'Sky's The Limit!' Jordan Watkins Reveals Goals, Expectations For 2024 Ole Miss Football
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The Ole Miss Rebels are currently in the midst of spring practice, but eyes are already shifting to what this team could possibly be in the fall.
Ole Miss is garnering national attention as a real candidate for a College Football Playoff berth, one that would be the first in school history. Returning talent paired with incoming faces from the transfer portal have made the Rebels a poster child for offseason excitement this year.
One of those returning pieces is wide receiver Jordan Watkins who was made available to the media on Thursday following practice. Watkins and the Rebels have high hopes for this season, but he believes there is work to do before those goals become attainable, work that begins here in the spring.
Ole Miss Rebels wide receiver Jordan Watkins
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
"I think that we set our expectations really, really high," Watkins said. "We look at it and one of our mental health guys said something that stuck with me: We're not a team yet. We're just a roster. We're just a group of names on a list that play football at Ole Miss, but we're not a team yet.
"Until we're a team, I don't think we'll meet our expectations. But if we all come together as one team instead of a roster, the sky's the limit: national championship, College Football Playoff. That's our expectation, but we have to become a team first."
Watkins has been plagued with injuries throughout his college career, so alongside this "team" mindset, he hopes to help the Rebels by simply being at 100 percent throughout this season.
"The main goal for me is just to stay healthy," Watkins said. "I've had a lot of injuries throughout my college career, and I don't think I've ever played a full season truly healthy. I've stuck it out and played games, but just haven't been healthy. Just take care of my body and stay healthy."
Playing through injuries is not a foreign concept for the veteran wideout, but even he is inspired by the grit of another player on the roster. Quarterback Jaxson Dart has been tabbed a leader in this locker room, playing a vital role in securing new and returning pieces for a strong run in 2024.
It's clear Dart has won over many of his teammates, and a lot of that boils down to his willingness to fight through physical adversity.
"I just think it's toughness," Watkins said. "I think that's something that a lot of people respect here, just his willingness to not come out of the game. I know during the season, you saw a couple of times where he might have been a little shaken up, and he wasn't coming out of the game at all. He didn't want to.
"Looking at that from a quarterback, it's like, 'If my quarterback can do it, I want to do it too.'"
The Rebels will continue their drills until The Grove Bowl spring game on April 13. The 2024 season for Ole Miss will begin on Aug. 31 when it plays host to the Furman Paladins.
