OXFORD – As with any scrimmage, one side’s success is bound to come at the hands of the other’s miscues. For Ole Miss, Saturday’s scrimmage largely belonged to the defense, according to head coach Lane Kiffin.
Despite losing 10 starters from last year’s second-ranked scoring defense, defensive coordinator Pete Golding’s new cast of characters stuck out over the weekend, Kiffin told reporters Monday. While Kiffin said the Rebels’ offense has been ahead of the defense at this point in fall practices in recent years, the defense made life difficult for first-year starting quarterback Austin Simmons and the rest of his supporting cast in the weekend’s scrimmage. Ole Miss returns just two full-time starters on the offensive side as well – junior wide receiver Cayden Lee and senior tackle Diego Pounds.
Nebraska junior transfer edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen – brother of former Rebels star Princely Umanmielen – was the defensive player of the scrimmage, Kiffin said. Junior linebacker Suntarine Perkins returned an interception for a touchdown, per Kiffin.
“First defense did a really good job, forced a number of turnovers. And it was great to see them playing together at a high speed with so many new pieces there,” Kiffin said. “And, obviously, whenever you have a scrimmage, if one side does well in an area, the other side isn’t. So, it’ll give you some good stuff to work on, some good learning lessons offensively.”
Simmons, who is replacing Jaxson Dart – a first-round pick in the most recent NFL Draft and the program’s all-time leader in total offense, passing yards and wins by a quarterback – had his ups and downs over the weekend, Kiffin said, making “some critical errors” but ultimately “rebounded and played better later on.” Simmons hadn’t made such errors in practices leading up to the scrimmage, Kiffin said, and it may have been “good for it to happen” in the grand scheme of things.
On the flip side, Kiffin praised the Rebels’ defensive front – “Our first defensive line is really good,” he noted – which figures to be anchored by the likes of Umanmielen, LSU junior transfer Da’Shawn Womack, sophomore Kam Franklin, senior Xzavian Harris, sophomore Will Echoles and redshirt sophomore Jamarious Brown, among others. The Rebels lost first-round pick Walter Nolen, third-round pick Princely Umanmielen, sixth-round pick JJ Pegues and three-year starter Jared Ivey off the defensive line in the offseason.
“A combination of (the defense playing well and the offense making mistakes). I thought the defense came out with really good energy, especially after the first drive and did some really good things and made some really good plays. Good pass rush created some turnovers, good plays in the secondary,” Kiffin said. “Quarterbacks, like most scrimmages, you have some they wish they could have back and some things to learn from in those.”
Rebels No. 21 in preseason AP Poll
Ole Miss is ranked No. 21 in the preseason AP Poll, the fourth straight year the Rebels will begin the season ranked. It’s the second-longest streak for the program, trailing just the 1958-64 Rebels teams led by John Vaught. A total of 10 SEC teams are ranked in the 2025 preseason poll, headlined by No. 1 Texas. Ole Miss has finished the season ranked in the top 25 three of the last four years and has notched double-digit wins in each of those campaigns.
The Rebels begin their season Aug. 30 against Georgia State at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
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