Georgia football enters the 2025 season as the reigning SEC Champions. This means that they will have a massive target on their back as every other team in the conference wants to be the team to dethrone them this season.
One team that has the potential to do that is Ole Miss. The Rebels seem like the next team in line in the SEC behind the favorites who could become a legit program after one really good season. But will this year be the year for Ole Miss?
There is a chance it could be, but that question won’t be answered until the regular season gets underway. However, Ole Miss is doing everything they can in the transfer portal to try and ensure success. In fact, the Rebels have been one of the SEC teams who have brought the most players in from the portal this offseason.
But that isn’t always a good thing as their most recent acquisition is a head scratcher and a lesson to Georgia about what they should never do.
Ole Miss transfer portal “strategy” is something Georgia should avoid at all costs
The Rebels earned a commitment from former Rice quarterback Shawqi Itraish on Wednesday. This commitment alone isn’t strange, but it’s the fact that this is their third transfer quarterback of the offseason that is interesting.
On top of that, Ole Miss has a stud QB already in Oxford in Austin Simmons who will likely be their starter this season. So why bring in three QBs when they theoretically already have their guy?
Regardless, this is a great example of what Kirby Smart and Georgia shouldn’t do. Georgia not only should try and avoid adding over 30 players in the portal in one offseason, but they also shouldn’t use the portal as their only source of roster depth. This is a quick way to build a team full of individuals, rather than building an actual team that plays well together.
Georgia’s transfer portal strategy is much more tame compared to Ole Miss as they will only recruit positions when absolutely necessary. They aren’t going to add three quarterbacks in one offseason, because there is never a need for that at Georgia. Smart is continuing to build his roster depth through high school recruiting while using the portal to plug and play guys at positions that need immediate help.
So while Ole Miss is going crazy in the transfer portal, Smart’s methodical approach is one that Georgia fans likely much prefer over Lane Kiffin’s somewhat random transfer portal “strategy.”