Talk of Champions

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How Ole Miss football could finish with a Top 15 recruiting class Nov 04, 2022

Show notes

Ole Miss held steady in the most-recent round of On3 team recruiting rankings.

The Rebels have 13 commitments in a class with a blue-chip percentage of 77 percent. They were ranked No. 20 on Friday, and all but three of their pledges are four-star prospects.

Among the headliners is Suntarine Perkins, the nation’s No. 3 linebacker and the No. 1 player in Mississippi in 2023. Not far behind is Ayden Williams, a wide receiver ranked No. 128 overall and No. 2 in the state.

The Rebels, however, are far from done.

“I think they could get to Top 15,” Ole Miss Spirit recruiting analyst Zach Berry said, in the latest recruiting-filled edition of Talk of Champions.

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Recruiting: Where Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss coaching staff will be this weekend Nov 03, 2022

Show notes

Ole Miss might not have a game to play on Saturday, but head coach Lane Kiffin and staff aren’t taking any time off.

The Rebels all weekend are spreading out and hitting the recruiting trail, including stops for Kiffin in Texas and Arizona.

Ben Garrett and Zach Berry break down the full visit schedule in this recruiting-filled edition of Talk of Champions. Plus, they speculate on the early visit list for Alabama, as well as make sense of Ole Miss' recruitment of running backs and more.

Hit That Line: Ole Miss is off, but the Rebels' postseason path could become clearer in Week 10 Nov 03, 2022

Show notes

The No. 11 Ole Miss Rebels (8-1, 4-1 SEC) are not on the field this week.

That's not stopping the Hit That Line crew from recapping last week's win over Texas A&M and quickly jumping into Week 10 in college football.

There are some big games on the slate, including a Game of the Year candidate in No. 1 Tennessee at No. 3 Georgia. Zach Berry (Ole Miss Spirit/On3) and Co. also break down the heavyweight matchup between No. 6 Alabama and No. 10 LSU, which has serious Ole Miss implications.

Can the Tigers keep the run going or will Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide make it business as usual, as they've done time and time again? Plus, locks of the week and what we liked from Ole Miss' eighth win of the season.

JJ Pegues feels for Bryan Harsin, happy he returned home to Ole Miss Nov 02, 2022

Show notes

JJ Pegues wasn’t surprised when he heard earlier this week Auburn had moved on from head coach Bryan Harsin.

“Not at all,” he said.

Pegues was one of 28 total transfers Ole Miss added in the offseason.

Twenty-four, including Pegues, came from the NCAA Transfer Portal, in a class ranked as high as No. 2 in the country. Pegues, an Oxford native, jumped at the opportunity to leave a messy situation on the Plains and return home.

He’s started at nose guard in eight of nine possible games for the Ole Miss defense, totaling 2.0 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks and 3.0 quarterback hurries.

The Rebels are off this week, but they’ll return to action against Alabama November 12. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS.

“It was really out of nowhere,” Pegues said of Auburn. He had 17 tackles and a forced fumble for the Tigers last season. “I was wondering why they didn’t just allow him to finish the season, just because there’s only a couple more games.

Hear everything Pegues had to say Wednesday in this edition of Talk of Champions, an Ole Miss podcast in association with the Ole Miss Spirit. He also details how he’s spending his week off and breaks down the Rebels’ primetime showdown with Alabama next week.

Mike Clement: ‘Well-rounded’ Ethan Groff among the standouts in Ole Miss fall intrasquads Nov 02, 2022

Show notes

The defending national champion Ole Miss baseball team played a 12-inning exhibition game against UAB on Sunday.

Long-time Rebel hitting coach Mike Clement wasn’t all that thrilled with the results.

To be fair, his only responsibility is the Ole Miss hitters, and Clement said the Rebels “pitched it really well.” Sophomore ace and projected Friday starter Hunter Elliott was one of four pitchers with at least three strikeouts.

Offensively, however, they only scored five runs. The teams tied, 3-3, in the first segment. Ole Miss won, 2-0, in the second.

“I’m sure some of our players would make the excuse of, ‘It’s hard to get in an offensive flow. I get one at-bat and then I sit for two hours and get another at-bat,’” Clement said, adding the practice was structured for top-down lineup changes after every three innings.

“All of that is true. We just didn’t swing it great. It was kind of weak contact. Just kind of inconsistent. It wasn’t terrible, but I wasn’t super fired up about it.”

Tulane transfer Ethan Groff was a bright spot.

Ole Miss pulled Groff from the NCAA Transfer Portal in July following a sophomore season in which he hit .404 with nine home runs. He led the AAC with 15 doubles and 35 RBI and finished with a team-high 17 multi-hit games.

Groff reached base in 38 of 41 games.

“He has been really good in all intrasquads,” Clement said. “He’s a dude. You’re going to see him in our lineup a lot. He’s a really, really good piece. He really knows how to take an at-bat (and) he’s a really good outfielder.

“That was a really good pick-up.”

Clement said Groff is a top-of-the-order candidate.

Groff — who was one of just four Rebels with exit velocities of at least 100 mph on Sunday — is currently competing with veteran TJ McCants to start in center field. Whichever player finishes second in the competition is expected to slide over to left.

“He’s going to make an immediate impact for us,” Clement said. “Really well-rounded player. He’s going to steal some bases. He’s going to come in and get after it.

“If I was making out the lineup today, he would lead off. Just grinds out at-bats, not a ton of swing-and-miss to him (and) has some juice. It’s going to be tough to get through him. He’s going to be a good one.”

Clement also discussed the upcoming week-long championship celebration, injuries, where the Rebels stand with less than two weeks left in fall ball and much, much more in this edition of Talk of Champions.

‘I’m not fretting it yet’: What’s real and what’s not with Lane Kiffin and Auburn Nov 01, 2022

Show notes

So much for an uneventful Ole Miss football bye week.

Auburn on Monday fired head coach Bryan Harsin. Predictably, Lane Kiffin quickly emerged as a potential replacement in the over-the-top fallout.

However, as Chuck Rounsaville, The Godfather of Rebel football coverage, explains in this edition of Talk of Champions, there’s no need to panic … yet.

“I’m not seriously worried about it, to be honest with you,” he said. “There’s only two things that’s going to drag Lane Kiffin from Ole Miss to a lateral job, which that’s what Auburn is now, and that would be generational, guaranteed money or NIL money.

“I think Ole Miss is doing everything it can to counter all that. The Grove Collective is doing a good job raising money in NIL. (Ole Miss) is not in Auburn’s league yet, but they’re going to get enough money to satisfy Lane Kiffin for his needs to stay competitive here, and I’m sure if he wins 10 games this year, (Rebel athletics director) Keith Carter will give him another (salary) bump.

“I’m just not fretting it yet.”

Rounsaville joins Ben Garrett to break down everything we’re hearing about what is inarguably the hottest of hot-button Ole Miss topics, including a full-on debunking of a few bogus internet rumors that have inexplicably popped up since Auburn came open.

Not-so-coincidentally, the website for the Grove Collective, the driving force in the school’s NIL efforts, crashed on Tuesday. Ole Miss — from the administration on down to the fans — is showing once more it’s operating on a different plane of existence now.

Kiffin to Auburn is nowhere close to the slam dunk many in the national media seem to think it is.

Let’s get to it.

Daytime Fireworks: Would Lane Kiffin leave Ole Miss for Auburn? Nov 01, 2022

Show notes

No. 10 Ole Miss hits the bye at 8-1 on the season following a 31-28 win at Texas A&M on Saturday.

The Rebels have chance to not only play spoiler, but take control of the SEC West against Alabama in two weeks.

But there's plenty of time between now and then, and the off-week just got much more interesting after Auburn decided to finally move on from head coach Bryan Harsin. The Tigers recently pegged Mississippi State's John Cohen as their next athletics director, and and all reports indicate Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin is a leading candidate, if not the clear-cut No. 1, to replace Harsin.

Zach Berry and David Brandt discuss in this edition of Daytime Fireworks. Which program (Ole Miss or Auburn) is in a better spot right now? Are they two ships passing in the night, or is Auburn still the superior program despite recent struggles?

What, actually, is the fit at Auburn anyway?

Plus, SEC picks for Week 10, including deep-dives into two big-time matchups in Tennessee and Georgia and Alabama and LSU.

Wat‘s Life: Jordan Watkins, Ole Miss “know what’s at stake” in November sprint to the finish Oct 31, 2022

Show notes

Jordan Watkins and the 8-1 Ole Miss football team are well-aware of what lies ahead of them.

They’re off this week. But should Alabama beat LSU on Saturday, in a week’s time, they would host the Crimson Tide for a 2014-like atmosphere turned up to 11.

First place in the SEC West. Pole position for the SEC title game and College Football Playoff.

All on the line.

“We’ve just got to block out the noise and play our game. Our main focus is to go 1-0 every week,” Watkins said Monday, in the latest edition of Wat’s Life, an Ole Miss podcast in association with the Ole Miss Spirit and Talk of Champions.

“We know what’s at stake. We all know what we could accomplish and where we can go. That’s going to be something I’ll never forget, whether we win or lose. We’ll give it our best shot. I can’t wait to lock the Vaught and put on a show for Oxford.”

Watkins and the Rebels are riding out their bye on a high.

Ole Miss bounced back from its first loss of the season at LSU with a 31-28 win at Texas A&M. Kickoff against Alabama is set for November 12 at 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS.

One of the biggest takeaways from College Station, at least in Watkins’ view, is the continued growth of quarterback Jaxson Dart, who threw for three touchdowns and no interceptions in his eighth overall Ole Miss start and the 11th of his career.

Dart also carried a career-high 17 times for 95 yards. He’s rushed for at least 95 yards in three games this season.

“He keeps growing day in and day out,” Watkins said. “He’s the heart of our team, especially offensively.”

True freshman running back Quinshon Judkins also rushed for the ninth-most yards (205) in a single game in program history. He’s already the ninth Rebel ever to cross the 1,000-yard plateau, and his 1,036 yards are good for ninth all-time.

Ole Miss still has three regular-season games to go.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a true freshman as good as him,” Watkins said. “He’s one of the best players I’ve been around throughout my career. We have a special running back room in general, but I think he’s the cream of the crop whenever it comes to running backs in the country right now.”

Plus, Watkins discusses his Halloween plans and upcoming NFL Draft decision, as well as the reality of playing for Lane Kiffin, the evolution of the Ole Miss offense and much, much more.

Franchise Player: Alabama looking like another glass-ceiling game for Ole Miss football Oct 31, 2022

Show notes

Ole Miss football has truly only had a handful of legitimately consequential, program-defining games in the last two decades.

Alabama next week could very well meet the criteria.

Of course, the Crimson Tide has to get past LSU first, though the Rebels (8-1, 4-1 SEC) can rest easy over their well-earned (and, frankly, long-overdue) bye week.

Ben Garrett and David Johnson discuss in this edition of Franchise Player, a site-crossover podcast of the Ole Miss Spirit (On3) and Inside the Rebels (247). Plus, potential offensive portal needs, a few recruiting storylines to follow and how Ole Miss stacks up against the six remaining undefeated teams in college football.

Postgame: Quinshon Judkins is a Heisman candidate and Ole Miss can think big Oct 30, 2022

Show notes

No. 15 Ole Miss football bounced back from its first loss of the season with a 31-28 at Texas A&M on Saturday.

The Rebels (8-1, 4-1 SEC) were literally carried by Quinshon Judkins, who set new career-highs in yards (205) and carries (34) in posting just the 12th 200-yard rushing effort in program history.

He's now the Ole Miss freshman rushing leader (1,036 yards), and, as Ben Garrett (Ole Miss Spirit/On3) and David Johnson (Inside the Rebels/247) discuss in this postgame edition of Franchise Player, it's time to start talking about Judkins as a Heisman candidate.

He's climbed into fifth all-time in both single-season rushing yards and rushing touchdowns (13), and he's just the ninth Rebel ever to cross the 1,000-yard rushing mark.

There's still three games to go following a bye next week.

Plus, the guys are handing out helmet stickers and looking ahead to Alabama, which is setting up to potentially be the most consequential regular-season game in school history.

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