Ole Miss lands former FAU third baseman Jackson Ross via NCAA Transfer Portal

Ole Miss fans can rejoice, as Mike Bianco and company have landed a big fish out of the NCAA Transfer Portal once again.

On Monday, Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball reported that former Florida Atlantic Owls third baseman Jackson Ross is taking his talents to Oxford, choosing to join the Rebels for the next stop in his collegiate baseball career.

“TRANSFER NEWS: @OleMissBSB has landed yet another big get out of the portal in @FAUBaseball transfer third baseman Jackson Ross,” tweeted Rogers. “Ross is a 6-2, 200-pounder, who hit .345 with 14 homers, 58 RBIs and had a 1.042 OPS for the Owls this past season.”

As Rogers explained, Ross can absolutely mash the ball, as he hit some impressive numbers with the Owls last season. Hopefully he’ll be able to recreate his hitting prowess in Oxford in 2023.

Moreover, the news comes after Ole Miss faithful were scorned by the news of former Tampa Spartans shortstop JD Urso no longer taking his talents to the Rebels.

Urso won’t be joining Ole Miss for this upcoming season like originally believed. Chase Parham of Rivals is reporting that Urso is “no longer joining” the squad, although he didn’t specify what the shortstop would be doing instead.

“JD Urso, the shortstop who transferred to #OleMiss from Tampa, is no longer joining #RebsBSB,” tweeted Parham. “Puts extra emphasis on Cooper Pratt’s decision.”

Without speculating, it’s certainly an interesting decision from Urso, who was ready to join arguably the best conference in all of college baseball with a ton of fanfare. He impressed over his time with the Spartans, and was ready to help Ole Miss return to form next season.

Moreover, Urso’s father is the coach of the Tampa Spartans baseball program, which is an interesting tidbit of information. Last season, the shortstop hit .374, and reached base in a school record 56 straight games.

Over his four seasons with the Spartans, Urso has compiled an average of .352 at the plate, while also adding on nine home runs and 44 doubles, totaling 118 RBIs as well. He would’ve been a nice piece for the Rebels, but that’s no longer coming to fruition.

For a team that didn’t reach the heights they expected to last season, Urso would’ve been a nice get. Mike Bianco and company are trying to get back to the College World Series, and looking for guys that fit the bill to do so, and they believed they had one in Urso, so it has to be disappointing to hear the news.

Thankfully, it seems as if they have one in Jackson Ross, a player Ole Miss can believe in moving forward.