College football is just under a month and a half away for Ole Miss and Mississippi State, and we now have a better look at which players from the two teams are expected to break out this coming season.
The 2025 preseason All-SEC team, as voted on by the media, includes four Rebels and one Bulldog. Ole Miss, going into year six of the Lane Kiffin era, is looking to keep momentum moving in a positive direction after losing a litany of talent to the NFL following the program’s third 10-win season in four years. Mississippi State, on the other hand, is hoping for a quick turnaround after winning just two games in Jeff Lebby’s head coaching debut.
Representing the red and blue on the All-SEC squad are junior kicker Lucas Carneiro (second-team), junior linebacker Suntarine Perkins (second-team), senior defensive tackle Zxavian Harris (third-team), and junior edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen (third-team). The Bulldogs’ lone representative is 2024 SEC leading tackler Isaac Smith, a hybrid secondary player entering his junior year.
Carneiro, a Lou Groza Award semifinalist and first-team All-American last season, transferred to Oxford following a two-year stint as Western Kentucky’s primary placekicker. The trusted kicker connected on 87.1% of his field goals for the Hilltoppers. He had one of the best seasons for a kicker in WKU history in 2024, earning CUSA Special Teams Player of the Year, finishing the season 18-for-19 on field goal attempts and 41-for-41 on PATs. He was 6-for-6 from 50-plus yards, with two 54-yard makes.
Perkins, already a preseason All-American by both Walter Camp (second-team) and Phil Steele (fourth-team), lit up the stat sheet for the Rebel defense as a sophomore in 2024. The Raleigh native helped contribute to team program records in sacks (52) and tackles for loss (120), both of which led the nation, 60 tackles, 14 of which were for a loss, and 10.5 sacks. In two years as a Rebel, Perkins owns 98 total tackles and 14.0 sacks across 26 games played and 10 starts.
Harris enters his fourth year as a key member of the Ole Miss defensive line. Since 2022, the Canton native has appeared in 37 games and started 10. The Germantown High School product owns 65 tackles, 8.5 for a loss, and 2.5 sacks as a Rebel. Harris has also been crucial on special teams, blocking five kicks across his career, which puts him two shy of the SEC all-time record of seven.
Umanmielen comes to Ole Miss with previous ties to the program. The younger brother of former Ole Miss defensive end and NFL Draft selection Princely Umanimielen, Princewill appeared in 23 games with the Nebraska Cornhuskers, recording 35 tackles, 7 for a loss, and 1.5 sacks. The Texas native was a coveted prospect out of the transfer portal before he arrived in Oxford. A 6-foot-5, 245-pound junior, Umanmielen was a 2024 Academic All-Big Ten member.
Smith, who earned Second Team All-SEC honors from the league’s coaches last fall, played in 11 games in the 2024 season, registering 127 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 3 pass break-ups, and 1 fumble recovery. He led the SEC tackles and finished No. 7 nationally. A member of a defense that ranked among the worst in the SEC one year ago, the Fulton native is eager to turn the page and help lead the way for the unit undergoing marginal improvement in the coming games.
As far as teams go, Ole Miss was projected to finish No. 7 in the conference. Mississippi State, on the other hand, was predicted to be dead last in the SEC.
The Rebels will begin the 2025 season at home against Georgia State, while the Bulldogs will open things up at Southern Miss. Both games will be played on August 30. The full preseason media All-SEC team can be found here.
