How Ole Miss uses the transfer portal, NIL differently from the rest

Ole Miss seems more poised for success than ever before heading into the 2024 season following an 11-win finish last year and a phenomenal offseason of recruiting in the transfer portal.

The Rebels’ transfer portal success is a strong reason why many have Ole Miss penciled in as a College Football Playoff team and contender to take home an SEC or national title this season. But Ben Garrett from OM Spirit recently explained what’s separated the program from others when it comes to recruiting using the transfer portal and NIL.

“I think that’s a great point to bring up, because it’s not like they’re going, ‘Alright, come to Ole Miss. It’s the transfer paradise.’ That’s not what this is,” Garrett told On3’s Andy Staples on Monday. “This time last year going into camp, it was Spencer Sanders and Walker Howard trying to replace Jaxson Dart as they were recruited to do. Same thing across the board, I mean he’s recruiting to replace everyone. That’s what good teams do.”

According to Garrett, Ole Miss has been using an NFL style approach when it comes to managing their roster in the offseason. Not afraid to spark competition within the program and acquire talent at a high clips with hopes of building out a strong starting lineup on both sides of the ball.

“They’re always trying to make sure that they’re fielding the best team that they can. It’s nothing personal, it’s just business and I think that’s really what’s allowed Ole Miss, removing that emotional element from it, as far as building a roster,” Garrett explained. “Which has really separated it and because it is about ball. You ask Jared Ivey, you ask any of those guys about what is really unique about this culture? Ole Miss means what it says and says what it means.”

For the second straight offseason, Ole Miss has had over 20 players join and depart from the program through the transfer portal. But through it all they’ve found a way to balance a competitive environment where football comes first and building a culture that players clearly want to be a part of.

“Now sometimes, that can be pretty harsh … Those are the conversations that happen at the next level, that’s how it works. You come and go, ‘Sorry, man, it didn’t work out. We’re going to give you a chance to go somewhere else.'” Garrett said. “There’s a lot of that, and Ole Miss isn’t unique in that way.”

“But absolutely I think the human element, maintaining that the thing that we used to all love about college athletics. Which was, ‘Oh there go our boys out there, going to beat their boys. Oh, we’re gonna get them today.’ There’s still a little bit of that, because there’s a pride taken in it.”

There’s no question that the transfer portal and NIL have changed the college football landscape significantly. With the present and future success of programs now largely hinging how well teams can adapt to the changes.

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin and NIL collective, The Grove Collective, have adapted well to college football’s unprecedented shift. Doing so in a unique way that now has them poised for their most highly anticipated season to date in Oxford.

“It’s free agency and Ole Miss does it well,” Garrett said. “But there is a little bit of a human element, not a little bit, there’s a lot still of the human element in regards to recruiting and how you go about recruiting talent that is more than just, ‘Oh, well Ole Miss dropped a bag on them.'”