STUNNER: OLE MISS ENTERS FALL CAMP WITH COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF EXPECTATIONS…
Fresh off a 10-win season and after losing eight players to the NFL, the Rebels are ready to reload and finally enter their names into the College Football
OXFORD, Mississippi — Tuesday, July 29, marked the beginning of fall camp for Ole Miss Football, which is just one year removed from a 10-3 season in which it fell just shy of the College Football Playoffs.
Head Coach Lane Kiffin will have to reload for his Rebels to find themselves in the promised land come December 2026, but he made it clear that the expectation is to be square in the mix.
“That’s the standard we’ve created. That’s the expectation that we have,” Kiffin said. “Twenty-one wins in the last two years, so these players have been talked to a lot about that.”
Out is Jaxson Dart, the three-year Ole Miss starter turned first-round pick of the New York Giants; in is Austin Simmons, the sophomore with the hopes of Oxford on his shoulders. Simmons will have to quickly get on the same page as returning junior wide receiver Caden Lee and a new group of transfer and rookie receivers after three from last year’s stable left for the NFL.
“I feel like it’s just timing. We’ve done a lot of trips together in the offseason, just building timing and chemistry and things like that,” Lee said. “We’ll come out here some nights and throw and get our timing down. I feel like that’s been big for us.”
The junior receiver racked up 57 receptions for 874 yards and two touchdowns in 2024. He enters the year as a Phil Steele preseason third-team All-SEC selection and likely first option.
Kiffin said that he feels like the receiver room could be the strength of the team this season with the additions of De’Zhaun Stribling from Oklahoma State, Harrison Wallace III of Penn State and five-star freshman Cade Cunningham.
“They’ve had a good offseason. They were here in the spring. A lot of those guys have had good careers already; very prolific receivers, so those guys have done a really good job together,” Kiffin said. “I hope I’m not wrong, [but] could very well be the strength of our team.”
In terms of the defense, the reins fall to junior linebacker Suntarine Perkins, who, after an All-SEC third-team 2024 season, is a preseason All-American in 2025. He’ll pair up with linebacker TJ Dottery, who was second on the team in tackles last season (76).
“I definitely feel like we’re underrated,” Perkins said. “We’re a young group of guys. We lost a lot last year, so people are underrating us, but we definitely have a great group of guys who are ready to go to work.”
The Rebels set a program record after the 2024 season when eight players were drafted to the NFL and a number of others were given free agent deals. In 2024, they were the talk of the offseason nationwide and in the SEC for the transfer talent brought in.
There is not quite as much preseason noise in 2025, but Kiffin feels the progress Ole Miss has made in the last couple of years lends itself to the team’s College Football Playoff expectations.
“Before, if you’d have lost a lot of significant players here, you’d be looking at the voting and be at the bottom of the conference,” Kiffin said. “Is it different that you’re not being talked about in the Top 10 in the country? That’s a good place to be for Ole Miss that those questions are coming up now.”
Ole Miss will kick off the season in Oxford and Vaught-Hemingway Stadium August 30, 2025, against Georgia State.
Credit: Ole Miss
Ole Miss
Ole Miss women’s basketball heads to the NCAA Tournament for the 4th consecutive time
Placed in the Spokane region, the No. 5 Rebels will play its first match against No. 12 Ball state in Waco, Texas, on Friday, March 21.
Author: Gabriel Huff
Published: 8:12 AM CDT March 17, 2025
Updated: 8:12 AM CDT March 17, 2025
OXFORD, Miss — Ole Miss women’s basketball is heading to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in a row.
The announcement marks the team’s 21st NCAA Tournament appearance.
Placed in the Spokane region, the No. 5 Rebels will play its first match against No. 12 Ball state in Waco, Texas, on Friday, March 21.
Ole Miss has now posted four straight 20-win and 10-SEC win seasons while obtaining two AP top 10 wins for the first time since the 2006-07 season following wins over No. 8 Kentucky and No. 7 LSU.
Under the seventh year of head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin, Madison Scott garnered All-SEC Second Team honors and Sira Thienou was named to the All-Freshman Team.
This will be McPhee-McCuin’s fifth tournament as a head coach.
Those with season tickets will receive ticket information to purchase for the NCAA Tournament via email. Public sales will not occur due to limited inventory.
Credit: AP
Mississippi head coach Chris Beard reacts to play against the Auburn during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the SEC Tournament.
Ole Miss
Ole Miss secures six seed in NCAA Tournament South Region
The Rebels will face the winner of North Carolina and San Diego State in the First Four
Author: Avery Braxton
Published: 8:45 PM CDT March 16, 2025
Updated: 8:45 PM CDT March 16, 2025
OXFORD, Miss — The Ole Miss Rebels are going dancing! Ole Miss secured a six seed in the South region of the NCAA Tournament. The Rebels will face the winners of 11 seed First Four matchup of North Carolina and San Diego State in Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum.
Ole Miss (22-11) achieved a second twenty win season and two more wins than the previous year in their second year under Chris Beard. It’s the first NCAA Tournament with Beard as head coach. They earned marquee wins over 4 Alabama and 5 Tennessee. Six is the highest they have been seeded in the NCAA Tournament since 2001.
Should Ole Miss advance, they will face the winner of three seed Iowa and 14 seed Lipscomb. The Auburn Tigers, who beat Ole Miss in the SEC tournament quarterfinal, are the South region number one seed. The regional final is in Atlanta.
Ole Miss is 28th in the NET Rankings and 8-10 in Quad 1 games this season.
North Carolina (22-13) was considered one of the Last Four teams into the NCAA Tournament. The Tar Heels only won one Quad 1 game this season, but are 8-0 in Quad 2 matchups. San Diego State (20-9) is a combined 8-8 in Quad 1 + 2 matchups this season.
Credit: AP Photo/ Bruce Newman
Ole Miss
Johni Broome’s 20 points, 12 rebounds help top-ranked Auburn beat No. 23 Ole Miss 92-82
The Tigers used an 8-3 run in the final 75 seconds to hold off Mississippi.
Author: Chris Burrows
Published: 9:15 AM CST February 2, 2025
Updated: 9:15 AM CST February 2, 2025
Johni Broome had 20 points and 12 rebounds and No. 1 Auburn extended its winning streak to 13 games with a 92-82 win over No. 23 Mississippi on Saturday.
Chad Baker-Mazara scored 18 points, Denver Jones added 16 and Miles Kelly 15 as the Tigers shot 14 for 28 from 3-point distance and 18 for 23 from the line — including six straight in the final minute to remain unbeaten in the Southeastern Conference. Dylan Cardwell had 10 points and 13 rebounds as Auburn (20-1, 8-0) outrebounded Ole Miss 41-30.
Sean Pedulla, helped by 10-for-16 shooting, scored 29 points for Ole Miss (16-6, 5-4), with five rebounds and three steals. Matthew Murrell scored 17 points and Jaemyn Brakefield had 12 points in the first half.
Takeaways
Auburn: The Tigers have defeated eight teams ranked in the AP Top 25. The Tigers are unbeaten at home, and their schedule in February includes five home games. The Tigers used an 8-3 run in the final 75 seconds to hold off Mississippi.
Ole Miss: The Rebels have impressive wins, including two on the road, to highlight an NCAA Tournament bid resume. They have losses by a total of six points against ranked teams.
Key moment
Auburn built a 68-60 lead with six minutes remaining on a 9-2 run, highlighted by a pair of 3-point shots by Baker-Mazara and capped by a Tahaad Pettiford dunk. Ole Miss never got within four points again.
Key stats
Auburn had 22 assists on its 30 field goals, led by Pettiford’s five.
Ole Miss entered shooting 73% from the line, but was 4 of 10 in the first and was 24 for 35 overall.
