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Brandon Turnage felt this was the right time to come to Ole Miss and return home

11by:Jake Thompson•04/05/24•

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Ole Miss cornerback Brandon Turnage. Credit: Joshua McCoy/Ole Miss Athletics

Players have the opportunity to create a musical chairs in college sports with the transfer portal. Brandon Turnage used that to his advantage to make the decision to come to Ole Miss and return home.

The former Lafayette High School standout committed to Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss after hitting the portal for a second time, departing from Tennessee. Turnage previouls transferred from Alabama to the Volunteers.

With all that is brewing within the Ole Miss football program and the hype train that is starting to roll towards the 2024 seasons, this felt like “no better time” for Turnage to make the move and come back to Lafayette County to wrap up his college career.

“With it being my last year of college football, it just felt good to come back to my family, seeing how it feels to be home, making me go harder, which it does,” Turnage said on Thursday. “For all my people to come and see me play rather than watching TV, I felt like this was a great opportunity and great time for it.”

Turnage’s time at Alabama was two years of competing at the top of the Southeastern Conference. It also included securing a national championship. Those two years allowed for Turnage to get to know current Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding.

Golding’s presence in Oxford and the idea of returning and playing for his hometown team was enough to make Turnage’s move a no-brainer.

“Everything I’m familiar with from my freshman and sophomore year, of course I have to touch on some things, trying to memorize things from back then, but everything has been real smooth,” Turnage said. “I look at it like this, you never know enough. I feel like playing in different schemes and different defenses, it opens your eyes up to a lot more things… It extends my knowledge from a standpoint of being around other guys and other coaches… you can put it all together.”

This is not the first time Turnage has been around the Ole Miss program on a day-to-day basis.

During his Lafayette playing days Turnage was spending countless hours around the Rebels program. In and out of the facilities and the practices as a prospective recruit.

From those days to know there have been vast changes within the Ole Miss football program and the facilities have had literal facelifts in Kiffin’s first four seasons in Oxford.

For Turnage that difference is felt instantly and was also part of the allure of becoming a Rebel at this moment in time.

“I see a difference in how it’s ran,” Turnage said. “This is more of a pro program. That’s something I really wanted to be part of. I saw how they did things before I got here. I watched it and played against it (while at Tennessee)… Pete Golding’s defense is a pro style defense. There’s no better time and no better opportunity than this.”

The homecoming also provides the opportunity for Turnage to get the band back together and reform an tandem with JJ Pegues that ran the Oxford Parks Commission basketball ranks 12-13 years ago.

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