Ole Miss is still working on 'incomplete' class amid a 'strange' early signing period

The early National Signing Day arrived on Wednesday for the 2023 class and Ole Miss got to work early but the work is not over, according to Lane Kiffin.

The Ole Miss head football coach addressed the initial 11 players who signed in the early hours on Wednesday but acknowledged not all the hay is in the barn.

“We’re still working. I can basically tell you that’s not going to the be number by the end of the day,” Kiffin said of his fourth early signing class since coming to Ole Miss.

Plenty of talent is sprinkled throughout the first 11 national letters of intent Kiffin and his staff received via the fax machine including the top two players in Mississippi.

Keeping Raleigh linebacker Suntarine Perkins and Ridgeland wide receiver Ayden Williams in their home state. Perkins is a major success for Kiffin as Alabama put the full court press on him late in the recruitment process.

So far there are three Mississippians in Ole Miss’ class with Moss Point defensive lineman Jamarious Brown also coming to Oxford.

“I think really big. Which is obvious,” Kiffin said of winning the in-state recruiting battles. “Something that necessarily happen when we first got here. They were going away to play and so we did a better job of that. We need to continue to do that. As guys come in and have success here that will help that.

“I’m not going to get into NIL a whole lot, but that had some effect before where I think it’s public knowledge we’re in a little better position. We’re definitely in a better position than we were sitting up here a year ago.”

Ole Miss saw its high school class take a hit on Monday when quarterback Marcel Reed de-committed.

The only quarterback in the class had been committed to Kiffin and Ole Miss since April. Though Reed’s announcement came 36 hours before the early signing period it ended an eight-month long verbal commitment to the Rebels.

Now, Ole Miss does not currently have an incoming quarterback either from the high school ranks or the transfer portal. That will certainly change, but when is uncertain.

Kiffin did not seem too concerned, or at least publicly, when talking about the loss of a signal caller on Wednesday.

“Things aren’t always what they appear to be. So, I wouldn’t say we lost a quarterback,” Kiffin said. “But it is what it is. Again, because of the portal and because it being so different with one year of eligibility to four years of eligibility going in that, even walking down here going over (our signees) it’s just a weird press conference to have. It’s so incomplete compared to what it’s going to look like when we start spring ball, let alone camp. Because nowadays you see guys in the summer still transferring. We do have come quarterback depth issues to work on.”

One position group that does not have depth issues is the running back room after another freshman signing.

Kedrick Reescano out of New Caney, Texas made it official on Wednesday, joining an Ole Miss running backs group that includes the reigning SEC Freshman of the Year in Quinshon Judkins and possibly still Zach Evans.

The 103rd ranked recruit in the country according to On3, Reescano just adds another body in a group was not a major area of need but bolstering the ranks does not hurt.

Reescano will not be a mid-year enrollee.

“I think he’s been an extremely productive back,” Kiffin said. “We had him way up there on the board early on. Probably one of, based on the rankings and stuff, one of our higher-ranked players. I think he’s got a chance to be really special and it says a lot for a guy to follow arguably the best freshman in America in his spot.”

Of the current 11 early signings here are the four players will arrive on campus in January as a mid-year enrollees:

• AJ Brown – Safety; Cordele, Ga. (Crisp County High School)
• Jayvontay Conner – Tight End; Winston-Salem, N.C. (East Forsyth High School)
• Braxton Myers – Cornerback; Coppel, Texas (Coppell High School)
• Brycen Sanders – Offensive Line; Chattanooga, Tenn. (Baylor School)