The preseason watch lists keep rolling out, and Ole Miss fans keep seeing familiar names.
Monday saw Trinidad Chambliss and Kewan Lacy named to the Maxwell Award watchlist. Tuesday saw a different crop of Rebels land on preseason watchlists.
Will Echoles and Patrick Kutas earned spots for the Outland Trophy and Echoles and Suntarine Perkins showed up on the Bronko Nagurski Trophy list.
The Outland goes to the nation’s top interior lineman. The Nagurski honors the top defensive player in college football. Ole Miss has candidates for both.
Echoles is back for his third season after a breakout 2025 that put him on the national radar. He started all 15 games at defensive tackle and finished with 68 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss and five sacks. His best work came in the Sugar Bowl, where he earned Defensive MVP honors with five tackles, two TFL and two pass breakups against Georgia. The junior already picked up a preseason first‑team all‑SEC nod from the media, and now he adds two national watch lists to the stack.
Kutas joins him on the Outland list after anchoring one of the most productive offenses in the country last fall. He started all 15 games at guard and helped Ole Miss finish second nationally in total offense at more than 489 yards per game. The Rebels also ranked 10th in scoring at 36.9 points per game. Kutas was named SEC co‑offensive lineman of the week on September 27 and won the Kent Hull Trophy as Mississippi’s top lineman. He enters 2026 with preseason third‑team all‑SEC honors and now an Outland mention.
Perkins is preparing for his fourth season in Oxford and remains one of the most versatile defenders in the league. He finished second on the team in tackles last year with 81 and added 12.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, six pass breakups and an interception. He was on the Nagurski watch list last season and returns to it again, along with a preseason second‑team all‑SEC selection from the media.
It’s still early in the preseason awards cycle, but Ole Miss continues to show up in the places that matter.
Echoles, Kutas and Perkins give the Rebels a strong presence on two of college football’s most respected lists, and all three enter 2026 with expectations that match their production.
The truly exciting part for Ole Miss fans is that there are a lot more watchlists to be announced.
