LOOK: Ole Miss offensive line seemingly trying out every rotation imaginable this preseason
Another Ole Miss football practice down, another day the Rebels experimented with the offensive line.
The Ole Miss offensive line is the most experienced in all of college football.
The Rebels feature a returning front with a collective 222 career starts — eight better than No. 2 Oklahoma State. Florida State (190) is third. Louisville (172) and Purdue (165) round out the Top 5. Ole Miss also added significant pieces in the portal.
Diego Pounds transferred in from North Carolina and had been running with the first team at left tackle most of the week.
“Ole Miss, everybody’s talking about it right now,” Pounds said on the Spirit’s ‘Ivey League’ podcast back in March. ‘Cause y’all are getting all these players out of the portal.
“So, as soon as I hit the portal and I realized I had an opportunity to come here? And with (Ole Miss offensive line) coach (John) Garrison being here? Coach Garrison recruited me out of high school at NC State. Me and him had a really good connection; he had a (NFL) first-rounder under him at NC State.
“It was kind of a no-brainer.”
Jayden Williams was at left tackle on Tuesday.
Beside him, at left guard, was Nate Kalepo. Gerquan Scott, from Southern Miss, held as the starting center, while Julius Buelow and Caleb Warren rotated at right guard and Micah Pettus held down right.
It was a reshuffling of all but Scott from the previous few practices. It also reinforced the strength writ large of the title-contending Rebels in 2024-25. Ole Miss won a program-record 11 games, including the Peach Bowl, last season.
“I know we’re deeper than we were at that position,” fifth-year head coach Lane Kiffin said after practice earlier this week. “The first and second groups can alternate and go in (and) not having a lot of drop off. Seeing a lot of competition there. A couple guys can play multiple spots.”
Buelow has rotated between left and right guard.
Kalepo can play tackle OR guard. The pair transferred in from Washington together in the off-season. Warren is a multi-year starter for the Rebels at center. Jeremy James has played everywhere but center over his five-year Rebel career.
James, Warren and Pettus all put off the NFL Draft over the winter and returned to school. Little-used third-year reserve Preston Cushman has flashed during camp, too.
Ole Miss has hovered around No. 5 in preseason Top 25 polls. The Rebels were Top 10 in each of the last three years. The College Football Playoff has since expanded to 12 teams. Ole Miss opens against Furman August 31.
The included photos from Tuesday’s practice were provided by Ole Miss Athletics.
Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart
Walter Nolen
Cayden Lee
Trey Amos
Ole Miss DT JJ Pegues
Key Lawrence
Ayden Williams
Ole Miss DB Trey Washington
