The Ole Miss football team looks to be returning to a bygone era in the sport with key contributors making plans to suit up in a postseason game without championship implications.
Lane Kiffin’s Rebels led an underwhelming 2024 campaign after compiling arguably the most talented roster in program history. A 9-3 record was amassed with a loss to a Kentucky team, whose only conference win occurred in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, as a stain on a season dubbed “The Last Dance.”
As a result of the three losses, Ole Miss was left out of the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff. But instead of star players following the recent trend of opting out of a bowl game that doesn’t yield a meaningful prize, the red and blue will be mostly intact in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl versus Duke on January 2 — a refreshing exception to the national norm.
Throughout the college football world, top players from a multitude of programs have opted out of their respective bowl games, with many simultaneously entering the transfer portal. The occurrence is so drastic that one program, Marshall, had to vacate its postseason appearance in the Independence Bowl after 36 players made it known they would not be returning in the wake of Thundering Herd front man Charles Huff leaving to take the same role at Southern Miss.
According to Ole Miss defensive tackle and Oxford native JJ Pegues, that was not an option for him and his teammates. The Chucky Mullins Courage Award recipient noted that he and his peers, many of whom are playing their final game with “Ole Miss” etched on the front of their jerseys, have a genuine desire to go out on a high note.
“We all want to leave this place better than how we found it. Definitely for me, just being from here, wearing the jersey one more time, representing Chucky Mullins and 38, it’s a big deal,” Pegues said. “We built something special here. We started something special. We just want to finish the right way.”
For veteran Jaxson Dart, the winningest quarterback in Ole Miss history, the decision to suit up for his final collegiate showdown was a no-brainer. As one of the program’s primary leaders, Dart added that corralling the rest of the guys, even those predicted to be selected early in the upcoming NFL Draft, was not difficult.
“There wasn’t any doubt. I never even had a second thought about it. I’m just really excited to go compete one last time with the guys,” Dart said. “There are a lot of guys who really could [opt out] and have cases to be first-rounders and whatnot. But we kind of just came together and were just like we want to finish this the way that we started it.”
As things stand, head coach Lane Kiffin confirmed that the only notable contributor on either side of the ball set to miss action in the Rebels’ final contest of the current campaign is standout linebacker Chris “Pooh” Paul, Jr. That means Ole Miss fans can expect to see fan favorites like defensive tackle Walter Nolen, defensive end Jared Ivey, edge rusher Princely Umanmielen, tight end Caden Prieskorn, and others in action.
“I think that really speaks volumes to a lot of things. You know, not to be in the [College Football Playoff], and as you look at what’s happened around the country or even last year in the Orange Bowl — how players didn’t play — I think that says a lot about the culture of that locker room,” Kiffin said of his team.
“[It says] a lot about how they feel about each other. A number of those guys have very high draft grades and they’re still playing.”
Many NFL Draft experts predict that Nolen and Umanmeilen will be first-round selections. Paul, Ivey, Pegues, and standout wide receiver Tre Harris, among other Rebels, are also anticipated to be picked up by a professional organization during the draft.
But before the draft kicks off at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin this coming April, Ole Miss has unfinished business. The Rebels will face Duke, lacking starting signal-caller Maalik Murphy, in Jacksonville, Florida on Thursday, January 2 at 6:30 p.m. CT.