Why Ole Miss football's Texas Bowl approach is old school – with a modern twist

OXFORD — For the second season in a row, Ole Miss football is poised to head into its bowl game without any NFL Draft-related opt-outs.

Rebels coach Lane Kiffin said Tuesday that one or two players approached him to talk that decision through after Ole Miss (8-4, 4-4 SEC) concluded its regular season. Those discussions all reached the same conclusion: Ole Miss' professional hopefuls will take part in the Rebels' Texas Bowl clash against Texas Tech in Houston on Dec. 28 (8 p.m., ESPN).

"We may have had one or two conversations but no one is doing that, which is awesome," Kiffin said. "They're committed to their team, to playing. But yes, there were some individuals that had discussed that."

Once unbearable for old-school pundits and coaches alike, bowl opt-outs now feel normal. The get-off-my-lawn crowd has largely marched on to the new battlefield offered by the transfer portal and NIL, leaving a whimper of resistance to opt-outs where there was previously a full-throated yell.

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It's now more notable when a team retains all of its NFL prospects for its postseason game. But just how unusual is it?

The Rebels are one of 35 Power Five programs that have earned a place in bowl games outside the College Football Playoff in each of the last two seasons. No more than four other programs have managed without a player opting out of either of those two games like Ole Miss has.

It is, as Kiffin explained, both good and bad. According to Pro Football Focus' big board, Ole Miss' top-ranked NFL Draft prospect is wideout Jonathan Mingo at No. 238.

"When you don't have a lot of guys that are looking at going in the first round, you don't have as many opt-out discussions," he said. "That would be a good problem to have, though. But no, we don't have as many maybe as some other places."

Not to worry, though. These Rebels will head into the Texas Bowl with an interesting crop of roster construction storylines nonetheless.

Most come from the transfer portal. As of Tuesday evening, at least 16 Ole Miss players had entered their names in the portal. Nine of them remain on the Rebels' roster, and as a result are eligible to play against Texas Tech, with Kiffin taking a similar approach to what he did last season ahead of the Sugar Bowl.

Among those players is backup quarterback Luke Altmyer. Starter Jaxson Dart said Tuesday that he asked Altmyer, his close friend, to stick around through the bowl.

"When he got into the portal, he wasn't really sure if he was going to play in the bowl game," Dart said. "Obviously he's busy with a lot of other things. A lot of schools wanna contact him and stuff. But, you know, we kind of have to have a backup quarterback. I talked with the coaches about it, that I wanted him to play. So I had a talk with him about it, and I was like 'Bro, I want you to come back and finish this thing out with us. We'd all love to have you around.'"

With plenty of needs to fill, Kiffin is bound to do some transfer portal shopping of his own. He brought in 17 Division I transfers last offseason, including Dart and several other key players.

In Dart's view, the Texas Bowl offers the Rebels a 60-minute window to give their pitch.

"We have some guys that are gonna be leaving us," Dart said. "I think this is just a big boost to get us ready for next season with some of the things we need to fill with the transfer portal, and those guys being able to watch us. I think that's huge."

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: Ole Miss football a rare case of keeping all players for bowl game