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QB1 Emerges, WR Room Reloads: Ole Miss spring football wraps behind closed doors

Ben Garrettby:Ben Garrett•04/21/25•

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Ole Miss QB Austin Simmons (Photo credit: Ole Miss Football/Instagram)

Ole Miss spring football came to an end with a team-wide scrimmage on Saturday closed to the public and media.

Austin Simmons looked the part of new QB1. The new-look wide receivers, led by five transfers, including Oklahoma State’s De’Zhaun Stribling, impressed as well. 

“Very competitive, really tough, kind of (Jonathan)-Mingo-ish in that way,” sixth-year Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said of Stribling. “Strong, physical. So, really glad. That was a huge concern, you know, in the off-season (and) losing so much in that room. 

“We did a really good job in (recruiting) and turned the room over really well and added some really good players in there. So, really pleased with that room and how those guys are working, really hard. And the culture of the room, too.”

Ole Miss likes its running backs and just committed Troy’s Damien Taylor. 

Taylor was one of five rushers in college football last season to average 5.9 yards per carry at 220 pounds. He forced 51 missed tackles.

Colorado and Oklahoma wanted him, too. Taylor in 2024-25 rushed for 1,010 yards on 173 carries and scored seven touchdowns. 

“I definitely feel like I fit the offense pretty well,” Taylor told the Ole Miss Spirit’s Billy Embody. “I complement them in the schemes they want to run and their visions, and to compliment the other players in my position group, and in the offense as a whole.

“They’ve been showing me how my skill sets will fit the offense so well and how I can complement each other and just how I can be a piece of this team that can take us to the next level as well.”

The projected starting offensive line didn’t get much time together due to injury. 

Ole Miss also added a potential starter in the spring portal in Maryland’s Terez Davis. 

Ole Miss defensively is well-stocked at two of three levels. The Rebels have work to do in the secondary, however. They want to add at least four and already have Ricky Fletcher (South Alabama) and Tavoy Feagin (Clemson) in the boat.

“There’s just not a lot of numbers there, and certainly not much experience playing,” Kiffin said earlier this spring of the defensive backs. “It’s just something we’ll have to work through and continue to push guys. Hopefully when these guys, a couple of guys, come back from injuries it’ll look better.”

The spring transfer window closes April 22. The included scrimmage photos were provided by Ole Miss Athletics.

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin

DT Zxavian Harris

RB Logan Diggs

WR Winston Watkins

OL Connor Howes and DL Jeffery Rush

TE Wyatt Smalley

LB Jaden Yates

TE Dillon Hipp

QB Austin Simmons

LB Andrew Jones

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin and son Knox Kiffin

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