Players choosing to play bowl game reflection of Rebels’ culture these days

OXFORD, Miss. — For a lot of people, Jaxson Dart’s social media announcement he was going to play in the Gator Bowl was surprising. It really wasn’t that shocking.

While the rest of the college football world is watching players entering the transfer portal, most of the talk around Ole Miss has been players coming to visit. They are quickly getting players from Arkansas to town, which is likely due to linebacker Chris “Pooh” Paul being a key member of the Rebels’ defense this year after transferring from … the Razorbacks.

As of Tuesday, none of the Ole Miss players that were key in a 9-3 season have indicated they are opting out of going to Jacksonville for the game against Duke. Only Tre Harris is focusing on the NFL Draft, mainly out of necessity due to his groin injury that caused him to miss signficant time this season. In today’s world, that is downright shocking.

“Probably last week, I asked [Dart] if he was playing,” Rebels coach Lane Kiffin said in a Zoom on Sunday night for the Gator Bowl. “Told him the possible bowls we were hearing. He said he was definitely playing and wanted to play his last game with these guys. He encouraged some of these other guys that are in that in between position of playing or opting out.”

At least right now, it worked in a big way For the Ole Miss players, this is the last chance for them to show they were good enough to be in the final dozen still playing for a national championship. They may have decided to make it a big statement.

“Seems like the majority of those guys are all heading towards playing in this game,” Kiffin said. “Pretty neat. [Dart] has been an amazing leader, setting a bunch of records here. Just how he’s been as a leader and how much he’s meant to this university is awesome. This is another example of him making sure he finished what he started.”

Key players like Jordan Watkins, Trey Amos and Chris Paul Jr. will join him as well. Kiffin is optimistic, but the announcements so far have been all positive.

“It seems like even our players that maybe were in question of playing and opting out for the draft as of right now all said that they’re playing, so that’s exciting,” Kiffin said. “That says a lot about this team, in an age where that isn’t the case a lot of times. It says a lot about this team with how close they are and how they feel about the Gator Bowl, playing a really good Duke team.”

That’s the culture. Kiffin gives a lot of the credit to his quarterback, who has been the leader everybody wants. It’s also an example that can be used down the road to show how much that means.

That’s how teams build these powerhouses like the one Ole Miss beat in November when Georgia came to town.