Tis the season to be jolly, but tis also the season of paranoia.
That’s just a by-product of the current college football landscape that has fans wondering which current players will leave in the transfer portal.
Some fans have a better idea than others, though. For example, Mississippi State fans have a good idea which players are leaving and staying. At last count, the Bulldogs have had 27 players announce they’ll be entering the transfer portal. But they’ve also gotten return announcements from its quarterback, running back and several defenders.
Ole Miss fans, meanwhile, are in the dark. Yes, the Rebels are still in the College Football Playoff which is why we haven’t seen any announcements. But that won’t do much to ease any fears of key players leaving once the CFP run is over.
Neither will the latest news from down in the bayou.
On Monday, LSU announced it had officially hired several assistant coaches to join former Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin. That includes names we already knew, like Charlie Weis Jr. as offensive coordinator.
We also heard one name that had only been speculative. Current Ole Miss running backs coach Kevin Smith is joining Kiffin at LSU in the same role.
This was somewhat expected, but the biggest consequence will be the speculation around Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacy.
The All-American running back set new records for touchdowns in a single season in his first year in Oxford and ran for more than 1,300 yards. He’s also only a sophomore, meaning he can’t enter the NFL Draft and will be playing college football next season.
The fear for Ole Miss fans, though, is will Lacy follow Smith to LSU?
Lacy and Smith have a long history since Smith recruited Lacy to Ole Miss out of high school (Lacy picked Missouri) and in the transfer portal last December.
“That’s my guy,” Lacy was quoted saying about Smith in an article about his committing to Ole Miss last December. “I like him a lot, like how he coaches. I really like his personality and I like how he develops his backs in the past. He has a background of developing good backs.”
If what’s been said about Ole Miss players being more concerned with their positional coaches staying for the CFP than Kiffin as head coach, Lacy going to LSU is a real possibility.
Ole Miss will surely do its best to keep Lacy in Oxford and there is a report that he’s been offered a $1.8 million deal to return next season.
Impact on Ole Miss offseason strategy
Whatever Lacy does will have a big impact on how new Ole Miss coach Pete Golding and the Rebels operate this offseason. The other big domino is quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who is still waiting on a decision about his waiver from the NCAA.
If neither returns to Ole Miss next season, those will be two positions the Rebels will have to dip into the transfer portal for. That could impact other recruitments, especially at offensive tackle.
The Rebels will lose both of their starting tackles after this season. They could already have replacements on the roster, but if not, this will be a huge position of need this offseason.
