Lane Kiffin: Ole Miss roster better than record-setting 2023 team but ‘a lot of work to do’

Ole Miss is not entering uncharted territory this season, but it has been a long time since the Rebels were consider the belle of the ball and hanging out at the party where the college football heavy-hitters are invited.

But this summer starts what could be one of the best runs by the football program in modern history with a Southeastern Conference title and College Football Playoff national title goals not just vision board material but tangible goals in 2024.

Reason number one for this is the roster retention success Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin had. Star players opted to come back for what quarterback Jaxson Dart dubbed ‘The Last Dance.’ Players that helped lead the Rebels to the program’s first 11-win season are back in the locker room for another run.

Then there is reason number two, another strong haul in the transfer portal. Key names like Walter Nolen and Princely Umanmielen boost the defense while star wide out Juice Wells and tight end Dae’Quan Wright add more weapons on offense for Dart.

The roster gives anyone who looks at it a lot of positive vibes, including Kiffin who also sprinkled in his patented cautious optimism.

“This is definitely the best roster we’ve had. I don’t know that it’ll be the best team,” Kiffin said on Tuesday at the SEC Spring Meetings. “There’s a lot still to be figured out. Some of the significant players we have were out for spring. We’ll have a lot of work to do to bring them together to be the best team. Last year, we won 11 games, the most in school history. The roster is better than that but there is a lot of work to do to be a better team.”

Reason number three is a more-favorable schedule this season that does not include games against Alabama, Auburn or Texas A&M. Replacing them are trips to South Carolina, Florida and hosting newcomer Oklahoma.

How Ole Miss got that top transfer class leads to a question about the Grove Collective and going all in.

Paired with ‘The Last Dance,’ moniker and knowing that it was the last great run of the Bulls dynasty before the franchise started to fall off with departure of top talent and eventual Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson, the Grove Collectives success fuels questions on motives.

A transfer portal class is really about building on the present and not building for the seasons beyond this Fall. There are the occasions of getting a player who has multiple years of eligibility who might stick around, but those are few.

Most sought-after players are top talents that are getting a change of scenery for one last audition for the NFL the following year.

With the championship aspirations and the roster with potential to rack up at least 11 wins, or more, this season Kiffin was asked if The Grove Collective just focused solely on an all-in mentality for 2024 this offseason.

“We are always trying to maximize the situation. Our collective has done a great job,” Kiffin said. “Our donors have done a great job. Our coaches have done a really good job of assembling talent. It wasn’t like, ‘OK, we’re putting all our chips in for one season.’ We happened to have a lot of really good players that could have gone to the NFL come back. We signed a lot of really good portal guys. We just won 11 games. It wasn’t like we had some tough years and were going all in to save our jobs.”

So put the panic button away as it seems Kiffin and his staff just knew the iron was hot to strike and this season ripe for the picking for championships.

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