mean a lot. Let’s dive in.
A quick programming note: As we get into 2022, we have open advertising slots for both the newsletter and the podcast. We’ve worked hard to build an audience that’s well-worth advertising to. Honestly, it is still sort of crazy to me to look at how quickly all of this has grown in such a short amount of time. If you think your business might be a good fit, shoot me an email. Thanks, now buckle up.
Ole Miss lost the Sugar Bowl nine days ago
The Rebels lost in unceremonious fashion to Baylor on New Year’s Night. It was an unfitting end to a really fun team and an unfair final chapter to Matt Corral’s career. There really isn’t much more to say about it that hasn’t already been said. If the 2021 season were a movie plot and that was the ending, you’d walk out of the theater likely still glad you bought a ticket but absolutely perplexed as to why they chose the ending they did. It just didn’t make sense. But this isn’t a movie, it’s sports, and sometimes stuff like that happens. It is what it is.
But even in the days and hours before Ole Miss took the field nine nights ago, there was a sense of against about looming turnover creating instability. Coaching staff turnover is imminent when a program wins. When that isn’t the case, you become Clemson. It’s incredibly hard to do. It happens to Nick Saban every year. It’s the nature of the business. Roster turnover is imminent whether you win, lose or simply wake up in the morning and the football program still exists. It’s the future of this sport. With all of that said, both of those things hit Ole Miss in droves prior to the game, more was surely coming, and to that point, not a whole lot had been done about reinforcements. There was a palpable sense of angst around celebrating a 10-2 success that was soon to be history rather than the present, with a hell of a lot of work to be done to sustain that success in the future. So, what all has happened in the nine days since the 2021 Rebels took the field one final time? Let’s take a look.
D.J. Durkin departed for Texas A&M
In November, this would have come as a pretty big surprise, even with the defense playing well over the final eight weeks of the season. However, over the last two weeks, there were rumblings of Durkin being a hot commodity and the Texas A&M situation got very real very quickly. The move makes sense. Some Ole Miss fans bristle at the following notion because many don’t like admitting it, but despite Texas A&M not having the on-field success of a blue blood in the sport, that program offers resources and consistent access to elite players at a level Ole Miss does not. Jimbo Fisher clearly coveted Durkin. After how the Aggies performed on offense in Oxford, could you blame him? It’s obviously not that cut and dry. No coach makes a hire off a single game or performance, but I imagine that night in November, along with the run Durkin’s defense put up in 2021, made him an attractive candidate.
It’s impossible not to mention Maryland when talking about Durkin. I don’t really see the point in voicing an outraged opinion on morality when it comes to who football coaches should and should not hire. Spoiler alert: this sport is corrupt and often morally bankrupt. If you couldn’t already pick that up, I question how you get dressed in the mornings. You can go read the full report of what happened under his watch at Maryland and decide for yourself what you think about Durkin. But I say all of to ponder if Durkin’s time at Ole Miss made a high-profile coach like Jimbo Fisher at a high profile program bringing a scorned image back into the sport’s limelight more palatable. Look, Ole Miss is not some college football outpost where no one notices what’s going on, I am just saying that Durkin getting hired at Texas A&M makes more headlines than him getting hired at Ole Miss. Rightly or wrongly, time often numbs people to the details of certain situations, both good and bad, and I wonder if Durkin being two stops removed from Maryland played any part in this. Maybe they didn’t care about it at all and this is a silly thought, but I do wonder.
How should D.J. Durkin’s two years at Ole Miss be remembered? I’d say quite fondly. He deserves credit for being innovative and having the stones to switch to the 3-2-6 defense over the offseason. That move changed the dynamic of the Rebels’ year and I am not sure how it’s possible to the contrary. He deserves credit for brining in guys like Jake Springer and Chance Campbell. Those two changed the trajectory of this defense. He also deserves credit for overcoming a horrific performance at Arkansas — a game that came at a point in which there wasn’t a whole hell of a lot to point toward to suggest this Durkin thing was working out. He stayed the course and his defense carried the team for seven weeks. The final performance against Baylor is a fitting one. This is a significant loss for Ole Miss. There’s no way around it.
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Who replaces Durkin?
It sounds like co-defensive coordinator Chris Partridge will be promoted from within, though the proverbial crossing of the I’s and dotting of the T’s hasn’t happened yet. I think this is a decent move. It helps from continuity standpoint in an offseason of massive coaching staff turnover. We already discussed the departures of Lebby and strength coach Wilson Love in the newsletters before the Sugar Bowl. General Manager Matt Lindsey left to pursue a non-coaching opportunity. Analyst Marquise Watson left to go to Rutgers. There’s a lot of turnover and promoting Partridge keeps semblance of continuity on a defense that has to replace a decent bit, but returns enough.
Speaking of Watson, he’s a fascinating figure when it comes to Partridge. If you had told me two weeks ago Durkin left and Partridge was promoted, I would have assumed that mean Watson stayed and was promoted to an on-field position. That didn’t happen and is a significant blow from a recruiting standpoint. Watson is leaving Ole Miss for a promotion in the form of an on-field position. He’s going to be the defensive line coach at Rutgers. One has to wonder if that opportunity was available at Ole Miss. If it wasn’t, why not? If it was, it’s surprising to me that he didn’t stay. I am making an educated guess here, but I bet the former was the case and you have to wonder what went into that decision — and I seriously doubt it was Partridge’s decision.
If the Partridge promotion progresses as expected, it’s a good hire. Is it a great one? No. Could Ole Miss have found a better and more proven defensive coordinator? Yes. But I don’t think it’s a total dud and I am curious to see what a Partridge run defense looks like.
Players departed the program
Some were surprising, some weren’t. Here are the notable ones.
Jerrion Ealy - He’s headed to the NFL. I didn’t find this overly surprising. There was little shot of Ealy, Parrish and Connor all returning next year and this was the most likely domino to fall first. I am not qualified to tell you what Ealy projects as in the NFL. I figure that, in the right system, he could be useful as a pass-catching back. I think of how the Cardinals use Chase Edmonds or James Conner.
Snoop Conner - there were rumblings of Conner transferring, which made less sense after the Ealy announcement. Conner ended up going in the same direction and will enter the NFL draft. Much like Ealy, I am not a draft expert, but I would want Conner on my 53-man roster doing something. Losing Conner and Ealy is tough, but with the addition of Zach Evans (more on him in a minute) and Quinshon Judkins coming in, the Rebels are fine at running back. Parrish is pretty good too, if you forgot.
Chance Campbell - He had another year left if he wanted it but elected to go pro instead. It’s not that surprising. I had this as a coin flip a to whether he’d stay or go. It’s certainly a big loss to a defense that lost Mark Robinson to graduation too. Campbell was a terrific for Ole Miss in his one season in Oxford and was a joy to watch. I hope he makes a lot of money in the NFL. The Rebels have some retooling to do here, but Ashanti Cistrunk came on late in the year and Austin Keys was budding into a nice player before he got hurt. Keys will be back next year.
John Rhys Plumlee - The Season will need to find a new star next fall. I am kidding, sort of. Plumlee announced his intention to go play baseball and football at UCF. I assume this means he will give quarterback another try. That will be fascinating in a Gus Malzahn offense. Malzahn had some dynamic offenses with a running quarterback. Cam Newton is the most obvious example but Auburn’s run with Nick Marshall in 2013 is the more realistic one. I am interested to see how this plays out with Plumlee. He seems like a good dude and did nothing but represent Ole Miss well, even if it bothers some that he loves the camera and the camera loves him. He turned out to be a more productive baseball player than I would have guessed, and while the quarterback thing didn’t pan out, he had some moments under Rich Rodriguez. He’s an exciting player that wasn’t a great fit once Matt Luke left. I will always remain a little surprised that Kiffin didn’t find a more effective role for him. That’s not a criticism, it’s just something that surprised me.
I am sure I missed someone, but these are the guys that stood out. Momo Sanogo and Jakorey Hawkins are transferring out as well, but neither of them were impact guys. To state the obvious, Ole Miss also loses Sam Williams, Matt Corral, Dontario Drummond, Braylon Sanders, Robinson and Jaylon Jones, among others. This football team will look very different next fall and I find myself wonder how in the world anyone will be able to accurately prognosticate this team going into the season. There is so much we will have not yet seen.
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Who has arrived?
Ole Miss is also adding guys the portal like everyone assumed it would.
Zach Evans - He’s the crown jewel of the portal offseason so far. The former five-star recruit announced his intentions to transfer from TCU to Ole Miss last week. This guy’s recruitment out of high school was long enough crazy enough to write a book about. He’s a different cat, to put it mildly. But he’s also as talented of a running back as there is in the sport. No one that evaluated him out of high school will dispute that part of it. He is a superstar talent, and if all works out, Ole Miss landed a game changer. That’s a big ‘if’ though. Evans isn’t bound to any sort of letter of intent, and until he enrolls in classes in Oxford, it isn’t officially official. But the sense is that he will end up at Ole Miss and will go through spring practice.
If Ole Miss can keep him on the field for 12 games, then this is a home run. Kiffin loves to feature talented players. He once gave Derrick Henry 47 carries in an Iron Bowl. Evans will be a significant part of this offense next year, perhaps more so than most are currently imagining.
Jordan Watkins - Ole Miss got the wide receiver from Louisville. We covered this pre-Sugar Bowl. He will join Missouri transer Jalen Knox (sat out last year) as two guys with power-five experience to replenish the receiving corps.
Ladarrius Tennison - A corner from Auburn that was former four-star recruit. He announced this several weeks ago. I am just including him for thoroughness.
Isheem Young - as I wrote this content item, news broke that Iowa State transfer safety Isheem Young will transfer to Ole Miss. Young was the Big 12 co-freshman of the year in 2020. He had 56 tackles, two interceptions, two pass break ups and two forced fumbles in 2021. That’s another immediate impact player for the Rebels. This is a terrific pickup.
Ole Miss isn’t done in the portal. It can’t afford to be. How the Rebels reshape this roster and fill holes via transfer over the next few months will be fascinating to watch and an indicator of expectations next fall. Though it could all be moot if they don’t figure out the quarterback situation.
About the quarterback situation
The most important void Ole Miss needs to fill is at quarterback. This much is obvious with the departure of Matt Corral. Last week, Caleb Williams announced his intent to transfer from Oklahoma and immediately became the most talented quarterback to enter the portal. Ole Miss emerged as having a realistic chance to land Williams. Neal and Chase and Rebel Grove have covered this story exceptionally well and you should sign up now for the best information and reporting you’ll find on Ole Miss. Here’s your insufferable reminder that I am not a recruiting reporter and you shouldn’t use me as a resource. But I will speculate a little here.
If Ole Miss lands Caleb Williams, it will be one of the more remarkable additions in recent program history. If Lane Kiffin loses Corral, Ealy and Conner and replaces them with a pair of 5-star prospects, any and all doubt about his reliance on the portal, disorganization when it comes to high school recruiting and perceived inability to retool a roster should be put in the Bad Takes Column — at least in the short term. That would be a monumental development that would completely change how the 2022 team is viewed.
It’s a big ‘if,’ however, and fans putting all their eggs in the Caleb Williams basket are only setting themselves up for disappointment. Williams visited USC over the weekend. Do you know who coaches there? Lincoln Riley, Williams’ coach at Oklahoma. News broke on Monday afternoon that USC quarterback Jaxson Dart will transfer. I am sure that is just a coincidence. I have no what Ole Miss’s chances are of landing Williams. But the developments at USC would tell me chances are slimmer than they were before Williams showed up to Los Angeles over the weekend.
What’s more fascinating to me is who Ole Miss turns its attention to if Williams goes elsewhere? Incarnate Word transfer Cam Ward is set to make a decision on Monday night and it’s not expected to be Ole Miss. Who is out there? Would Dart make sense for the Rebels? I would think so. But the list of obvious names is growing thinner by the day. But there also isn’t a finite endpoint for finding a transfer quarterback like there is when pursuing a high school kid up until National Signing Day. Some talented players will see the writing on the wall after spring practice and look for a new home. Hell, some former four-star prospect may do it tomorrow. The market will strengthen again (if it was ever even weak, the available names just seem slim right now). The shroud of mystery around who is actually available and who makes this hard to gauge.
Ole Miss went in a pretty rare direction by not signing a high school quarterback and I have to think this staff will get another into the program before spring practice. Even if this plays out with them banking on Luke Altmyer, the Rebels need another real player in that quarterback room.
It could very well end up being Altmyer under center next fall. I thought he had some nice moments in the Sugar Bowl. He was thrust into an impossible situation and made some plays but also some crippling mistakes. It went about how I would have imagined it going. It’s short-sighted and unfair to take anything — good or bad — from the Sugar Bowl and use it as reasoning for whether or not Altmyer should start next year. But if Kiffin and this staff’s behavior is any indicator, they seem like they’d prefer to have another guy come in and at least compete for the job because they don’t feel Altmyer is 100 percent ready to be handed the job yet. That’s a totally fair assessment, too. He’s a true sophomore. It’s not an indictment on him to go after a more seasoned quarterback. If nothing else, you need competition in that room, and as it currently stands, there is no competition at all.
As I walked back to my hotel room after the Sugar Bowl, I fired off a tweet.
When in doubt, don’t tweet. I am probably the first person in human history to be taken out of context on twitter. This point was taken as an anti-Altmyer take. It wasn’t intended to be, but if enough people perceive something that way, it’s likely an error on the author and not the consumer. But in fairness, I wasn’t exactly in a wordsmithing frame of mind walking across downtown New Orleans at midnight. What I meant by this was that Corral covered up a lot of warts on the 2021 team by being incredibly awesome. Ole Miss had a good roster, but that wasn’t a traditional 10-2 roster. That team won some close games, in large part thanks to Corral. The point of the tweet was to highlight the fact that, even if it is Altmyer (or anyone else) and they turn out to be good, Ole Miss is still going to have to get better in a lot of other areas, because the likelihood of next year’s quarterback being Superman like Corral was are thin to none. He made Ole Miss look like a better team than it was at times, and that’ll show next year no matter who is at quarterback. Whether or not that becomes glaring depends on who Ole Miss gets to play quarterback and how well this staff fills in the other holes on the roster.
Ole Miss blows out Mississippi State
After a sloppy but admirable, shorthanded effort in an overtime loss at Tennessee on Wednesday night, Ole Miss blew the doors off of a good Mississippi State team on Saturday evening to even its record at 1-1 in SEC play.
Matthew Murrell went 10-11 from the field and was a perfect 5-5 from three point range to lead the team with 31 points. A below average perimeter shooting team, Ole Miss was 10-15 from three at one point. Daeshun Ruffin added 17 points and the Rebels got 15 each from Nysier Brooks and Jaemyn Brakefield in a team effort in the absence of Jarkell Joiner who missed the game with a lingering back injury. It’s a great win. Mississippi State is good.
I have no idea what to make of Ole Miss. The Rebels are a wildly inconsistent team on the offensive end of the floor. But they’ve defended well enough to win in almost every game they’ve played this year. This roster is flawed. The loss of Robert Allen hurts and losing Joiner — despite his offensive inconsistency — as a ball handler and at least an offensive threat, hurts. Allen is done for the year. Ole Miss needs Joiner back ASAP. With the way the SEC is shaping up, I still think this team will struggle. But they have some exciting players that have nights like Murrell had on Saturday and make Ole Miss a tough team to put away. Ruffin has been as good as advertised since returning from injury. If this team turns out to be good and fares better in the SEC than I think they will, it’s because Ruffin became a legitimate No. 2 scoring option. Or hell, even a No. 1. I just think that’s a lot to ask of a true freshman that missed most of non-conference play with a wrist injury.
This was a huge win for Ole Miss. The Rebels go to College Station tomorrow night to play a Texas A&M team that is 3-0 in league play before hosting a juggernaut of an Auburn team on Saturday. That game tomorrow feels big. If the Rebels can snag it and survive Auburn, Florida, A&M and Mississippi State to start conference play at 2-2, it feels like a win. I realize 1-3 is only one game worse, but it just feels like an important mile marker in a league that has six or seven really good teams and only one or two bad teams.
On the horizon
An interesting podcast with a Navy fighter pilot. Yes, you read that right. This place is noting if not versatile
Back to regularly scheduled programming on the newsletters
Football and hoops coverage as it permits
The return of the Magnolia State Golf Update. Spoiler: Hayden Buckley is in the Sony Open.
That’s all from me today. Thanks for being a loyal subscriber. Send to your friends and tell them to join in on the fun by hitting the button below. It is free. I am looking forward to a great 2022 filled with creative content.