OXFORD – Well aware of the production leaving the room he finds himself walking into this spring, Ole Miss junior defensive end Princewill Umanmielen didn’t mince words when asked about the upside of the defensive line room.
He believes the Rebels are in good hands.
“We (are) dogs. They don’t know what we have yet,” Umanmielen said. “It’s just ‘say little and do a lot.’ Just let the action speak for itself.”
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Ole Miss boasted one of the best defensive fronts in college football last season, headlined by tackles Walter Nolen and J.J. Pegues and ends Jared Ivey, Suntarine Perkins and Umanmielen’s brother, Princely. Princely and Perkins each had 10.5 sacks, and the Rebels led the nation with four sacks per game and 9.2 tackles-for-loss per game. Ole Miss was second nationally in scoring defense at 14.4 points per game allowed.
All but Perkins are off to the NFL, however, leaving major voids in the Rebels’ defensive front. Umanmielen and Da’Shawn Womack were brought in from Nebraska and LSU, respectively, to help the cause. But Ole Miss has been stockpiling young talent in its defensive line room in its last few recruiting classes. Perkins and sophomore Kam Franklin were both five-star recruits while redshirt sophomore Jamarious Brown, sophomore William Echoles, redshirt freshman Jeffery Rush and freshman Andrew Maddox were four-star recruits in their classes. Senior Zxavian Harris was a four-star member of the Rebels’ 2022 recruiting class and has played in 37 career games, and Ole Miss also returns senior Akelo Stone.
While the defensive line room largely lacks the same high-level production and accolades last year’s group came in with, head coach Lane Kiffin feels it has all the requisite talent.
“(It’s) new for us, a lot of young players that have been here for a year or two developing that are really good players,” Kiffin said. “So, I think it’s a very talented room. It doesn’t have as much experience, obviously, as the last group. But they really flash and do a lot of good things.”
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Brown is one of the players the Rebels will likely depend on to make a jump in 2025-26. Brown, a Moss Point native, was named a freshman All-American by the FWAA last year after racking up 20 total tackles, including 2.5 for loss.
“I think we have a great group, man,” Brown said. “We’ve been getting after it. I think it’s the same as last year. There’s no drop-off. We just keep going, day by day.”
