{"id":70426,"date":"2024-12-16T13:30:29","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T18:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=70426"},"modified":"2025-09-13T14:48:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T18:48:20","slug":"ole-miss-recruiting-the-arkansas-pipeline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2024\/12\/16\/ole-miss-recruiting-the-arkansas-pipeline\/","title":{"rendered":"Ole Miss Recruiting: The Arkansas Pipeline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lane Kiffin loves utilizing the transfer portal. He may not love the portal itself, but he knows how to use it well<\/a>. Last year, he helped Ole Miss to the top-ranked portal class. So far, in the early stages of this offseason, the Rebels are sitting atop the transfer rankings once again. However, this time, it’s come largely from an unexpected source. That source is the Arkansas pipeline.<\/p>\n

The first sign of the pipeline came in last year’s cycle when Chris “Pooh” Paul Jr<\/a> decided to transfer from Arkansas to Ole Miss. After a stellar first year in Oxford, Paul has since decided to forego his senior year and is set to enter the 2025 NFL Draft. But at the time of his commitment, most thought it was just a one-off signing. However, since then, it seems as if it’s becoming more of a trend.<\/p>\n

In just one week since the portal opened, Kiffin has landed three Razorbacks and seems to have interest in at least one more.<\/p>\n

Patrick Kutas<\/h3>\n

For starters, offensive lineman Patrick Kutas<\/a> committed to Ole Miss almost immediately after putting his name in the portal. During his freshman year, Kutas played in every game, primarily on special teams. In the two years since, he’s started in 13 games. In that time, he’s played well enough to be the highest-rated interior offensive lineman in the portal to this point.<\/p>\n

Now he joins an Ole Miss team that is consistently looking for help on the offensive line. While they improved greatly this year, they’re still plenty of room for improvement for the Rebels. With the commitment of Kutas, they hope he brings a bit more stability to what has been a problematic position in Oxford over the years.<\/p>\n

Jaylon Braxton<\/h3>\n

The second Razorback to commit to Ole Miss this year is cornerback Jaylon Braxton<\/a>. He’s spent the past two seasons in Fayetteville. In 2023, he recorded 21 tackles, along with a forced fumble and an interception. In 2024, he only played two games, due to a knee injury in week two ending his season. The 6-0, 190-pound corner is known to be extremely physical at the line of scrimmage, with solid ball skills as well.<\/p>\n

At Ole Miss, he’s likely to take the place of Trey Amos<\/a>. In one season as a Rebel after transferring from Alabama, Amos managed to improve his draft stock greatly. He’s now projected as a second to third-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

Coming in, the biggest question for Braxton is going to be how he rebounds from the knee injury. If he recovers well, expect him to be a key part of an Ole Miss secondary that is going to undergo a lot of personnel changes next year. If he struggles coming back from injury, the Rebel secondary could end up being a cause for concern next season.<\/p>\n

Luke Hasz<\/h3>\n

Another Razorback from this cycle to announce his commitment to Ole Miss is tight end Luke Hasz<\/a>. In two seasons with Arkansas, he caught 42 passes for 577 yards. He also brought in seven touchdowns in two seasons as a Razorback. His time at Arkansas was good enough to have him ranked as the second-best transfer tight end in this year’s class.<\/p>\n

For Ole Miss, he’s going to be the primary replacement of Caden Prieskorn<\/a>. In two years in Oxford, Prieskorn had 54 catches for 824 yards and seven touchdowns. With Prieskorn out of eligibility, Hasz is likely to split time at the tight end position with Dae’Quan Wright<\/a>. Wright transferred to Ole Miss prior to this season, after spending two years with Virginia Tech.<\/p>\n

In an offense like Ole Miss’, the tight end is a majorly important position. So even though he’s likely to be splitting time, Hasz will still get the chance to put up solid numbers next season in Oxford.<\/p>\n

Is the Arkansas Pipeline a One-Time Thing?<\/h3>\n

The big question surrounding this recent influx of former Razorbacks is whether this is going to prove to be a one-time thing. Common sense would suggest yes. But along with Paul Jr., if these newest guys were to play well and contribute at a high level, don’t be surprised if Kiffin keeps an eye on more Arkansas transfers in the years to come.<\/p>\n

In the new age of college football, the transfer portal is a constant topic. Recruiting the portal is also now a constant occupation. And for this season at least, Arkansas has provided a few key replacements that Ole Miss desperately needed. For the future, whether Kiffin chooses to make the Arkansas recruiting an annual thing as well remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

\"Ole
Photo courtesy: Brett Patzke-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lane Kiffin loves utilizing the transfer portal. He may not love the portal itself, but he knows how to use it well. Last year, he helped Ole Miss to the top-ranked portal class. So far, in the early stages of this offseason, the Rebels are sitting atop the transfer rankings once again. However, this time, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4571,"featured_media":61292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,35582,3],"tags":[314,495,258,4516],"class_list":["post-70426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-ole-miss-rebels","category-sec","tag-arkansas-razorbacks","tag-lane-kiffin","tag-ole-miss-rebels","tag-transfer-portal"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4571"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70426"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70448,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70426\/revisions\/70448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}