Lane Kiffin’s 2025 roadmap hit a speed bump before the engine could even start. Wake Forest, still licking its wounds from a 40-6 loss in Winston-Salem last season, backed out of its return trip to Oxford. This scrapped the second game of a scheduled two-year home-and-home series, a move that clearly didn’t sit well with a vocal Kiffin. “Kind of an unwritten rule not to do that actually,” the Ole Miss HC said, airing his frustration with what felt like a clear breach of coaching etiquette. Wake’s replacement? Oregon State. Ole Miss’ replacement? Washington State. That’s a whole lot of reshuffling for a schedule that already looked like a meat grinder from Week 6 onward.
Despite the change, the first stretch of the Rebels’ 2025 campaign offers a golden runway. The front end of the schedule includes manageable matchups and a shot to build early momentum. But ESPN’s Jake Wimberly sees some warning signs forming behind the smoke. “I think Lane Kiffin has done, you know, as good a job as anybody in the transfer portal about bringing in new talent,” Wimberly said on That SEC Football Podcast. “As far as quarterback play—now two quarterbacks, Matt Corral and Jaxson Dart, in the NFL for Lane Kiffin here recently over the last several years.”
He’s not wrong. Kiffin’s track record in developing QB talent is proven. And with another potential gem under center, Ole Miss seems poised for a hot start. “A schedule that is very favorable for Ole Miss again up front… the first four weeks, they do have to go to Kentucky. They don’t want to sleepwalk there. I’m sure they’ll be motivated after the loss last year,” Wimberly added. “Then they host LSU. This is a team that can get off to a 5-0 start. I’ve got Ole Miss falling slightly to LSU.” But after Washington State comes to Oxford, the gloves come off….
Georgia on the road. Oklahoma on the road. South Carolina. Florida after a Citadel breather. And the Egg Bowl at Mississippi State. Wimberly didn’t mince words: “Something smells off to me.”
“Kind of an unwritten rule not to do that actually”
Lane Kiffin expressed his frustration with Wake Forest for cancelling their 2025 matchup in Oxford: pic.twitter.com/dAtZ1w8WF4
— Grace Ybarra (@gnybarra) September 16, 2024
At the center of this pressure cooker stands Austin Simmons, a 19-year-old quarterback who’s rewriting timelines. Simmons reclassified from the high school class of 2025 to 2023, fast-tracked his education, and recently earned his bachelor’s degree in multidisciplinary studies. Now, as QB1, he’s already working on a master’s in sports management while gearing up to lead the Rebels into one of the toughest stretches in the SEC. It’s a rare blend of brains and arm talent, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“I think (Simmons) has done a really good job spending time with players,” Kiffin said during spring camp. “He’s always out trying to throw extra with them. He’s got a hard act to follow.” Simmons steps into the void left by Dart with more than just expectation on his shoulders—he carries the weight of timing, chemistry, and leading a locker room filled with transfer pieces still learning to click.
And he’ll need all of it. Because this isn’t just another SEC slate. It’s a minefield littered with playoff contenders, revenge-minded rivals, and marquee matchups under a national microscope. If Simmons slips, the margin for error is razor thin. If he soars, Ole Miss could flirt with something more than just a 5-0 start. But as Wimberly noted, “Talent still very good. Not quite… just took a slight step off last year just because of the draft picks they lost, but still a very good football team.”
QB1 Austin Simmons goes all-in as Ole Miss enters the post-Dart era
Austin Simmons didn’t just roll into Oxford as a passer—he came in as a two-sport stud. After flashing real talent as a pitcher for the Ole Miss baseball team, Simmons made the big call: football gets 100% of his focus now. And let’s be honest, being QB1 in the SEC? That’s a full-time job and then some.
He knows what’s on the line. “I’ll do whatever it takes to reach those goals, trying to minimize distractions outside the facility,” Simmons said. That’s the kind of locked-in mindset you want from your signal-caller.
As the post-Dart era begins, the Rebels are still riding some early preseason hype. According to On3 Sports’ Ari Wasserman, Ole Miss comes in at No. 19 in his latest Top-25 rankings. But he’s not sugarcoating things. “A year ago at this time, Ole Miss was the team who spent a boatload of money in the NIL space to go all-in on the 2024 season,” Wasserman wrote. “The Rebels drubbed Georgia at home at the end of last season, but choked one off against Florida after and didn’t even make the CFP.”
Still, Wasserman added, “In that Georgia game you got a glimpse of the future in quarterback [Simmons], who may actually be a star.” Can Simmons be the Rebels’ ultimate home run?
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