The Grove Report

LOOK: Austin Simmons, Ole Miss Rebels Putting in Work For 2025 Football Season

The Ole Miss Rebels have already started their journey to the 2025 football season.

John Macon Gillespie

Nov 2, 2024; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Ole Miss Rebels quarterback Austin Simmons (13) holds running back Jason Albritton (40) prior to a play in the fourth quarter against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Mississippi won 63-31. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images
Nov 2, 2024; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Ole Miss Rebels quarterback Austin Simmons (13) holds running back Jason Albritton (40) prior to a play in the fourth quarter against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Mississippi won 63-31. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images / Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images
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The book has closed on the Ole Miss Rebels' 2024 football season, but work is already underway for the 2025 campaign, one where the roster will look very different than it did this fall.

For starters, the face of the Rebels offense is changing. Austin Simmons is expected to take over quarterbacking duties for Jaxson Dart as the latter pursues his NFL dreams, and Simmons will have plenty of new faces around him as next season unfolds.

Coach Lane Kiffin has not been shy about utilizing the transfer portal since its advent, consistently reeling in some of the best transfer classes in the country in a given season. So far, this year appears to be no different as Ole Miss currently holds the No. 2 portal class nationally behind No. 1 Texas Tech, and some of these new faces are already beginning their work in a Rebel uniform.

Recently, Ole Miss released some photos of players working in the weight room ahead of the 2025 season. You can view those images below in an Instagram post.

Some of the players featured in this post are quarterback Austin Simmons and running backs Logan Diggs, Kewan Lacy and Trey Hall. The offensive backfield will look very different for the Rebels in 2025 as the program will be replacing not only Dart at quarterback but also tailbacks Ulysses Bentley IV, Henry Parrish Jr. and others.

Ole Miss fell short of its ultimate goal in 2024 and did not reach the College Football Playoff, and with so many new and young faces seizing the spotlight, it could be difficult for the Rebels to make a push in that direction again in 2025. Still, some are not counting Simmons and his accompanying cast out just yet, including college football analyst Cole Cubelic who recently said that Ole Miss could be a dark horse to reach the playoff in the upcoming season.

"I would probably go back to Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss," Cubelic said. "We saw a little bit of [quarterback] Austin Simmons last year. He looks like he has all the ability. He looks like he has all the talent.

"Is he going to be able to run the offense, manage the offense and operate the offense to be the gamer that Jaxson Dart was? We don't know that yet. But you know they're going to have talent on the outside."

The Rebels will open their 2025 season at home on Aug. 30 when they play host to Georgia State.

READ MORE Ole Miss Rebels News:

'Mark My Words': Austin Simmons Says Ole Miss Football Will Play in CFP Title

What Needs to Happen For Ole Miss Football to Make Playoff Push in 2025?

2025 Ole Miss Football Offense Beginning to Take Shape Following Latest Portal Commit

Ole Miss' Jaxson Dart Holds Firm as One of NFL Draft's Top Available QBs

Ex-Rebel Patrick Willis Tells Hilarious Story of When He Sacked Eli Manning in NFL

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John Macon Gillespie
JOHN MACON GILLESPIE

John Macon Gillespie is the publisher of The Grove Report and has experience on the Ole Miss beat spanning five years.

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