‘This (team) was special’: Ole Miss football sending fifth-most players to NFL Combine
Ole Miss football will have a program-record 11 players participate in the NFL Scouting Combine later this month.
Only four other teams in college football are sending more.
National champion Ohio State is above the rest with 15, followed by Texas and Georgia at 14 apiece. Oregon has the fourth-most (13), while the Rebels are tied for fifth with South Carolina, another contender from the SEC.
The only other school in double-digits is Miami (Florida) at 10.
The NFL Combine will take place in Indianapolis, Indiana, February 24 through March 3 at Lucas Oil Stadium, home to the NFL’s Colts. Invites were sent to 329 draft-eligible prospects. Ole Miss is tied for third among SEC schools.
Jaxson Dart set records as Ole Miss starting quarterback the last three seasons.
He’s been moving up draft boards since the Gator Bowl — a 52-20 win over Duke, which secured the third 10-win season in the last four years.
NFL Rookie Watch quoted an NFL scout who doesn’t think Dart makes it past the first seven picks. The New York Giants, New York Jets and Las Vegas Raiders all reportedly have ‘serious interest’ in Dart.
“There’s just too many quarterback-needy teams,” the scout said. “To be honest, he has the potential to be the best NFL quarterback in this class.”
Dart last season had an average depth of target of 11.9 yards, as well as a 7.1 percent big-time-throw rate. He averaged 10.7 yards per attempt. All were better than Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, the draft’s top-two-ranked quarterbacks, and despite less time to throw.
RELATED: Ole Miss’ Walter Nolen believes he’s the next Aaron Donald
Shrine Bowl: Ole Miss’ JJ Pegues, Caden Prieskorn and Chris ‘Pooh’ Paul
NFL.com‘s Daniel Jeremiah has both Ward and Sanders coming off the board within the first six picks.
Defensive tackle Walter Nolen is the only Rebel he has in the first round.
Nolen is headed to Indy. The other Rebels making the trip are cornerback Trey Amos, running back Ulysses Bentley, IV, wide receivers Tre Harris, Jordan Watkins and Juice Wells, linebacker Chris ‘Pooh’ Paul and defensive linemen Jared Ivey, JJ Pegues and Princely Umanmielen.
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Amos, Ivey and Umanmielen aren’t consensus first-rounders but have each received at least a projection or two for the back end. Amos left the Senior Bowl early because of injury, potentially adding more urgency to his upcoming combine performance.
“Few cornerbacks are more physical and combative in this year’s class,” Kyle Crabbs of The 33rd Team said of Amos.
Paul is the draft’s No. 5 linebacker and No. 118 overall prospect, according to rankings from ESPN.
He’s a likely early-to-mid round selection. He met with a long list of teams at the Shrine Bowl, including the Atlanta Falcons, Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys.
NFL Network will broadcast drills for the combine starting at 2 p.m. CT on Thursday, February 29.
“It was awesome going to war with those guys each and every day,” Paul said of the 2024-25 Rebels. “Me and JJ Pegues was actually just talking about that (at the Shrine Bowl).
“This was something special. This was a great team, and you can tell the games that we did lose those were just prime examples of how to beat yourself. We took that to the chin and got better each and every day. Guys came in with the same energy and same intent of ready to work.”
