Cedric Johnson claims playing with transfer is 'easier' than freshmen

Under head coach Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss has become known for its heavy use of the transfer portal. It’s a controversial way to build a team but one that edge rusher Cedric Johnson likes.

As Johnson explained at SEC Media Days, he finds that it’s actually easier to play with transfer players than freshmen.

“I feel like it’s easier building a team with transfers,” Cedric Johnson said. “I feel like transfers coming in, they know how college works, they know the system of how we do things. Usually system of practicing, playing, how everything moves. I feel like the only thing you just got to add in is meshing them within the brotherhood.”

This offseason, Ole Miss welcomed 23 transfers into the program. That class of transfers amounted to the 11th-ranked transfer class in the 2023 cycle, according to On3 Team Transfer Portal Rankings. It’s these players who Johnson says easily mesh in with the rest of the team.

“When you get a freshman, you got to get them to know the system, mesh them throughout our whole system, teaching them how hard we work, about how we go on top of meshing them into the brotherhood,” Johnson said.

“I feel like getting transfers in is a lot easier than a freshman.”

At the same time, Cedric Johnson also believes that the defensive line is going to be Ole Miss’ strength this season, with several freshmen acting as key contributors to the unit.

“It’s going to be the strength of the defense,” Johnson said. “I personally believe that. We’ve grown a lot. We got a lot more depth. We got few great freshmen guys, all of them look great. Cham-bo [Campbell], DeeJay Holmes, Myles [Saulsberry] coming in. We got a lot of great guys. Stephon Wynn, Isaac [Ukwu]. We got a lot of great depth, a lot of guys being able to play. I just love the way we’re looking right now.”

Cedric Johnson on Pete Golding

This offseason, Ole Miss hired defensive coordinator Pete Golding away from Alabama. Already, he’s had a massive impact on the team’s defense, according to Cedric Johnson.

“I like him a lot. He’s funny. If you didn’t know, he’s a pretty funny guy. I really like him, how particular in detail he is in the defense,” Johnson said.

“But he doesn’t stray away from at the end of the day we just playing ball, play the game you love, play hard, play fast, play physical. That will take care of the majority of our problems, take care of the majority of things. That’s the main thing.”