Lane Kiffin breaks down what he expects in Ole Miss' running back competition
Ole Miss lost one of the nation’s best players in the transfer portal this offseason in RB Quinshon Judkins. Even so, the Rebels will still have much to work with in their backfield.
Lane Kiffin discussed the running back rotation in Oxford between Ulysses Bentley IV, Rashad Amos, and Henry Parrish along with Logan Diggs in a press conference after the opening of fall camp on Wednesday. He said that it admittedly doesn’t matter to him whether it’s one back or a committee in the run game so long as they get the production that they’re looking for.
“Yeah, I don’t know,” said Kiffin. “I hope this doesn’t sound wrong. I don’t really care which way it goes – whether it’s one guy is so far ahead that one guy does it or there’s two or there’s three because we’ll just figure out the best way to win.”
“You’ve been around us a while to know, like, we really don’t have a script of, like, ‘This is exactly how it’s supposed to look’ – offensively, defensively, rotations of players,” Kiffin said. “Our systems look different year in and year out based off our players, let alone how many play at a spot.”
Starting with the returning player in The ‘Sip, Bentley is back after sharing carries with Judkins. He’ll be in his third season within the program, sixth in total after three at SMU, where he has rushed for 613 yards and eight touchdowns.
That then leads to three transfer backs for Ole Miss.
The question didn’t refer to Diggs as one of the three. Still, he arrives with some of the most significant experience after three seasons at Notre Dame and LSU. He has rushed for just over 1,700 yards for 14 scores with the Fighting Irish and Tigers. That was enough to be the leading back for his respective team in each of the past two seasons. That then made him the No. 141 overall transfer and No. 11 RB per On3’s 2024 Transfer Portal Top Players.
Parrish follows in his return to Ole Miss after a pair of seasons at Miami. In total, he has rushed for 2,057 yards and 15 touchdowns. That includes being the Hurricanes’ leading rusher each of his seasons there with 1,241 yards and 10 scores. That earned him the spot as the No. 19 RB and No. 223 transfer at On3.
Finally, Amos, another transfer back on his third school, comes in after three seasons at South Carolina and Miami (OH). The Rebels managed to flip him in the portal after he committed to Colorado along with Mississippi State. His lone year with the Redhawks has propelled his career after leading them at 1,075 yards and 13 touchdowns. He also now comes in highly-rated as the No. 16 RB and No. 191 transfer for On3.
That’s four backs for Ole Miss who have rushed for over 1,100 career yards. That includes three at over 1,700 and two at over 2,000. They’ve also all rushed for over five yards per carry and all scored at least 13 rushing touchdowns in college. They’re all experienced in their own ways too with this being at least their second, if not third, school.
They all provide a lot of options for Kiffin to consider. Still, in the end, how the depth chart looks there will only matter so much to him so long as their ground game is where he wants it to be.
“I don’t have that answer for you,” said Kiffin. “I think, maybe, on paper, it would look more like that because there are a number of guys that have played but not necessarily been, you know, a high-carry starter. So I don’t know that and I really don’t worry that much which way it is.”
“We’ll just figure out however, let it figure itself out,” Kiffin said.