Ole Miss Football’s New D-Line: Franklin, Echoles and a strong spring surge
Suntarine Perkins was the co-leader for Ole Miss football in sacks last season and is one of the few returning contributors up front.
However, he’s currently sidelined for Ole Miss spring practices. Perkins is rehabbing/recovering from a labrum injury that required surgery.
His absence opens the door even more for the Rebels to get a good, long look at their second-year crop of defensive linemen over the coming weeks, among them Kam Franklin and William Echoles.
Franklin is stepping in as the replacement for Jared Ivey. Echoles takes over for Walter Nolen. Ivey and Nolen and three other now-former Rebels are all ranked by Pro Football Focus as Top 75 of NFL Draft prospects.
Nolen appears the surest bet to make it into the first round.
“He’s gonna be a force,” Franklin said of Echoles, an On3 mid-year freshman All-American last season. “He really took a step into leadership. He’s gonna be a great player, for sure, and a key piece to the d-line.”
RELATED: Talk of Champions LIVE from Ole Miss Spring Football
Ole Miss won 10 games last season for the third time in four years.
The Rebels set new school records for sacks (52) and tackles for loss (120) in the process.
Ole Miss pulled Top 10 EDGE transfers Da’Shawn Womack and Princewill Umanmielen from the portal to help off-set the lost production.
Princewill comes from Nebraska. He’s the younger brother of Princely, the one-and-one Ole Miss EDGE and another potential top-two-round selection for the Rebels in the draft.
Womack, from LSU, is a former 5-star recruit. He played in all 12 games as a Tiger freshman and had 13 total tackles. Womack appeared in eight games this season.
Top 10
- 1
Calipari vs. Pitino
No love lost
- 2
ACC, Big East merger
'A no-brainer'
- 3New
Deion Sanders
CU coach updates spring proposal
- 4
Grant Nelson injury
Latest on Alabama star
- 5
Game times, TV
NCAA Saturday tip times announced
Get the On3 Top 10 to your inbox every morning
By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.
“That’s my brother,” Franklin said of Womack. “We just got done talking about just imagining the vision for the season. No matter who’s first, who’s second, it doesn’t matter. We’re both coming.
“We could be a dynamic duo for sure.”
Veteran Zxavian Harris is the penciled-in starter alongside Echoles.
The Rebels also brought back tackles Jamarion Brown and Akelo Stone.
Franklin battled injury over his debut Ole Miss season but still appeared in seven games. He had 11 tackles, including five tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.
Franklin signed as Mississippi’s top-ranked prospect in the 2024 recruiting class.
“Pretty much everything right now is competition,” Franklin said. Ole Miss held practice No. 2 of spring football on Thursday. “We all know the end game to this. Pretty much all of us coming in, everybody’s hungry.
“No matter who’s in the starting position, second string, whatever. We’re on the same page right now.”
Franklin at Ole Miss has been reunited with high school teammate Jarcoby Hopson.
Franklin and Hopson both starred for nearby Lake Cormorant. Hopson is now a freshman linebacker for the Rebels. He’s a former 4-star recruit and enrolled in January.
Hopson is going through spring practices.
“We’ve been playing together since knee-high,” Franklin said. “My advice to him (is) just to stay down, stay hungry and be patient. Me coming in mid-year, I tried to stay down and stay hungry and stay patient for my time to come. That would be my advice.”
