Quinshon Judkins dismisses outside pressure to transfer from Ole Miss

It’s not often you have a freshman running back come into the SEC and immediately earn first-team All-SEC honors, but Ole Miss star Quinshon Judkins did just that in 2022. And he didn’t transfer after becoming a star.

He was electric from Day 1, even sharing a backfield with highly touted TCU transfer Zach Evans.

Judkins was good enough that he surely would have had interest from a number of top national contenders had he been interested in a transfer, but coach Lane Kiffin was happy to win what he called a second round of recruiting for Judkins.

For his part, Judkins seemed happy to remain at Ole Miss.

“I love Oxford, I love the people, most definitely my teammates, the coaches,” Judkins said. “I’m just where my feet are and I just love this community, so I don’t want to be nowhere else.”

That’s certainly a welcome relief for Kiffin and the rest of the Ole Miss faithful. Because there is absolutely zero doubt that the sophomore-to-be is one of the most talented backs in the country and that a Quinshon Judkins transfer would have significantly altered the college football landscape.

As a true freshman, Judkins ran 274 times for 1,567 yards and 16 touchdowns, while also catching 15 passes for 132 yards and another score.

How good was Judkins’ freshman year?

His rushing total and rushing touchdowns total were both new Ole Miss school records. And collectively as a team Ole Miss shattered its previous single-season rushing record, amassing 3,336 rushing yards, topping the previous record set all the way back in 1957.

There would have been plenty of reasons for someone to get in Judkins’ ear and try to convince him to transfer. He was having none of it.

“I didn’t pay attention to any of those things,” Judkins said. “I just focused on football and where my head is, where my team is, my coach is and just focused on what matters and winning games.”

Surely that was hard, though, given how good Judkins was and how alluring seeking other options can be?

“No, it wasn’t difficult,” Judkins said plainly.

One thing that will differ in 2023 from Judkins’ freshman campaign is that everyone will know who he is this time around. He’ll likely be the focal point of many defensive gameplans.

After all, All-Americans usually command some special attention.

Judkins received that honor in the 2023 preseason, named a first-team Walter Camp preseason All-American two weeks ago, sharing the backfield honors on the first team with Michigan‘ Blake Corum.

Still, listening to Quinshon Judkins discuss the outside pressures to transfer and his seeming complete lack of interest in doing so, something tell us he’ll be able to handle the spotlight just fine.