The Spring Camp Notes: Ole Miss Football Turning the Corner During Week 3 of Practice

OXFORD, Miss. – The work continues in the shadow of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium as Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss football are back on the practice fields for the third week of spring ball.

Kiffin, along with William Echoles and Dae'Quan Wright, met with the media on Tuesday to provide the latest updates, which can be found below in this week's Oxford Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine practice report.

Coaching Continuity
Ole Miss welcomed a whopping 40 mid-year enrollees to campus this spring, including 24 scholarship transfers, which leaves Kiffin and his staff with plenty of work to do to assimilate the new players into the system.

Fortunately, the entire coaching staff returns from 2024, which gives the program some continuity heading into a new season.

"The guys are working really hard. To have all of our coaches back, so there's no transition with that, different schematical stuff, is really good, because we've got a lot of new players," Kiffin said. "That also says a lot about the program, where we're at.

"A number of them had good opportunities to leave but chose to stay and love living here in Oxford, love where the program's going. The success, 21 wins the last two years, I think that's a good statement about where we're at as a program."

With the staff back, the focus is on challenging and evaluating the new players. Kiffin gave a breakdown of that evaluation thus far, praising the passing game on offense but noting the pass game on defense as an area for improvement.

"The passing game on offense has done some really good things. We've got a lot of really good players in the passing game. Obviously receivers, tight ends and running backs. That's been really good to see," Kiffin said.

"We've had some injuries up front with the offensive line, have shuffled a lot of things, a lot of people getting snaps at different positions, so that's been a work in progress.

"Defensively, we've had some guys do a really good job up front. It's been good to see a lot of new linebackers get different looks, and we have a lot of work to do in the secondary."

Wright Leadership
Ole Miss will also look to some of its top returners to lead the way for its newcomers, including Dae'Quan Wright at the tight end position.

Last year, he teamed up with Caden Prieskorn to form a formidable tight end duo, and now in 2025, he'll look to do the same with Arkansas transfer Luke Hasz.

"It's been pretty good. I think Luke is a very good worker. He comes every day with the same mentality. He goes hard. He talks. He's a great leader in our room," Wright said. "Us being out there together is going to be really good."

Wright transferred from Virginia Tech last offseason, and grew into one of Jaxson Dart's go-to options as they continued to develop together.

Wright's two best performances came in the latter half of the season: 99 yards and two touchdowns against Hasz's Razorbacks, and 73 yards and a score in the Gator Bowl win over Duke.

Now, Wright is working on building the same chemistry with a new QB in Austin Simmons.

"Austin Simmons, man, great guy," Wright said. "Young but very talented. Him being in the room behind Dart, watching Dart, I think he took over that role very well and is still growing as a person."

Next Men Up Front
Kiffin's report on the defensive front is certainly pleasing to hear as Ole Miss must replace four likely NFL Draft picks on the D-line in Walter Nolen, Princely Umanmielen, Jared Ivey and JJ Pegues.

Those four combined for 51.5 tackles for loss and 27.5 sacks last year, leaving the door open for a young returning group to step up.

"This year, we're real young and inexperienced," Echoles said. "Last year, we had a bunch of experienced guys who'd been in college for a bunch of years. We've just got to work hard and keep pushing, keep stacking days."

Echoles appeared in eight games with nine total tackles, including two for loss and a shared sack. Now, he sees it as his time to take on a lead role on the defensive front.

"The biggest obstacle I had to deal with was probably going from playing to not playing. In high school, you're the main guy. It definitely teaches you to be patient, wait your turn.

"Just controlling what I can control, when I got my opportunity to play in the game, making the most of that. I knew, after last year ended, it was going to be my time. Just getting prepared for this year coming up.

More Ole Miss News:

Ole Miss Quarterback Confident He's "The Best" QB in the 2025 NFL Draft

Top-10 Quarterback in America Locks in Ole Miss Visit

Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss Rebels Confirm Spring Game Plans in April

Join the Community:

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