With a week remaining the spring transfer window has been slow and steady for Ole Miss

The spring transfer portal window was built up with anticipation of an avalanche-type surge coming off spring games. This has not been the case a week into the 15-day window but Ole Miss is keeping a slow-and-steady approach.

Aesop’s Fable ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’ taught that the slow and steady wins the race and that is what Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin is proving.

Roster retention was a must for the Rebels after having such a strong winter portal window haul. Walter Nolen and Princely Umanmielen were two of the key additions on defense with Juice Wells one of the key pickups on offense, forming a roster that grabbed national attention for 2024.

Now the key is to keep this roster as intact and, honestly, happy as possible heading into this spring transfer window and into the summer. A player has until April 30 to get in the portal but can make their decision in the months ahead, leading up to fall camps beginning in August.

So far, so good for Kiffin and Ole Miss as there have been some departures but none considered devastating to the roster.

Quarterback Deljay Bailey, tight end Jayvontay Conner and defensive linemen Joshua Harris and Demarcus Smith are the only Rebels to have announced their intention to enter the portal. Bailey and Harris are the only two of that group to officially enter with Harris committing to North Carolina over the weekend. Smith announced his intentions to enter the portal on Monday.

“I think we’re really good,” Kiffin said following the ‘Grove Bowl Games’ of any concerns for his current roster to drastically change this portal window.

“Then again you got to stay on all of it because it’s a system that really gets players that maybe (are) really happy. Maybe everything going great and they got a relative or something they get pre-portaled and someone tells them ‘come here.’ They’re locked out of the going to the SEC but outside of the SEC, ‘Come here and you’ll make more money.’ So, got to be ready.”

Ole Miss has fared well when it comes to that but Kiffin will be the first to note his program has made the most of this new era.

An example being Monday’s news of former Rebels running back Henry Parrish transferring from Miami back to Oxford and running backs coach Kevin Smith.

The running backs room was in need of a boost with Ulysses Bentley IV the lone experienced returner. LSU tranfer Logan Diggs is trending to being out for most, if not all, of the 2024 season due to an injury. Parrish helps create a tri-fecta option with Bentley and sophomore Kedrick Reescano.

New Mexico running back Jacory Merritt committed to Ole Miss on Friday, adding another body in the room.

“It’s just where we are,” Kiffin said following the ‘Grove Bowl Games’ of the spring transfer window. “I’ve it before, it probably sounds weird from me because I think we take advantage and we maximize the system that’s in place as well as anybody and it’s benefited us as well as anybody around the country, but it’s a really poor system and here we go again.

“They just got somewhere in January, they’re leaving again already. So they went and got paid, took up spots. It’s not their fault. It’s not the player’s fault.”

Ole Miss is still in the market for a defensive end/EDGE and possibly more secondary help. But with a week remaining the Rebels are managing to keep all their keep players for ‘The Last Dance’ run at the College Football Playoffs.

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