Ole Miss hires Joel Mangrum, Chris Beard's new roster, and Lane Kiffin's first six games of 2024

[Music] welcome back Rebel fans you're listening to another episode of the Rebel talk presented by the rebel walk I'm cam wicker and as always I'm here with Zach morath and it's it's been a little while since we've talked to you guys I think last time we talked to you guys was when Louis Moore was on the show and that's it's been a little while now since about the end of the semester for school so it's been a little while since we've seen you guys I know um not much has been going on in the Oldman Sports World but just a little bit to cover today and we're going to end it with some predictions for the very well anticipated 2024 football season we going to do the first six games today and next week when we come back on me and Zack do the next six games along with some more Old Miss Recaps of other sports but we're going to start off really quick here with uh with baseball big hiring for the Old Miss baseball team signing pitching coach Joel mangram has some experience in the in the minor league Sy experience with other coaches on other coaching staffs as well uh big hiring for Old Miss here you know in the previous years old Miss has struggled with pitching staff especially here recently past two to three years it seems like the old Miss pitching staff is middle of the SEC to bottom of the SEC and it seems like with with this hiring handing that that pitching over from biano to to an actual pitching coach not saying nothing against biano here who is a a very established catcher in the past himself very very pitching coach establishment I guess uh over the past couple years at Old Miss before hiring this guy but I think with the with the help of actual pitching coach this gives Bianco to take time and some other guys and give mangram the opportunity to just dive in on some of these guys that deserve all the in Hitching like Wes Mendes and and Grayson Sonia guys like that exactly cam you know there's a ton of guys to develop on this roster uh we'll see I know Hunter Elliott and three of the initial signes coming out of this 2024 class um are looking to kind of see what's going on with the MLB so we'll see there we keep keep you guys updated of course but I love the higher you know it it I know it had to have taken a lot for Coach biano to kind of hand the pitching Reign off to a guy like this um you know because he's been doing it for 25 however many years here at Old Miss so good for coach and I'm excited you know coach mangram he's he's been everywhere he's a Mississippi guy he's from Brandon but you know he's coached you know with the Cleveland Guardians and then in college at ULM over year neck of the woods cam uh New Mexico State ausome PA couple community colleges but he has experience es and it seems like he's kind of developed with the game and with the technology of you know modern day baseball so that's something that I think's been missing a little bit with ol Miss and for him to be able to bring that here and you know it's like we'll see man you know and it's a good it's a good good spot to be becauseas hasn't had this in really ever so you know we'll see what happens um but I'm really excited to see how who he can recruit out of the portal and how he can kind of develop these starting pitchers and relief p going into next season absolutely and you threw out the name Hunter Elliott we'll see what happens there with him but miss has other dominant pitches on this rotation that could take that next leap next year like Liam do if zavier revas he decides to stay which it seems like I haven't heard too much about it seems like he might stay put here in Oxford Riley Maddox who was the Friday night guy for a majority of the year last year I mean if if you can get some of these guys into a a a more routine of having a pitching coach a guy that's going to show them some stuff that they haven't known before maybe treat their a little bit better and this is a guy that's worked with Doug NY and Dylan Delia in the mon leagues a couple for past couple years Doug N is a guy that might be in the major leagues pretty soon so Joel mum seems like he has some experience with guys getting guys to where they're supposed to be seems like Doug NY a couple years ago was kind of off the mat when he first got into the minor leagues but with with under Joel mangram here it seems like he's he's prevailed his way to the rankings of the prospects of the Cleveland Cleveland Guardians and it's just if you're an old Miss fan it seems like a lot of Old Miss fans reacted really well to this and like you said it seems like it's going to take a lot of pressure off Mike biano here especially later in his career exactly Cam and you know that's you know I'm not like supposed to just see how the fan base reacts but it's usually a good sign when the fan base is Happy um because they're you know typically they're going to be more positive about just coach mangram and what he does off the bat uh you know they're typically going to be a little less like less critique about him just because they know he's it's different you know you're going from the MLB to college but hopefully that's a step down and a step easier for Coach mangram uh to kind of develop these guys into essentially minor league pitchers when they leave olds absolutely I think this all we got on baseball for you guys you know the season didn't end as planned for Old Miss kind of their run kind of got put to an end my mississipp you state there in the SEC Championship game and that heartbreaking loss there but um uh it's next year's what to look forward to for R Miss baseball I think they put a theay on the renovations Miss baseball field so won't be any renovations to work your way around at Sue next year and you'll have a new pitching coach and and look out for some new faces in the coming up for the fall for Old Miss baseball and no telling who they'll add in the offseason here moving into men's Hoops uh Chris beard finalized the roster for the 2024 2025 season and it's confirmed that TJ cwell Robert coward and Matthew Morell will be returning to over Miss Matthew Morell was already confirmed about a week ago saying that he was uh coming back to Old Miss after after viewing his options in the G League there and overseas seeing where he could go pro but ultimately decided to come back to Old Miss some unfinished business here for him but TJ Cowell and Robert cower were the guys that people were holding their breath over uh no one really knew what they were doing yet and they're confirmed after this roster uh official was posted by the old Miss account so it seems like this team is set for next year and uh what do you have to think about this team right now Zack uh the word that comes to mind is just the the great amount of depth cam uh it's it's a huge step forward from last season this isn't discrediting Juju Murray whatsoever but if right now as it stands on you know June 15th if I if I had to predict a starting lineup I wouldn't include ju gu in it I'd probably have Shawn padulla running at the one and juu is a guy who essentially started every single game last season so when you have those types of problems I think it's a fantastic thing and Matt Morell is it's such a huge addition I don't think many fans thought at the end of the last season he had any chance of coming back to Old Miss um there was there was even a tiny rumor about him potentially transferring if he didn't you know get drafted or talked to a certain NBA team but he's coming back a guy who Chris beard complimented him all the time you know best work ethic in the room and just a guy who leads by example every single day and that that's kind of what you need you you know you need those guys to glue the team together especially when you've added so many transfers you expecting to play a decent amount of floor time this year absolutely Matthew Morel just like last year is going to have to step up and be that leader that he was last year because this is a team with a bunch of new faces again it's going to need someone with uh with some experience on the team already to kind of lead them and good thing for Old Miss they have a couple of those guys in Juju Murray breakfield uh cwell along with Morel to kind of show these new guys around and show these new guys into the Chris beard system uh but like you said morel's a a lead scorer he's bringing a lot back to this Old Miss team a lot more than just his experience he's crazy athletic and I mean he's probably going to run that two to three spot for Old Miss we'll see what they go go with there but like you said with sha padulla I think this is going to be the Shawn padulla show next year like you said this is going to be uh they're gonna hand it over to shamp padulla for the offense not just the point guard role but this kid's probably going to score anywhere from 14 12 points per game next year along with the average of probably about five five assists along with his Elite defense as well this is a team that's going to defend a lot better than they did last year I feel like um only two legitimate bigs you're losing the two seven-footers but you're adding Malik Dia and John Ball we like to see what John Ball does but from what we see of him um in in his previous times uh in previous games over the years it seems like he's going to be a shot blocker right off the bat so everything else would just have to come into play for him but I expect Malik DIA to be a force to be reckoned with in the SEC inside the paint for sure yeah without a doubt Cam he's just just a bunch of really physical guys um you know especially the transfers Brown Jones um and Dre Davis are both you know 67 68 in that range they're going to stick in perfectly at that forward roll but really physical and you know just aggressive Defenders I know sha padulo is averaging a couple steals per game uh guju Murray you know he wasn't Chris beard didn't love him the best rotationally but he got a couple steals Matt Morell was all over the place defensively so I think you'll see jumps everywhere obviously offensively but especially defensively with a coach like Chris beard who you know you know how it's similar to Coach yo you know it's protect the rim ton of blocks let's get steals let's be aggressive and let's try and prevent the other team from scoring as many points as possible absolutely I like to see how this offense is going to work next year for them with Shawn padulla kind of Manning the show there that they ran a little free flow in offense last year without a more traditional point guard but I'm I'm expecting to see some play calls here with sha padulla run the point guard um breakfield Juju Murray call Willis gonna take a lot of pressure off them with all these scores coming they don't have to feel like they're going to have to score all the points like they did last year Juju don't have to take some of those shots that he was forced to take last year he can get to the he can get to his spots and take his shots same with breakefield and cwell uh I know we talked before the podcast and I told you I think this is probably a second weekend tournament team if they if All Things fall into play for them and they can make a run in the SEC tournament as well this is a team that's that's going to score really well and it's all going to come down to is is the defending going to be there and what last year I think they lacked some leadership there so is that goingon to is that going to be the difference this year are they going to have that leadership are they going to have that guy to get them in check in the locker room right yeah cam the pieces are there you know it's just gonna can we stay healthy and can we put it together man uh this is probably one of the first times in Chris Beard's career that he's really built to team up from primarily transfers rather than high school players so it's going to be a test for everyone involved but I do think the leaders and the coaches are in place to make this a deep March Madness Squad absolutely I think that's all we got for you guys for basketball and and other sports today we're going to take a little short commercial break and then we're going to hop into some football recruiting and then get some predictions in for you [Music] guys welcome back guys and we're going to hop into a little bit of football recruiting not a lot going on in the recruiting well for Old Miss right now seems like that roster is set for the 2024 season seems like at this point we'll see how goes as the as the months roll on here into the summer but some high school recruiting for Old Miss football a couple names that committed here in the past week or two k young we'll start off with him safety from Lakeland Florida Lakeland High School committed on June 2nd fourstar safety uh I like I like the what I've seen him from the field seem like he flies all over the field seems like he's not scared to go up and Tackle someone either I like the way he comes down at the football a lot and I think this is a big pickup R miss this is obviously a class that seems like they're stacking up some four stars now and we'll see see how how kein kind of handles the the high school landscape going forward exactly cam you know Keon he's a top 250 player he's special and as we know the old Miss evaluations are usually pretty good if you just look at how many guys they have evaluating on their staff um but you know in contrast to a lot of safeties film who I watch Keon he he had a lot of Clips in the passing game rather than the running game I think a common thing among High among high school recruits because I I understand offenses don't pass as much but a lot of safeties just show them you know their downhill tackling ability in the Run game or in the short passing game but Keon hit quite a few interceptions um and again he to me he's more of a traditional safety I know Pete Golding likes to flirt with the you know whole Corner safety hybrid thing but Keon's a guy who will probably play strictly safety his vision's incredible and he's extremely physical you know he's a hard hitter um he's very good at reading the offense especially where the quarterback's going with the ball so a lot of De velopment to be held there with Keon and then the two other ones we wanted to talk about cam were Taran Hedrick and Kenneth Boston two offensive tackles um let's see here Hedrick you know 65 305 pounds Boston 68 315 so they have the frame they have the presence um uh Hedrick is here from Florida B Boston from Monroe Louisiana two Southern kids who've been doing it all their life you know from what I saw in their film they're incredible downhill blockers there wasn't much passing film to evaluate but I have no doubt that once they get to Old Miss John Garrison's going to put them in the best possible spot uh to get on the field immediately because those are some big bodies and you know they have the potential to start as you know freshman even sophomore whatever the case may be absolutely I haven't got time to look too much into Hedrick I know he's from Florida top top football players come out of Florida every year uh that's where Keon's Keon Young's from as well uh I've looked into more about Kenneth Boston just because he's from Monro Louisiana from my from my hometown down my home area uh River Oaks High School I played that High School a couple times in high school they don't really seem to pump out a lot of recruits over the past years but uh Kenneth Boston's a monster of a man 68 315 this is a guy that's uh gonna add some size to that old Miss Old Miss tackle room and I think both guys really Hedrick as well I think Old Miss is looking for for bigger guys more and more every year trying to not look back to that old Miss Georgia game last year where they were just dominated in the trenches uh it seems like that turned kin's View point on a lot of things in the recruiting world and I think that's what he's trying to do he's trying to find size at any possible position he can find exactly and he's doing a great job of a cam uh that's gonna take us into our next segment here we're gonna break down kind of the first six games of the football season so you know game number one was it a 6 PM kickoff time cam yeah uh six 6 PM kickoff time versus feram Ferman uh it seems I think that's the first five games are set for Old Miss for kickoff times all the way up until South Carolina game so um all pretty much late to afternoon games until you get to the first SEC SEC game against Kentucky that's awesome I mean I know people are upset that I'm upset too that we don't have you know any of those like Oklahoma sets me an early game um Georgia in the flex spot yeah just weird weird we don't need to dive too deep into that but yeah the Ferman game you know they actually weren't I know a lot of fans just might assume that they're probably not the best team um but for their conference in the southern on conference they actually finished first I believe they's seven- one in conference 10 and3 overall they beat Mercer by double digits too they did lose to Tennessee 47 to 21 but this is a game you can expect will miss very similar to the Mercer matchup in my opinion go out there play a lot of guys get a lot of reps in and just try and dominate from start to finish Cam that that's really all I see here absolutely like you said uh Ferman was a team that was pretty good last year they they won the Southern Conference in the f CS 10 and3 7-1 in their conference uh they're um under Klay hedricks right now he's been there since 2017 he's made the playoffs for them four times uh they finish in the rankings top 10 in the FCS they're going to be a team that's probably going to come in with a little bit of fire under their belt just because they're they're top ranked in their and their conf in their in their division of football right now but like you said this is the team that Old Miss should handle and take care of businesses early on I'm expecting probably uh a high scoring game from this Old Miss offense and we'll see if that that old miss defense is clicking to start the season I think this is a game that could probably surprise some old Miss fans to start the game maybe maybe FM scores a touchdown early or something like that Old Miss fans kind of panic but I think in all honesty this Old Miss offense should be at this point kind of clicking together other than really that off line and I expect Jackson Dart to kind of have a field day at this point uh against that team in the first half yeah 100% And that you know that takes me directly into week two against Middle Tennessee similar result here but they did struggle last year in conference USA you know I'm not just going to overlook that that's definitely you know kind of a tier worse than I would put Fermin in you know Alabama beat them 57 to6 and I'm not trying to you know like take anything away from their program I'm telling you guys straight facts here and you can do with you like what you would like with that information I thinks is going to take an even larger win than they did over Ferman probably get into the high 60s and 70s of points and probably I'm not sure if they'll even allow a touchdown absolutely like I I got om Miss big in this one I think this is where the OM miss defense is probably going to show their teeth really and show that they're a dominant force uh I've been thinking about this a lot talking with people who maybe aren't as big as college football fans don't follow college football as much as others do especially those of uh other fans of other SEC teams that don't follow college football as much uh when you tell them that miss is going to be a top ranked team they seemed a little bit surprised they seemed like uh they may not know much about this Old Miss football team but I'm telling you guys this as as not not as a fan not as a student of Old Miss but as a reporter saying that Old Miss is GNA be a top ranked team of the country next year and some people are G to be surprised by it but you're gonna see when this roster comes out and the talent that they have on this roster the talent they have on defense that they didn't have last year it's going to show in these first couple of games in these non-conference games when I expect them to be blowing some teams out uh Middle Tennessee this is a team that's going to be under former former head coach of Vandy Derrik Mason he has some experience playing against Old Miss so maybe I expect him to be a little gritty there but like you said Zack I think Old Miss maybe not even gives up a touchdown in this one yeah um we'll see obviously but then game three we have Wake Forest I like this matchup not that I think it's going to be close but it's your first road game and it kind of is a true road test you're facing a power five ACC team their Stadium only holds around 31,000 but this is going to be the Wake four Super Bowl it's going to be the first game of their season where everyone shows up you know they're optimistic can they knock off Miss can there be this cool upset so there will be they will try and hype it up to the best they can I'm sure they're going to make a pretty cool environment out of it and it'll be good to see how Miss responds because you know you have Road games at South Carolina and LSU which again two of the best atmospheres in college football so get you get a little taste of you know a little bit of that hectic feeling um it's going to be loud people screaming at you not even close to the extent of you know SEC Road games but it gives you a little taste of it and I do think ol Miss again plows through wake Force they struggled in the ACC last year they may have a freshman quarterback starting a true freshman um a lot of question marks with their program right now but again I'm excited first Power five game for Old Miss and again I think they win by probably four touchdowns yeah like you said this is a wake Force team that didn't do great in the ACC last year I think they finished last in the conference actually they were one and seven in the ACC um still got their head coach from from previous years I think it's his ninth year his 10th year entering for w four is Dave Clawson uh they did add Hank BM quarterback transfer from Boise State so maybe some battle there with that with that freshman coming in but maybe Hank bmy is the starter by then he does have experience at Boise State playing there so maybe he's their guy but like you said Winston Salem I expect them to be kind of Rowdy for that game uh we've seen them in the past be a good football program a solid football program eight and four and5 yeah we've seen them bring out fans for baseball for uh for for that really good baseball team they have down there in Winston Salem but like you said I think this is a game that Old Miss should handle again should handle business go in there make a statement on the road uh and show that that they can beat these teams on the road that seem like they seem like they think they can beat them uh I think Old Miss did a really good job with that last year is is as far as beating teams that uh they were supposed to beat when they went into their especially when they went on the road and I think this is where the old Miss team can make a and probably win 20 30 plus over the weight for us in this game exactly Cam and you know that that would be incredible it would put them in a great spot and that takes us right into week four against Georgia Southern again you know Georgia Southern they didn't have a good season last year I think they finished second to last in their conference but the thing about this week is I think you'll start to see some of those true starting rotations because the next week you you host Kentucky first SEC game it's homecoming and the stakes go from you know know this low to all of a sudden everything's on the line you you're not supposed to lose an SEC game so I think you'll start to see you know those starters get a little more more reps um obviously not too many you want to keep those guys healthy and rested but the game it becomes a little more meaningful rather than you know what against Ferman or against Middle Tennessee because of how early those are so you're trying to figure things out in those game those games by week four you hope to have more of your questions answered and essentially your starters ready to roll cam absolutely this is a game where you kind of Hope Old Miss doesn't get caught looking ahead um this is a game they they shouldn't lose at all or it shouldn't be really relatively close to losing but this is a game that you want to be firing right from the start because you don't want to be caught looking ahead next week to Kentucky you want to stay in the present win that game that week and then prepare for Kentucky the next week for homecoming against Kentucky uh this is uh Georgia Southern team that's under Klay hton former USC coach um he has some experience with some with some top recruits so I don't know what he's doing down there in Georgia Southern had really followed them too much but I know he's got two Bowl appearances in the past two years with them so he's seems like he's doing pretty solid there in the sun Bel conference forum and he's bringing back a large amount of the production other than his quarterback I think uh for this next season so I I expect Georgia Southern to be a little bit tougher matchup than maybe some of the others non-conference opponents Georgia Southern does have some experience upsetting SEC teams in Georgia a couple years ago or not Georgia Florida a couple years ago it was I think it was like 2 7 26 when Florida was kind of on the way down there for a little bit for a couple years uh but I expect Old Miss to kind of handle business here going in next week in the SEC play like you said those starters might be getting a little bit more reps especially in the first half of this one and uh we'll see we'll see what happens on I guess the injury part of Old Miss at this part of the season coming in the SEC play right going into week five at Kentucky this is the game uh homecoming for Old Miss they're going to be right off the bat uh probably packed in the vault uh like Zach said um this is um a a familiar matchup with the rebels here uh it seemed like over the past couple years two of the last three years at Vault Hing way Stadium um they had a big matchup against uh will Levis in that game and Jared Ivy came away with the strip sack of the end to kind of seal it um this is a team that Kentucky team that lost their quarterback last year they lost their star running back Ray Davis but they added Georgia transfer Brock bander Griff so we'll see didn't really see much of him out of Georgia those past couple years so see kind of what he's capable of at this point in the season I feel like um he'll probably be in that Kentucky offense all the way and maybe if he's if he's what people hyped him up to be coming out of high school then he could be a problem for that Old Miss secondary come uh come week five but we'll have to see I think um this is a Kentucky team that's probably going to be pretty solid on the defensive end they brought back a lot of production from that on the defensive end last year and Mark stops is a solid coach I think this is going to be a lot closer that Old Miss fans wanted to be but ultimately I think Old Miss Old Miss should handle this game maybe win 10 plus here um 15 plus if you want to kind of make a statement heading into South Carolina next week yeah exactly cam um this is a huge huge first test for Old Miss but it's a good one you know it's not like you're playing Georgia or Alabama for your first SEC game but Kentucky comes with a lot of experience uh one wide receiver to watch out for is Baran Brown he's one of the fastest players in college football really just electric when he gets to the open field so you know you got to try and prevent those big pass plays and again a lot of question marks with Brock Vandergriff coming over from Georgia we haven't really seen him play anything like a lot of football at all so you know we'll see what he does weeks one through four and go from there but I think this is an opportunity for a huge statement win from the rebels to kick off SEC play absolutely I think I put down this is kind of a point where maybe you expect Jackson Dart to to separate himself from the best in the country the rest of those guys this is the point where you kind of expect those old Miss Playmakers to put themselves on the map that they hadn't already in those nine conference games and um this moving into week six at South Carolina I think this one might be the biggest of the ones we've talked about just because it's on the road against a very Rowdy South Carolina crowd this is a South Carolina team that was five and seven last year under under Shane Beamer who's a solid coach it seems like that South Carolina fan South Carolina fan base kind of really supports Shane Beamer uh through throughout the years there he think he's got two Bowl appearances in the past four years there they lost Spencer rler and Xavier lit though to the draft so they're going to be replacing two of their top players um but they do have Leno sang he played a little bit last year at quarterback for him and they have Robbie Ashford from alurn who old Miss has experienced playing against in Auburn last year um they also added rocket Sanders who old Miss has had problems playing against for Arkansas so um we'll set to see how old Miss handles that offense it's going to be very different for South Carolina on that offensive side of the football uh but as far as going into Will Williams Bry stadium in South Carolina I think it's going to be very tough Ro Miss to start off their first kind of real Road match up there and it it does get Rowdy in that stadium and uh hopefully they don't get caught looking to another match up next weekend in Baton Rouge will it be on the road two weeks in a row but um I think ultimately Old Miss handles this is probably gonna be a little closer than Old Miss fans like like I said in the Kentucky game but I think Old Miss should win by a touchdown or more I agree Cam and I really don't want fans to overlook this game because it's easy too when you have LSU the next week but South Carolina and LSU is probably two of the hardest Road environments in the country um quick shout out to my sports teacher Kevin Norwood former Alabama uh wide receiver multi National Champion he said South Carolina was actually the hardest place he's ever played in in his college career because you know like their their student section is essentially on the field yeah like it gets Rowdy um it holds about 80,000 people and an underrated storyline going into this one is juice Wells guys I've seen plenty of Clips uh and tweets on Twitter South Carolina fans don't like juice Wells they're not he got hurt and then he left he came to miss obviously they hate they're not they're not fans about that um there was a video of one guy who was essentially telling juice Wells to like prepare for hell or something so you know to me I think this is a juice Wells Legacy game I think he catches one or two touchdowns probably gets over 100 yards of receiving and I think man miss walks away with the win but not easily cam again it's a great test and it's going to give us a realistic spot on the future of this Old Miss team and what what talent do they possess moving forward especially going to Baton Rouge the next week absolutely and I'm glad you mentioned the juice Wells thing um I completely forgot about that but I expect juice Wells to go in there handle business like a professional and uh get the get the job done this is a guy that's probably going to be a top draft pick uh maybe first round if he has the season that he's expected to have at Old Miss this year and uh I expect him go in there and handle business but um that's that's all we got for for those first six games for Old Miss uh we we'll hit you guys back next week with the rest of the games both those by- weeks are going to be in the second half of the season for Old Miss so there straight six games in a row for the rebels to start the season I believe they have a bye after LSU and a bye-week after Georgia going into Florida so they'll have two bye weeks going into big weeks there and the SEC play they're going to need those by weeks and like we said hopefully that that South Carolina Dame doesn't get out of hand or doesn't get slip out of old Miss's hands looking into that next week against LSU and Baton Rouge I'll be there for that Baton Rouge game with my father my father's big LSU fan so we're gonna head down there so hopefully uh hopefully Old Miss will come out with that one and I won't have to listen to my father y about that that loss on the way back home so shout out to my dad for that one but um yeah we we'll get back with you guys next week on the rest of the the rest of the schedule for all miss that one's going to get a little bit more spicier with matchups against LSU Oklahoma Arkansas Georgia Florida and Mississppi state so that one's going to be a lot more interesting next week I know that this week we had four games in a row right there start off non conference not too interesting kind of know what's gonna happen there as long as om Miss takes care of business but yeah like I said next week G be a lot more exciting for the predictions for me and Zach but I think that's all we got today is that all you got Zack yes sir cam appreciate you man I think that's all we got for you guys today so uh make sure to tune in to the rebel walk.com for all your old Miss Sports needs