Could Ole Miss Baseball Return Ace Pitcher Hunter Elliot for the 2026 Season?

Mike Bianco and the Ole Miss Rebels continue navigating a critical offseason in Oxford with the program looking to bolster the 2026 roster in the Magnolia State.

After a strong 2025 season, the Rebels punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament, but suffered an early exit in the Oxford Regional.

Now, the program has attacked the NCAA Transfer Portal in order to revamp the roster heading into next season; specifically on the pitching staff.

In June, the Rebels added their first commitment of the offseason after Grand Canyon left-handed pitcher Grant Richardson pledged to the Rebels.

The 6-foot-3, 220-pounder came out of the bullpen for first six appearances of the season before developing into a top-of-the-rotation pitcher and starting his final eight games.

Richardson had the highest strikeout rate per nine innings in Grand Canyon's all-time history at 12.43 (min. 50 innings).

The talented southpaw ranked among the Western Athletic Conference's tops in: strikeouts per nine innings (12.43, third), strikeouts (70, eighth), ERA (3.73, 12th) and opponent batting average (.245, 13th).

The program then added left-hander Wil Libbert [Missouri], left-handed pitcher Marko Sipila [San Diego], right-handed pitcher Landon Koenig [NDSU] and right-hander Owen Kelly [Saint Louis].

Ole Miss is reloading the pitching staff, but now shit focus to adding their ace from the 2025 season: Hunter Elliott.

Can the program reel him in? Ole Miss hitting coach Mike Clement caught up with On3 Sports to break down the approach.

“The biggest left-handed pitcher we could get back is one that was on our staff a year ago,” Clement told On3 Sports. “We’re hoping for that one. The draft is so fickle it’s really hard to know.

"But there’s no one that cares more about Ole Miss baseball than Hunter Elliott. He’s made that very well known to us. It’s going to have to be right for him to sign. If I were scouting for the Chicago Cubs it would be right. I’m clearly biased and have seen every pitch he’s thrown in college. I hope they miss him.”

The program remains active in the NCAA Transfer Portal, but there's a focus on getting Elliott back to campus ahead of the 2026 season.

“We’ve checked the boxes or filled the spots that had huge need for us,” Clement said. “With that said, we’re probably not done. We’d probably take one more position player and one more arm. The nice thing about being where we’re at is we’d like best available.

"We feel we have a chance to get best available if he’s out there. I would guess we’re probably not done yet, but we’re really happy with where our roster currently sits. But you never know.”

Ole Miss has near double-digit additions to this point with Bianco and Co. retooling the roster across the last handful of weeks.

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Follow Zack Nagy on Twitter: @znagy20 and Ole Miss Rebels On SI: @OleMissOnSI for all coverage surrounding the Ole Miss program.