Unpacking Ole Miss football's 2023 recruiting class, and why Lane Kiffin isn't done yet

OXFORD — Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin took a short break from working on his early signing day puzzle Wednesday morning to stand behind a dais and take questions.

His thesis was clear: This was not the day to form overall judgments of the Rebels’ class.

This class, Kiffin explained, is nowhere close to finished. It was clear Kiffin was hesitant to offer big-picture thoughts on Rebels’ 2023 recruiting crop because, in his view, it’s still under construction.

“There’s still work being done,” Kiffin said. “I think this is a strange signing time, once we switched to the early (period) so it’s not your full class. There’s guys potentially to sign later today or on normal signing day (in February), plus there’s so many transfers − some already coming here and a lot we’re still working on.

“Kind of an unusual press conference to have.”

Quality over quantity?

The Rebels signed 11 players to National Letters of Intent Wednesday morning, with Kiffin indicating that more additions could follow later on -- be it Wednesday evening or further down the line.

That group of 11 is by far the smallest crop in the SEC. Kentucky and Florida tied for the second-smallest group of prep commitments in the conference with 17.

The 247Composite rankings, influenced strongly by the volume of recruits in a school’s class, ranked Ole Miss 13th out of 14 SEC programs as of Wednesday afternoon. The average rating of Ole Miss’ commitments, though, ranked seventh in the SEC. The Rebels signed good players, just not very many of them.

Ole Miss needs more signatures, whether they come from the high school ranks or the transfer portal. In college football − and especially with Kiffin, the self-proclaimed Portal King − it’s impossible to talk recruiting without talking portal. They’re part of the same math equation.

“I think you will see a lot of portal players here,” Kiffin said. “Maybe not even necessarily like what you’re used to, where it’s just all, ‘OK, these are portal guys that are supposed to be starters.’ I think you’ll see portal guys in backup roles.”

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Quarterback quandary

Quarterback depth, in particular, is now an area of concern for the Rebels.

Four-star Ole Miss verbal commitment Marcel Reed flipped his commitment to Texas A&M on Monday. Asked about losing a pledge so close to the early signing period, Kiffin offered a vague response in return.

“Things aren’t always what they appear to be,” he said. “I wouldn’t say we lost a quarterback.”

He would, however, say that the QB position needed to be addressed. Jaxson Dart’s backup, Luke Altmyer, is in the portal. He’s the only signal-caller the Rebels have signed in the last three cycles, including this one.

Reed wasn’t the only late defection from the Rebels’ class. Three-star OL Izavion Miller flipped to Auburn on Monday, and four-star edge Neeo Avery signed with Maryland Wednesday afternoon.

Staying in Mississippi

There’s reason to be excited about the players who did sign, though − and two Mississippi natives in particular.

The Rebels managed to fend off Alabama for four-star Raleigh linebacker Suntarine Perkins, the No. 2 LB in the country and top-ranked player in the state. The other top-100 prospect in this class is Ridgeland wideout Ayden Williams. Loop in Moss Point’s Jamarious Brown, and Ole Miss signed three of the top five players in the state. It hadn’t landed more than one of Mississippi’s five best prospects in any of the previous three cycles.

“Really big, which is obvious,” Kiffin said. “Something that didn’t necessarily happen when we first got here. They were going away to play. I think we did a better job of that. As guys come in and have success here, that’ll help that.”

David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Lane Kiffin on Ole Miss football 2023 recruiting class on signing day