Rebel Roundabout: Ole Miss No. 25 nationally in On3’s updated team recruiting rankings
The final week of June was pretty painful for Ole Miss football on the recruiting trail.
Akylin Dear, Jerome Myles, Corey Amos and Dillon Alfred all de-committed. Ole Miss, predictably, dropped like a rock — from 20 to 37 — in On3’s team recruiting rankings.
The Rebels have since rebounded. Commitments from a pair of 2025 safeties, Cortez Thomas and and Major Preston, have helped Ole Miss move back into the Top 25.
Ole Miss is No. 25 nationally. The Rebels are No. 11 in the now-16-team SEC.
“Ole Miss on the high-school-recruiting level will recruit in the 20s. Sometimes high-teens, low-20s,” PicKell said earlier this month on his ‘Hard Count’ podcast. “It’s not bad at all. For a lot of schools, that would be their best year.”
Just two of the Rebels’ 22 projected starters for 2024-25 are non-transfers. They won a program-record 11 games last season and signed the No. 3 transfer class.
PicKell continued, “Ole Miss has the potential to reinvent how we all view roster-building over the last three years. Ole Miss has taken 65 total transfers. Let’s say Ole Miss plays for a national title. That’s going to reinvent how we look at the portal.”
RATLIFF NAMED PRESEASON ALL-SEC
Ole Miss volleyball senior Sasha Ratliff was named preseason All-SEC on Wednesday.
Ratliff is already a two-time All-SEC honoree, and she’s proven one of the league’s very best middle blockers over her four years as a Rebel. She’s recorded 100 blocks or more three consecutive years. Ratliff is second all-time in school history (395) in the category.
She posted the fourth-best hitting percentage in the SEC (.349) last season and accounted for 326 of Ole Miss’ points. Ratliff had a team-leading 3.20 per set. She’s already eclipsed 1,000 points for her career.
Ratliff and the Rebels unofficially open their season August 24 with an exhibition against North Alabama.
FIFTY-FOUR REBELS RECEIVE FIRST-YEAR ACADEMIC HONOR ROLL
Ole Miss placed 54 student-athletes on the 2023-24 First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll, which includes all sports.
Baseball (13): Hudson Calhoun, Kyler Carmack, Connor Chisolm, Gunnar Dennis, Andrew Fischer, Trenton Lyons, Drew Markle, Wes Mendes, Taylor Rabe, Brayden Randle, Ryne Rodriguez, Campbell Smithwick and Connor Spencer.
Women’s Basketball (1): J’Adore Young
Football (4): Joshua Aka, Caden Davis, Kedrick Reescano and Isaac Ukwu
Men’s Golf (2): Aidan Cohl and Tim Tillmanns
Women’s Golf (4): Justine Fournand, Sophie Linder, Caitlyn Macnab and Filippa Sundquist
Rifle (3): Regan Diamond, Gretchen Schleinkofer and Katie Tedeschi
Soccer (4): Avery Brown, Evie Ewing, Dakota Jarrett and Hattie Patterson
Softball (5): Brianna Lopez, Jaden Pone, Alexa Rosales, Delaney Rummell and Ryan Starr
Women’s Tennis (3): Briana Crowley, Ava Hrastar and Andrea Nova
Men’s Track & Field (3): Jake Dalton, Toby Gillen and Aidan Hodge
Women’s Track & Field (11): Jahniya Bowers, Mary Cate Doughty, Jo-Lauren Keane, Akilah Lewis, Adie Luna, Akaoma Odeluga, Brooke Preputnick, Ella Rodwell, Skylar Soli, Mensi Stiff and Naomi Woolfolk
Volleyball (1): Nia Washington
