Ole Miss Football Adds Nation’s Top Transfer Class

With the 2022 spring semester underway, the Ole Miss football team has welcomed to campus the nation’s top-ranked transfer class, highlighting 19 mid-year enrollees.
 
The list of new Rebels joining the team for spring practice features 13 transfers that 247Sports currently ranks as the No. 1 class in the team transfer rankings. Ole Miss claimed two of the top 10 and five of the top 50 available transfers. 
 
With the December signees, the Rebels have inked 14 players with a ranking of four or more stars during their careers, including a pair of five-star recruits. They are among the 31 total new additions, 27 total scholarship student-athletes, so far in this recruiting cycle.
 
The latest transfers include Lex Boucvalt (WR), Mason Brooks (OL), Troy Brown (LB), Jaxson Dart (QB), Zach Evans (RB), Jared Ivey (DL), Danny Lockhart II (LB), JJ Pegues (DL), Ladarius Tennison (DB), Michael Trigg (TE), Dayton Wade (WR), Jordan Watkins (WR) and Isheem Young (DB).
 
Five December signees: Reginald Hughes (LB), Davison Igbinosun (DB), Quinshon Judkins (RB), Fraser Masin (P), Jarell Stinson (DB), along with walk-on Carter Gibson (LB) round out Ole Miss’ early enrollees.
 
Dart, a quarterback transfer from USC, is rated as a five-star transfer and the nation’s No. 3 overall transfer. The 2020 Gatorade National Football Player of the Year as a prep star at Corner Canyon HS, Dart started three games as a true freshman at USC and played significant portions of three others. He finished the season with nine touchdowns, five interceptions and a 61.9% completion rate.
 
A five-star recruit and the No. 16 overall prospect coming out of high school, Evans rushed for a team-high 684 yards and five touchdowns despite playing in six games. Evans surpassed 100 yards rushing in six of his 15 career games and has averaged 7.3 yards per carry throughout his career.
Evans didn’t play in the final five games with a turf toe injury sustained against Texas Tech in early October.
 
Trigg, a four-star and the nation’s No. 2 transfer tight end, saw action in six games as a freshman at USC. The Tampa, Florida, native hauled in seven catches for 109 yards and one TD, before suffering a season-ending knee injury against Utah in the sixth game of the season.
 
Pegues, a former star at Oxford HS, returns back home after two seasons at Auburn. A member of the ESPN 300 coming out of high school, Pegues converted to the defensive line from tight end during last spring practice for the Tigers. Pegues finished 2021 with 17 tackles and two tackles for loss in 13 games played.
 
Another top 50 transfer from Auburn, defensive back Ladarius Tennison heads to Oxford after appearing in 21 career games for the Tigers. Tennison tallied 22 total tackles, including 4.5 tackles for loss.
 
Ivey started 11 games for Georgia Tech last season on the defensive line, registering 32 total tackles with six tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. Isheem Young, the Big 12 Co-Defensive Freshman of the Year at Iowa State in 2020, is another defensive transfer with collegiate experience set to join the Rebel defense. Young started all 13 games for the Cyclones last season and finished fifth on the team with 56 total tackles and two interceptions.
 
Brown, a three-time All-MAC player at Central Michigan, tallied 66 tackles and a forced fumble in 2021. The Flint, Michigan, native recorded 215 total tackles and five interceptions in 41 career games for the Chippewas.
 
Brooks and Watkins both come to Oxford from the Bluegrass State. Brooks is the sixth-ranked tackle transfer per 247Sports and earned first-team All-Conference USA last season for Western Kentucky. The Cedar Park, Texas, native allowed just two sacks in 655 pass blocks. Watkins ranked second for Louisville in receptions (35), receiving yards (529), and touchdown catches (4), seeing action in all 12 games for the Cardinals. He also returned eight punts for 85 yards and one kick for 28 yards.
 
Boucvalt, Lockhart II and Wade will join the Rebels as walk-on transfers. Wade appeared in 22 career games at Western Kentucky, hauling in 21 catches for 180 yards in 2020. Lockhart II appeared in one game as a linebacker at USC in 2020, while Boucvalt hauled in two catches over seven games at Nicholls State.
 
The Rebels are coming off a historic 10-3 campaign in 2021 which saw the Rebels earn a spot in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Ole Miss became just one of four SEC schools and 16 nationally to make a New Year’s Six bowl game in three or more years since its inception in 2015. Lane Kiffin helped lead the Rebels to a perfect 7-0 home record last season, its first undefeated season at home (on the field) since 1992.
 
Ole Miss ranked top 25 in the FBS in eight offensive categories in 2021: total offense (492.5), rushing offense (217.6), passing offense (274.8), scoring offense (33.7), completion percentage (.667), first downs (338), passes had intercepted (7), fumbles lost (5),

Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports