SEC Mike: ‘Storm of good things’ has paved way for Ole Miss football as a title contender
Some national college football analysts are more bullish on Ole Miss’ contender status for 2024-25 than others.
Then there’s SEC Mike.
Mike, whose actual name is Mike Bratton, joined On3’s JD PicKell this week for the latter’s ‘Hard Count’ podcast. The pair traded BUY or SELL scenarios on the SEC and its teams for next season.
PicKell maintained his belief next season is playoff-or-bust for the Rebels. But Bratton even went a step further.
“I think Ole Miss can win the national championship. I legitimately do,” Bratton said. “Now, I’m not sitting here saying they’re the favorites to do it, but outside of Georgia and maybe Ohio State, I would probably put Ole Miss right there at No. 3 with anybody in the country.
“I love the philosophy. Again, this is why I kind of bash Hugh Freeze for his model. I love what Lane Kiffin’s doing, and it’s not just adding via the portal, but getting guys to buy-in. They’re all bought-in there. ‘Last Dance,’ we’re all coming back.
“Several of these players could be in the NFL right now. They obviously added people via the transfer portal; arguably the top transfer-portal class in the country. It’s not just positions that they were lacking. You’ve got great receivers (and) add Juice Wells. This time last year I thought he was the best receiver in the SEC.”
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Ole Miss won a program-record 11 games last season and waxed Penn State in the Peach Bowl.
PicKell earlier this off-season ranked the Rebels No. 5 in his preseason Top 25. Ole Miss is one of five SEC teams On3’s Andy Staples has in the now-expanded, 12-team College Football Playoff.
“They’re adding strength on strength,” Bratton said. “I love the philosophy. If someone’s afraid of it, well, there’s the door. Lane Kiffin will just replace you with another transfer. Is that sustainable? I don’t know. But this is the method.
“They don’t recruit as well as Georgia. They don’t recruit as well as Alabama. But where they can make up is this insane system we have right now and exploit it for all you can.”
Ole Miss has signed Top 6 transfer class each of the last years. The Rebels pulled in the No. 3 haul this off-season, headlined by Top 10 transfers Walter Nolen (DT, Texas A&M) and Princely Umanmielen (EDGE, Florida).
Wells, from South Carolina, was the top-ranked wide receiver. Chris ‘Pooh’ Paul (Arkansas) was the No. 1 linebacker. Ole Miss took transfers from, among other schools, Alabama (CB Trey Amos), North Carolina, (OT Diego Pounds) Oklahoma (Key Lawrence) and LSU (RB Logan Diggs).
“Credit the fans and the boosters down there for giving Lane Kiffin the ammunition and them ponying up, so to speak,” Bratton said. “It’s a storm of good things for Ole Miss, and that’s why I think they can legitimately win the national championship this year.”
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