'We want to win championships': Tre Harris' decision to return to Ole Miss in 2024 was simple

The good news keeps rolling in for the 2024 Ole Miss football team with transfer portal success and a strong high school recruiting class, but the best news has been the retention rate of current players.

None more so than wide receiver Tre Harris, who made his future plans known last weekend with an announcement to return to Ole Miss next fall for one final college season. It will mark two seasons in Oxford for Harris who transferred from Louisiana Tech last January.

Harris instantly became the Rebels top receiver and quarterback Jaxson Dart’s favorite target, catching a record four touchdown passes in the season opener against Mercer. But then an injury during the first possession against Tulane a week later stalled Harris who had to come back from in-season surgery.

Now Harris is healthy and in the middle Peach Bowl practice, but he is also keeping one eye on next year and what the potential is.

“It was challenging, for sure,” Harris said on Tuesday of his decision process. “It was in the back of my mind throughout the season, but as the season came to a close it definitely got bigger and bigger in my mind.

“For me the biggest thing was being able to come back to a reliable offense that’s still going to be able to improve my skill set. That’s something I definitely feel I can do here. I’m comfortable with my teammates, I’m comfortable with the coaches, I’m comfortable with my quarterback and on top of that they got the 12-team playoff. We want to go there and we want to win championships.”

Ole Miss is loading up for what looks to be a major push for the inaugural 12-team format of the College Football Playoffs. Based on how the adopted format is, the Rebels would have clenched a spot this season had the expanded playoffs began in 2023.

Harris is returning as the Rebels top receiver with 851 yards and eight touchdowns on 47 catches in the regular season. That includes missing the Georgia Tech game the week after his injury but returning for limited reps against Alabama.

Ole Miss did not get a fully healthy Harris until much later in the season.

Harris did have eight catches for 153 yards and a crucial touchdown late in the win over LSU three weeks after sustaining his injury but a return to form did not come until closer to November.

“I want to say it was after the Arkansas, maybe after the Vandy game, that’s probably when I got back to 100 percent,” Harris said. “It was difficult going out there and not being able to produce how I wanted to produce. …End of the day we still went out there and got a ‘W.’ That’s all I was trying to contribute to my team, trying to go out there and get a ‘W’ and that’s what happened.”

With one game this season and a shot at a historic 11-win year there is more history left on the table for Harris and Ole Miss. With the returning Jordan Watkins and tight end Caden Prieskorn to join transfer additions Deion Smith and Juice Wells, the passing attack is looks even better on paper than this year.

That is not even including rising sophomores Ayden Williams and Cayden Lee who will be factored in, as well.

Seeing what Ole Miss has done on the recruiting trail and retention of players on the defensive side of the ball also has Harris looking forward to 2024.

“We all saw how the season went this year and we felt like, ‘We do it again we know we can go farther,'” Harris said. “That’s the biggest thing. We all pretty came to one thing. It was like, ‘Hey, we do it one more time we know where we’re going after.’ This year we really didn’t get what we wanted which was SEC Championship and going to the playoffs. Next year it just improves our chances with 12 teams.”