Ole Miss secondary benefited from the transfer portal this spring
There are many layers and viewpoints of the transfer portal and its grasp on the college football landscape, but the Ole Miss secondary is seeing nothing but positives from it.
With spring practices in the books and a month of trying to mesh a new roster together, the Rebels secondary room is thankful for the five weeks they were able to bond with new faces.
One of those new players is safety Ladarius Tennison who transferred in from Auburn along with J.J. Pegues. Tennison had an impressive spring with his new team and punctuated it with a solid performance in last weekend’s Grove Bowl.
Tennison, who played the nickle position with the Tigers, finished with three tackles as a member of the Navy team in Saturday’s spring finale inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
“He keyed in when (co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Chris Partridge) was telling him during the meetings and get got everything down pat. He played real fast and real physical,” said Otis Reese IV, an exclusive NIL partner of the Ole Miss Spirit. Reese is sponsored by Millette Beach Condo Rentals. They can be reached at 850-424-5061.
The portal has been very good to the safety position so far with the addition of Tennison and Isheem Young from Iowa State. Young did not practice much, if at all during spring due to suffering a fractured jaw just before.
While Young was not able to take the field, Tennison did and getting the chance to bond with fresh faces in March and April allowed for Reese and the other returning safeties get a head start before coming back in July for fall camp.
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“I feel like we did a great job coming together,” Reese said. “We had a couple new guys so we had to bond right away. I think we did a good job of bringing them guys in and we put in a lot of extra work and time together. Spring was great, the chemistry was right on.
“I definitely think (spring) was an advantage. Coach Partridge and (head) Coach (Lane) Kiffin bring in guys who want to win and guys who are competitors. It’s nothing like being on a team with guys who want to win and guys that (have) the it factor.”
Of the returning safeties, Reese noticed a lot of improvement out of sophomore Derek Bermudez this spring.
There is plenty of depth with Reese, A.J. Finley and Tysheem Johnson back on the Rebels roster for this fall, but Bermudez could add even more with his game taking that next level of progression.
During the spring game Bermudez finished with two tackles and an interception.
“Derek is a young guy who definitely came a long way,” Reese said. “He really put in the work. He bought in and locked in and all props to him. The sky’s the limit for him. I’m proud of him. As a defense we’re proud of what we’ve seen in him this spring. He’s just got to build off it this summer and going into the fall.”
