Ole Miss enters the upcoming season with plenty to prove, and the pressure is hard to miss. After a 24-12 finish and a run to the Sweet 16 of the 2024 NCAA Tournament two seasons ago, the Rebels slipped badly in 2025 and spent much of the year chasing a path back to the Big Dance.
Chris Beard’s team nearly found one in the SEC Tournament. Ole Miss pushed all the way to the semifinals before falling to the eventual SEC Tournament champion Arkansas Razorbacks. That run showed some fight, but it also underscored how far the Rebels still have to climb.
Beard has overhauled the roster, and the question now is whether the new pieces can turn Ole Miss into a real SEC threat. Jeff Goodman of The Field of 68 recently released his preseason SEC power rankings, and he slotted the Rebels 10th in the conference.
Goodman placed Missouri, LSU, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas, and Florida ahead of Ole Miss. Florida has been the league’s standard over the last two seasons, winning the SEC regular season title in back-to-back years.
For Ole Miss to reach that level, the offseason has to pay off in a big way. The one encouraging note from last season’s collapse was the way the Rebels competed in the SEC Tournament, and that effort was fueled by guard AJ Storr. He averaged 15 points per game this past season, and Ole Miss will need that version of Storr again if it wants to make a real jump in 2026.
The transfer class gives Beard and his staff a blend of experience and youth. Power forward Santiago Trouet and small forward Dasear Haskins are both expected to push for immediate roles.
That’s the reality for a major program like Ole Miss: the roster gets rebuilt every year. But this time, Beard needs the rebuild to produce an NCAA Tournament team. He’s entering year four in Oxford, and with one NCAA Tournament appearance so far under his watch, the 2026 season could end up defining how his tenure is remembered.
In Other News...
Pete Golding Just Sent A Clear Message About Ole Miss Leadership
Pete Golding is headed to Tampa for his first SEC Media Days as Ole Miss head coach, and the group traveling with him says plenty about where the program wants to go next. Trinidad Chambliss, Kewan Lacy and Will Echoles will represent the Rebels ahead of the 2026 season, giving Golding a chance to put three of the faces of the roster in front of the league before camp even opens.
The selections also hint at how Ole Miss is sorting out its leadership structure for the year ahead, with the expectation that these players will help set the tone on both sides of the ball. Media Days often become a showcase for established stars, but this trip feels like an early signal from Golding about who he trusts to carry the message as the Rebels move toward a season with real expectations attached. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Has One Trusted Veteran Chambliss Cant Afford To Lose
Brycen Sanders is back in the middle of the Ole Miss offensive line for 2026, and that matters more than most people outside the program might realize. A veteran center can steady everything around him, and Sanders has become one of the most important pieces in front of quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, giving the Rebels a familiar anchor as they try to keep their offense humming.
Sanders value goes beyond snapping the ball. He has handled protection calls, helped sort out fronts and relayed blitz information before the snap, the kind of work that rarely gets much attention until it is missing. With Chambliss coming off a huge 2025 season and carrying heavyweight expectations into the fall, Ole Miss has a lot riding on the one trusted veteran it can least afford to lose. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Faces A Massive Recruiting Test For Elite 5-Star Back
Ole Miss is in the mix for one of the most coveted backs in the 2027 class, as five-star David Gabriel Georges has trimmed his list to Tennessee, Ohio State and the Rebels. Ranked No. 10 overall, Georges brings the kind of national attention that can swing a recruiting cycle, and his upcoming decision has turned into a real test of how far Ole Miss can push against two heavyweights on the trail.
Georges is expected to announce his commitment on July 22 at 5:30 p.m. ET, and the buzz around the race has centered on Tennessee and Ohio State as the programs to beat. Recruiting experts have pointed to Tennessee as the current favorite, but until Georges makes it official, Ole Miss still has a chance to land a player who would instantly change the conversation around its 2027 class. [Read more 🡒]