There are plenty of ways to measure the health of a college football program.
You can look at recruiting rankings, transfer classes, returning production, coaching stability, national perception, or even the vibes coming out of the athletic department as a whole.
What’s striking about Ole Miss right now is that every one of those indicators is pointing in the same direction.
Up.
ESPN made that pretty clear Tuesday morning when it released its future power rankings and slotted Ole Miss at No. 12. That put the Rebels ahead of schools like Oklahoma, USC, Michigan, Tennessee and Florida.
That’s not a courtesy ranking. That’s not a nod to last year’s playoff run. That’s a national outlet saying the Rebels are built to stay in the conversation for years, not months.
And honestly, it tracks.
Start with recruiting and, you need only see the news earlier today for great examples.
Ole Miss is in the thick of it with five-star running back David Gabriel Georges, who visits Oxford this weekend after stops at Ohio State and Tennessee. That’s the kind of recruitment Ole Miss used to watch from a distance. Now the Rebels are in the ring, throwing punches with the biggest brands in the sport.
Then there’s Alvin Mosley, the four-star wideout who left his official visit talking like someone who sees a real future in Oxford.
Add in the flips (Tra’Von Hal and Darrell Mattison), the momentum, and a 2027 class that already sits inside the top 20 across the major services, and you start to see why the long term outlook looks so strong.
The transfer portal hasn’t hurt either. Pete Golding rebuilt the roster with one of the highest ranked portal classes in the country, and they did it without sacrificing continuity. That’s how you end up with a roster that returns Kewan Lacy, Trinidad Chambliss, Suntarine Perkins, Will Echoles and a long list of others who have already proven they can win at a high level.
That’s also how you end up being talked about as a legitimate national title contender this fall. Not a dark horse. Not a fun story. A real contender.
And the off field momentum matters too.
Lacy becoming the first Ole Miss athlete to land on the cover of a EA Sports College Football video game is more than a cool moment. It’s a branding milestone.
Every kid who picks up the game will see an Ole Miss player staring back at them. That’s the kind of exposure you can’t buy.
Former coach Lane Kiffin hasn’t exactly been shy about keeping Ole Miss in the spotlight either. Every interview, every podcast, every national appearance seems to include a reminder that the Rebels are living rent free in his head, showing they’re relevant and they’re not going anywhere. Other coaches have said a few things, too.
And if you want to zoom out even further, look at the athletic department as a whole. Baseball is back in Omaha. Softball has been competitive. Basketball is trending upward. The entire place feels like it’s moving in the same direction, and football is the engine pulling the train.
Put all of that together and you get a future so bright you might need those special eclipse glasses just to look at it.
Ole Miss isn’t hoping to matter anymore. Ole Miss does matter. And the next few years might be the clearest proof yet.
