Where Ole Miss Football's Transfer Portal Departures Ended Up Amid Chaotic Offseason

Pete Golding and Co. lost multiple starters this offseason, departing Rebels find new homes.

Dec 20, 2025; Oxford, MS, USA; Mississippi Rebels quarterback Austin Simmons (13) waits for the snap during the second quarter against the Tulane Green Wave at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

The Ole Miss Rebels revamped the roster this offseason with Pete Golding and Co. attacking the NCAA Transfer Portal in order to assemble the No. 2 rated class in America.

Once the window opened on Jan. 2, the new-look coaching staff wasted no time in bringing in newcomers for the 2026 season with a primary focus on experienced weapons to join the program.

But Golding and the Rebels also saw multiple starters enter the free agent market this offseason in search of new homes - notably wide receiver Cayden Lee and linebacker TJ Dottery.

Along with the pair of starters hitting the road, Ole Miss also saw promising youngsters depart Oxford with offensive lineman Devin Harper and Winston Watkins taking their talents to an SEC rival.

Golding has kept the program in check across his first 60 days as the head coach. Ole Miss needed a coach to come in and maintain the success the Rebels had achieved with the program's new shot-caller doing just that.

Courtesy of Ole Miss Rebels Football.

"The locker room is so fragile, as we all know," Walker Jones, the executive director of the Grove Collective, said to ESPN. "This is the ultimate team sport, and there's no bigger team sport than football [with] so many personalities, so many moving parts.

"You had to hire the guy that can keep the locker room and the coaching staff in sync. It was such a unique situation, first of its kind. There's no blueprint for it."

Ole Miss kept multiple integral pieces in Oxford with Trinidad Chambliss, Kewan Lacy, and Delano Townsend staying with the program, but which players ultimately departed for new opportunities?

The Transfer Departures: Where are they now?

- QB Austin Simmons: Missouri Tigers
- OL PJ Wilkins: Wisconsin Badgers
- WR Winston Watkins, Jr: LSU Tigers
- LB Jaden Yates: Houston Cougars
- CB Ricky Fletcher: Cal Bears
- CB Chris Graves: Missouri Tigers
- CB Ethan Fields: Alabama Crimson Tide
- OL Jude Foster: Liberty Flames
- EDGE Corey Amos: Grambling Tigers
- S TJ Banks: Louisville Cardinals
- OL Devin Harper: LSU Tigers
- DL Jeffery Rush: Southern Miss Golden Eagles
- LB TJ Dottery: LSU Tigers
- EDGE Da'Shawn Womack: Auburn Tigers
- OL TJ Hedrick: Auburn Tigers
- EDGE Princewill Umanmielen: LSU Tigers
- WR Cayden Lee: Missouri Tigers
- RB Dominique Thomas: N/A

More Ole Miss News:

Ole Miss Football Pulls Off Historic Recruiting Feat After Landing No. 2 Portal Class

Ole Miss Football Recruiting Notebook: Three Targets Pete Golding Must Land in Year 1

'Growing Optimism' That Ole Miss Football QB Trinidad Chambliss Will Play in 2026

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