Ole Miss is weighing legal action to chase down buyout money from two former players who left for LSU, with athletic director Keith Carter saying the school has been waiting on the payments for about six months.
The players at the center of it are Princewill Umanmielen and Devin Harper. Carter said July 10 that the Rebels are still trying to sort out how to collect, and court is on the table if that becomes the best path.
"That would be an option, going and asking a court to get that money for you," Carter said. "Contracts are with the players.
LSU could pay that on behalf of the players. So we're kind of exploring all of that right now."
Umanmielen and Harper both signed revenue sharing contracts with Ole Miss before heading into the transfer portal and ultimately joining LSU and coach Lane Kiffin. Umanmielen entered the portal on Jan. 15, nine days after it was announced he would be back at Ole Miss.
On3 reported that the combined buyout figure for the two players is just under $1 million, though Carter would not say exactly how much Ole Miss is trying to recover for each one.
"I don't really want to comment on that," Carter said. "It was significant. They were good players."
Carter said the issue is different from NIL collectives, because revenue sharing contracts are agreements directly between the school and the player. In his view, the buyout language matters, especially when a deal is signed and then quickly broken.
He also said there has been a broader reluctance around college football to go after 18-year-olds for buyouts, but Ole Miss believes these cases are worth pursuing.
"Those are the kind that, having signed a brand-new rev share contract basically a week or two before wanting to leave, those are the kind that put you in a bind, especially there in the portal cycle," Carter said. "Those two we're going to continue to figure out how to collect. We feel like based on the contract we deserve to collect."
Carter added that it is usually the new school that covers the buyout fee, and he said Ole Miss has already paid some buyouts for incoming players.
Beyond the contract dispute, Carter also said Ole Miss has locked in a field sponsorship for Vaught-Hemingway Stadium this season and expects to announce it in a couple of weeks. The school still does not have a jersey patch deal in place for 2026.
"Jersey patches, we're still working on that one," Carter said. "We do not currently have one for this year. Not saying that we couldn't by the time the season starts, but we don't have one secured."
Aflac was the first company to get a football field sponsorship with Ole Miss, doing so during the Rebels’ Nov. 15 home game against Florida. Carter said that was not a permanent arrangement and that Aflac is not the sponsor the Rebels have signed with for 2026.
Carter also said the development project north of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium is still in the early stages. Ole Miss issued a request for proposal on Dec. 10 seeking a development partner for a mixed-use project across 25 acres around the stadium, according to a Sports Business Journal report from Dec. 11.
He said the school has identified a preferred partner and is now working through the contract details, but the process will take time and still needs approval from the Institute of Higher Learning.
"That's going to be a process that's probably going to take several months to work through," Carter said. "The most important thing is we get IHL (Institute of Higher Learning) approval and work through that with IHL staff and IHL board members and talk to them about why the project is important to our campus."
The project would include condos, retail space, dining space, suites and office space, with the goal of making the area active year-round instead of only on Ole Miss football Saturdays.
"The Chancellor (Glenn Boyce) and I will work on that together over the next several months as well," Carter said. "I think it could add a lot of value.
That building is used seven or eight times a year. To be able to bring more value to that, kind of 365, would be really cool."
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