On3’s J.D. PicKell has Ole Miss football as a portal winner in a transfer cycle ‘unlike any other’

Ole Miss has built a Top 3 transfer class over the last few months.

But it hasn’t always been easy.

January, for example, has been filled with portal exchange after portal exchange for the Rebels. One-time commitments and Tennessee teammates Tamarion McDonald and Tyler Baron are now Louisville Cardinals. Same for Illinois cornerback Taz Nicholson.

Star running back Quinshon Judkins will spend his third, and likely final, college season as an Ohio State Buckeye.

But Ole Miss has only grown its class in 2024 and despite the run on departures.

The Rebels replaced McDonald and Nicholson with South Alabama’s Yam Banks, Michigan’s Amorion Walker, Tennessee’s Brandon Turnage and Alabama’s Trey Amos. They could potentially swap Baron for Arizona State’s BJ Green. Green, however, is currently a wanted man in the portal.

“Lane Kiffin is pushing the chips to the middle of the table and saying, ‘We’re all-in on 2024, baby,’” On3 national college football analyst J.D. PicKell said this week. PicKell was evaluating his portal winners.

“(Ole Miss is) all-in and there’s not that final boss level for them to have to beat now. No more divisions now (and) Nick Saban’s retired. The climb to the College Football Playoff, to a National Championship is probably more steep with more teams in because you’ve got to win more playoff games. But in terms of making the playoff, the path has never been wider, and you look across the SEC with what Ole Miss has coming back, the door feels like it’s popped open.

“Ole Miss is looking to kick it down, all right.”

The College Football Playoff expands to 12 teams in 2024.

Ole Miss has been ranked inside the Top 10 in each of the last three seasons. The Rebels’ win over Penn State in the Peach Bowl in December secured the first 11-win campaign in program history.

Louisville has On3’s No. 1 portal class, followed by Colorado. The Rebels are propped up by Walter Nolen, a defensive tackle from Texas A&M and nation’s No. 2 overall transfer, as well as Florida EDGE Princely Umanmielen, the portal’s top-ranked EDGE.

Ole Miss replaced Judkins by re-upping Ulysses Bentley, IV. Bentley, IV, is entering his third Ole Miss season after a transfer from SMU. He led the Rebels in yards per carry last season. He’ll serve as the primary, though the Rebels added to the room via Logan Diggs, formerly of LSU and Notre Dame.

Matthew Hinton-USA TODAY Sports

They also return one-time Top 100 prospect Kedrick Reescano, as well as the vast majority of their core players from this season.

Among them is quarterback Jaxson Dart, to go along with leading wide receivers Tre Harris and Jordan Watkins, among a host of others. They’re bringing back three starters on the offensive line and have added four more this off-season, including Washington’s Nate Kalepo and Julius Buelow this week.

Kalepo and Buelow each started for the Huskies last season. Washington finished as the national runner-up to champion Michigan.

“They’re better in the trenches and they elevate offensively,” PicKell said of Ole Miss. “Y’all, the sky’s the limit for Ole Miss. Lane Kiffin is being active in the portal ‘cause that’s who he is, but he’s being extra active in the portal right now because I think he smells blood in the water. That shark emoji is a lot of fun ‘cause that’s what Ole Miss does. They throw up the ‘landshark’ stuff. That’s cool and kind of a brand for them.

“But it could also double as Ole Miss kind of sensing this is the year for them to frenzy. Ole Miss, definitely a portal winner to this point, and I don’t anticipate that changing as long as Lane’s running things out there in Oxford.”

PicKell is also particularly high on Louisville and Texas.

“This transfer-portal cycle, there’s been a lot of moving pieces with a lot of different coaches switching jobs,” PicKell said. “Nick Saban retires. It’s been a transfer-portal cycle unlike any other.

“I think one of the key transfer portal winners to this point has been the Texas Longhorns. They’ve done a phenomenal job restocking the recipe. If you give Steve Sarkisian the tools for success, a la skill players that will cook, they will score a lot of points. Another winner in the transfer portal, and they’ve done it pretty quietly, actually.

“Louisville has the No. 1 transfer portal class, according to On3, right now. They’re just running back what they did a season ago when they had 27 transfers. That’s darn near a third of your roster being transfers. And it hasn’t been quantity, it’s been quality guys like Tyler Baron.

“There’s no ambiguity with what they’re competing for. Anytime you’re active in the portal and pushing to be competitive, there’s no mistaking what the standard is. It’s, ‘Let’s compete for conference championships and do it right now.’ I love that aggression.”

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