Ole Miss Football: A final Gator Bowl tune-up, Christmas break, then off to Jacksonville
Christmas break has come for Ole Miss football, too.
Well, almost.
The No. 14 Rebels (9-3, 5-3 SEC) opened practices for their Gator Bowl showdown with Duke (9-3, 5-3 ACC) on December 14. Kickoff on January 2, 2025 is 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN.
Monday (December 23, 2024) morning was the final on-campus practice before now-sixth-year head coach Lane Kiffin releases the players for a couple of days to be with their families for the holidays.
Ole Miss returns to Oxford on December 28 to head out for Jacksonville.
“We have a chance to get 10 wins,” Ole Miss tight end Caden Prieskorn said. “If we win this game we’ll be over 20 wins in two years here. That’s hard to do in college football these days with the transfer portal (and) new guys in every year.
“A lot of us just know it’s our last time really getting to throw an Ole Miss jersey on. Just enjoy being around my brothers and everybody in this building because it’s the last time we get to go out and show everybody who we are as a team. I just can’t wait. I’m excited for that opportunity.”
RELATED: Lane Kiffin Press Conference: Ole Miss vs. Duke for the Gator Bowl
Most every major Ole Miss contributor this season opted to play in the Gator Bowl.
Linebacker Chris ‘Pooh’ Paul is preparing for the NFL Draft. Safety Jadon Canady is in the transfer portal. Right tackle Micah Pettus was dismissed and is evaluating next-season options elsewhere.
But three-year wide receiver Jordan Watkins is in. Same for third-year star quarterback Jaxson Dart and such accomplished, next-level veterans as Prieskorn and defensive linemen Walter Nolen, Jared Ivey and JJ Pegues.
“It wasn’t a surprise at all,” Watkins said last week. “Everybody on this team is just so bought-in on what the coaches and Kiffin’s been able to do these last couple years. Really built the brotherhood here and the foundation for this team and the future of this program.”
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RELATED: How Ole Miss is navigating the portal with Grove Collective’s Walker Jones
The Ole Miss Spirit’s Chuck Rounsaville reported Monday injured running back Logan Diggs is practicing.
Diggs is a transfer from LSU. He missed the entire regular season as he slowly worked his way back from an ACL injury suffered in the Tigers’ bowl game in January.
Diggs, according to Rounsaville, ‘should get some action in the bowl game.’ However, his practice performance has only been ‘fair,’ per insiders Rounsaville has talked to. Expectations for the Gator Bowl, then, should be muted.
“A lot of guys made that choice to come back and chase a dream,” Ivey said. “When you don’t get what you want out of something, it’s easy to just move on to the next thing.
“For the guys in the building to use (the Gator Bowl) as a catalyst to show how much we mean to one another and care about the next guy and be on the field with him, I think, is huge.”
