Ole Miss Rebels football
Encyclopedia
The football history of the University of Mississippi
(also officially known as Ole Miss), includes the formation of the first football team in the state and is 26th on the list of college football's all-time winning programs. The Ole Miss Rebels posted their 600th win on September 27, 2008 when they defeated the (then ranked #4 and future 2008 BCS National Champ) Florida Gators
31–30 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
in Gainesville, Florida
.
Throughout the 115-year history of Ole Miss football, the Rebels have won six Southeastern Conference titles (1947, 1954, 1955, 1960, 1962, and 1963); they also have a claim to 3 national championships (1959, 1960, 1962).
(now known as Union University
). This was on November 11, 1893.
The next year, 1894, Bondurant passed on his coaching duties. Ole Miss Football, a book published in 1980 by Sports Yearbook Company of Oxford, MS
, says J.W.S. Rhea was the first coach at Ole Miss having been hired part-time by Bondurant and having led the 1894 team to a 6-1 record. The annual Ole Miss media guide lists C.D. Clark as the coach of the 1894 team and further says about him, "Although it has never been documented, it is thought that C.D. Clark of Tufts was the first paid football coach at Ole Miss. His name appears as manager of the team as shown in the Ole Miss Magazine dated November 1894." The College Football Data Warehouse
also lists Clark as the coach for the 1894 team.
Twice in its history, Ole Miss did not field a football team. In 1897, a yellow fever
epidemic cancelled the football season. In 1943, football was abolished at all Mississippi state-supported institutions by the state college Board of Trustees due to World War II
.
The major polls of the time (Associated Press & United Press) named Syracuse University the National Champion in 1959 (The University of Mississippi was #2 in both polls), the University of Minnesota in 1960 (Mississippi was #2 in AP and #3 in the UPI) and the University of Southern California in 1962 (Mississippi was #3 in both polls).
In 1955, the Rebels were declared National Champions by the Massey Ratings, though they are not considered to be a major poll and it is not claimed by the University.
The Ole Miss football team was the first college team in the nation to fly to a game, having done so in 1937. The flight was from Memphis, Tennessee to Philadelphia.
Ole Miss' first game to ever be broadcast on television was in 1948 against Memphis.
The speed limit on the Ole Miss campus is 18 miles per hour in honor of Archie Manning
, who wore the same number during his playing days at Ole Miss.
Ole Miss plays a central role in Michael Lewis
's book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game
and its 2009 film adaptation, The Blind Side
.
, remained in Oxford as head coach in 1947 and led the Ole Miss program to national prominence over the next 24 years, posting 23 winning records.
In his first season at the helm in 1947, the Rebels posted a 9-2 record and won the first of six SEC crowns (1947, 1954, 1955, 1960, 1962, 1963). That 1947 season also saw Ole Miss great Charlie Conerly
become the first Rebel player to be a contender for the Heisman Trophy
, placing fourth in the voting for the prestigious honor.
Vaught's squads, however, didn't stop at just winning league titles, as the Rebels claimed three national championships in 1959, 1960 and 1962. Ole Miss won the 1959 Dunkel System national crown, the 1960 Football Writers Association of America, Dunkel System, and Williamson System national championships and the 1962 Litkenhous Ratings national title. Vaught's 1962 squad remains the only undefeated team in Ole Miss football history. Vaught's 1959 squad, which was honored as the “SEC Team of the Decade,” was ranked the third best collegiate football team from 1956 to 1995, according to the Jeff Sagarin Ratings released in January 1996.
The Rebels were also among the winningest programs in the country under Vaught during the 1950s and 1960s. From 1950-59, Ole Miss posted an 80-21-5 record (.778 winning percentage). The 77.8 winning percentage was third to only Oklahoma and Miami (OH) during that decade. In the 1960s, Vaught guided the Rebels to a 77-25-6 record and a 74.0 winning percentage, which was the ninth best during that decade. The Rebels 1962 season under Vaught is, to this day, the only undefeated season in Ole Miss history. The Rebels ended that season 10 and 0 and as national champions.
In the 1950s and 1960s under Vaught, Ole Miss was a fixture in the national polls. The Rebels were ranked atop the Associated Press poll for three weeks during the 1960 season and one week during the 1961 campaign. In 1964, Ole Miss was ranked preseason No. 1 in the Associated Press poll.
Vaught also made going to postseason play the norm rather than the exception for the Rebel football program. Ole Miss played in 15 consecutive bowl games from 1957-71 which, at that time, was a national record. In all, Vaught led Ole Miss to 18 bowl game appearances, posting a 10-8 record in those contests. For his efforts, Vaught was named SEC Coach of the Year six times (1947, 1948, 1954, 1955, 1960, 1962).
During his time at the helm, Vaught coached some of the best players ever to wear the Red & Blue. In 24 seasons, Vaught produced 26 All-America first teamers. He also coached four players who finished in the top five in the Heisman Trophy voting. Along with Conerly in 1947, Charlie Flowers (5th in 1959), Jake Gibbs (3rd in 1960) and Archie Manning (4th in 1969, 3rd in 1970) were in the running for college football's top honor.
Failing health forced Vaught to resign his position in 1970 and the reins of the Ole Miss football program were turned over to Billy Kinard
.
See also: 1959 Ole Miss Rebels football team
The Rebels went 16-9 under Billy Kinard, including a 10-2 record and a 41-18 Peach Bowl victory over Georgia Tech in his first year in 1971. Kinard's 10 victories are tied for fourth most by a first-year head coach in NCAA Division I history.
Kinard coached the Rebels through the 1972 season and through the third game of the 1973 season. After the disappointing 5–5 season in 1972, there was some pressure among the alumni to have Kinard removed. The administration bowed to this pressure after the Rebels started the 1973 season 1–2, including a shutout loss to Missouri, 17–0, and was upset by Memphis State, 17–13. Both Billy Kinard and Frank Kinard were fired, and John Vaught was rehired as both the head coach and athletic director.
Following the 1973 football season, Vaught resigned once again as head coach, but remained on as athletic director. His final record with the Rebels was 190–61–12. The 190 victories still rank Vaught in the top 25 winningest coaches in NCAA Division I history, and he is the fourth-winningest coach in SEC history. In 1979, Vaught was inducted in the National College Football Hall of Fame.
, 20–13 in Mississippi Memorial Stadium on Sept. 17, 1977, in Jackson. That loss was the Irish's lone setback of the 1977 campaign, as Notre Dame finished the season with an 11–1 record and claimed both the AP and UPI national titles.
, the former All-American quarterback at Alabama under Paul "Bear" Bryant, was hired as the new Rebel boss and began his five-year stint in 1978. Sloan posted a 20–34 record from 1978–82.
returned to Oxford to take over as head coach in December 1982.
In his first season in 1983, Brewer guided the Rebels to their first winning regular season since 1977 with a 6-5 record. The Rebels also went to their first bowl game since 1971 losing to Air Force 9-3 in the Independence Bowl.
Brewer remained in Oxford for another ten seasons, leading the Rebels to five winning seasons and four bowls, including Ole Miss' 1990 New Year's Day Gator Bowl appearance, which was the program's first January bowl game since 1969. He was named SEC Coach of the Year in 1986 (8–3–1 record) and 1990 (9–3 record), and in 1986, the Rebels return to the national rankings for the first time in over a decade.
Brewer coached 11 years (1983–93) and compiled a 67–56–3 record, making him (at the time) the second winningest Ole Miss football coach behind Vaught. Brewer also led Ole Miss to eight Egg Bowl
victories over rival Mississippi State.
Brewer was dismissed just prior to the 1994 season after the NCAA infractions committee found him guilty of "unethical conduct," and Ole Miss defensive coordinator Joe Lee Dunn
took over as interim coach, directing the Rebels to a 4–7 record under difficult circumstances highlighted only by a 34-21 victory over rival LSU.
was selected as the coach in charge of getting the Rebels on the right track.
After serving as an assistant coach on the collegiate level for nine seasons (eight at Miami
and one at Texas A&M
), Tuberville began creating excitement in his first season in 1995, finishing the campaign with a 6–5 record and an Egg Bowl victory over Mississippi State.
That excitement grew in 1997, when Ole Miss recorded its best season since 1992 with an 8–4 record, a thrilling 15–14 Egg Bowl victory over Mississippi State and a Motor City Bowl win over Marshall University
. The bowl appearance was the program's first since 1992, and the Rebels earned a final national ranking of No. 22 in both polls.
The revitalized Ole Miss program continued in its success in 1998, but suffered a setback after the Egg Bowl
when Tuberville, despite repeated assurances that he would not leave - even going so far as to say "They'll have to take me out of here in a pine box" - , agreed 2 days later to become the head coach at SEC West rival Auburn University
.
took over as head coach on Dec. 2, 1998. Cutcliffe, who came to Ole Miss from his offensive coordinator post at Tennessee, took over the reins just 29 days before the Rebels' Sanford Independence Bowl date versus Texas Tech. Despite the short preparation time for the game, Cutcliffe led the Rebels to a 35–18 victory over the Red Raiders, quite arguably the biggest upset of the 1998 bowl season.
Cutcliffe brought with him to Oxford a high-powered offensive style that energized the Rebel fanbase.
In the time from 1997–2003, the Rebels played in six bowl games, tied with Arkansas for the most bowl appearances among SEC Western Division schools during that span.
Cutcliffe had four winning seasons in his first five seasons at Ole Miss, in 1999 (8–4), 2000 (7–5), 2001 (7–4) and 2002 (7–6), becoming the first Rebel mentor since Harry Mehre (1938–41) to post winning marks in his first five years. Cutcliffe also directed Ole Miss to four bowl appearances in his first five seasons, and is the only head coach in Ole Miss history to do so.
In 2003 Cutcliffe guided the Rebels to a 10–3 overall mark and a share of the SEC West title with eventual BCS National Champion LSU. Following their 31–28 victory over Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl Classic, the Rebels finished #13 in the final poll. It was Ole Miss' first New Year's bowl since the 1991 Gator Bowl against Michigan.
Despite his 44–29 record, five straight winning seasons, and guiding the team to its first 10 win season in over 30 years, Cutcliffe was fired by Ole Miss's Athletic Director Pete Boone in December 2004 after the team posted a disappointing 4–7 record and three consecutive losses to LSU.
Ed Orgeron
, regarded as one of college football's premier defensive line coaches and recruiters, was named the 35th head football coach in the history of the University of Mississippi on December 16, 2004. Orgeron, who took control of the Ole Miss program after serving the previous seven seasons as defensive line coach at the University of Southern California, and played a role in Pete Carroll's Trojan championship in 2004. He also served as USC's recruiting coordinator from 2001–2004 and was named assistant head coach in 2003. Orgeron was named the 2004 National Recruiter of the Year by The Sporting News and Rivals.com.
Orgeron's talent as a recruiter created a buzz among Rebel fans and drew national attention when Ole Miss' 2006 signing class ranked as high as fifteenth in the rankings. His 2007 recruiting class was also listed among the best in college football (#31 according to scout.com). However, his recruiting success did not translate to on the field performance. In 2007, Ole Miss was last in the SEC in scoring offense, turnover margin, rushing offense, rushing defense, punt returns, opponent first downs, red-zone offense, opponent third-down conversions, field goal percentage, time of possession and kickoff coverage.
In 2007, 20 Ole Miss football players were placed on indefinite probation by the University for having stolen pillows and clock radios from hotels in which the team had stayed in. All 20 players paid for the stolen items and therefore no NCAA rules were broken, according to the NCAA. Coach Orgeron stated that the incident would be dealt with internally and that no one would miss the season finale against arch-rival Mississippi State, because none of the 20 players had been a discipline problem before. For the same reason, that being no previous discipline issues, the school refused to release the names of the players.
The 2007 season was a historic one for Ole Miss. The Rebels went winless in the SEC for the first time since 1982 – 25 years. The Rebels, under Orgeron, ended the season at 3–9 (0–8 in SEC play).
The 2007 season culminated with the firing of Orgeron on November 24, 2007. Three days later, Houston Nutt
was hired as the next head football coach.
On November 27, 2007, Houston Nutt
was hired as the new head football coach of the Ole Miss Rebels. Nutt's hiring made him the 36th head football coach at Ole Miss.
The next day, November 28, 2007, just five weeks after having defeated Ole Miss as the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks
, Nutt was officially introduced as the new Ole Miss head football coach at a press conference at the Gertrude Castellow Ford Center for Performing Arts on the Ole Miss campus. During the press conference, Nutt stated, "One thing I love about Ole Miss is the tradition," naming past players such as Archie Manning
, Jake Gibbs
, Frank "Bruiser" Kinard
, Deuce McAllister
and Eli Manning
. "It's about tradition. That's the reason I am here. I feel like this place can be successful. I feel like this place can win. I can't wait to tell our players this afternoon. That's how you spell fun. The way you spell fun is “W-I-N.” That's what it is all about."
During Nutt's first season, he guided the Ole Miss Rebels to a 9-4 record with marquee victories over the eventual BCS National Champion Florida Gators squad
, the reigning BCS National Champion LSU Tigers
, and the Texas Tech Red Raiders
in the 2009 Cotton Bowl Classic. At the end of this season, the Rebels were ranked in the Top-15 in both major polls.
It was announced on April 16, 2009 that Nutt and his wife Diana had committed to give a gift of $100,000 dollars to Ole Miss. Half of the contribution will create scholarships for student-athletes. The other half of the gift will be used toward the university’s Indoor Practice Facility, which opened in 2004 and cost $17 million to build.
On November 7, 2011 it was announced that Coach Nutt will resign from the position of head coach at Ole Miss. His resignation will become official once the season comes to a close as he will finish his final 3 games at the university.
, ended the season at 3–9 (0–8 in SEC play).
Orgeron's talent as a recruiter created a buzz among Rebel fans and drew national attention when Ole Miss' 2006 signing class ranked as high as fifteenth in the rankings. His 2007 recruiting class was also listed among the best in college football (#31 according to scout.com). However, his recruiting success did not translate to on the field performance. In 2007, Ole Miss was last in the SEC in scoring offense, turnover margin, rushing offense, rushing defense, punt returns, opponent first downs, red-zone offense, opponent third-down conversions, field goal percentage, time of possession and kickoff coverage.
The 2007 season culminated with defeats to LSU (27-41) and MSU (14-17) which resulted in the firing of Orgeron the following day. Three days later, Houston Nutt was hired as the next head football coach.
With a new head coach also came new assistants, including Tight ends/special teams coach James Shibest, Running game coordinator Mike Markuson, Defensive line coach Tracy Rocker, Recruiting coordinator and Safeties coach Chris Vaughn and High School Relations director Clifton Ealy, all of whom were assistants at Arkansas under Nutt the previous season. Tyrone Nix left his position as Defensive Coordinator of the South Carolina Gamecocks
to join Nutt's staff at the same position. Before his time at South Carolina, Nix spent 10 years at Southern Mississippi
.
Former Arkansas offensive coordinator David Lee originally agreed to follow Nutt from Arkansas to Ole Miss, however, he later accepted an offer to become the Quarterbacks coach for the Miami Dolphins
. Upon Lee's resignation, former Ole Miss quarterback star Kent Austin
, who was coming off a 2007 Grey Cup win as head coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders
, was hired as offensive coordinator.
Projected to place 5th in the SEC Western Division in the pre-season, the Rebels finished 2nd in the West, knocked off the last 2 national champions on the road in No. 4 (at the time) Florida and No. 18 (at the time) LSU and ended the regular season on a five-game win streak. The 20th ranked Rebels then beat the 8th ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Cotton Bowl Classic.
The Rebels began the 2009 season ranked no. 8 by the Associated Press Poll and no. 10 by the USA Today Coaches Poll. Ole Miss started the season with wins over Memphis and Southeastern Louisiana, and after some key early season losses by other top-10 schools, the AP poll put the Rebels at no. 4 in week 3—the team's highest ranking since 1970.
The Rebels didn't play up to the ranking, however, and a lethargic Ole Miss squad was defeated by the University of South Carolina in Columbia, 16-10, on a Thursday night before a national television audience. The Sept. 24 loss snapped an 8-game winning streak for the Rebels dating back to the 2008 season and sent them tumbling in the polls, never to rise higher than no. 20 for the rest of the year.
The Rebels bounced back to beat Vanderbilt on the road, but then fell to #3 Alabama at home the next week. Ole Miss recovered to win consecutive home games against UAB and Arkansas in impressive fashion before losing at Auburn in another uneven performance, establishing what would become a signature pattern for the Rebels in 2009: strong play at home but weak efforts on the road.
Following the Auburn loss, the Rebels won three straight home games, including quality wins over Tennessee and LSU. Entering the final week of the season, the team was back in the rankings (no. 20) and seemed set for another winning record in the SEC and a trip to the Capital One Bowl, the SEC's highest-paying bowl destination outside of the BCS. Those plans were dashed, however, when Rebels lost to Mississippi State in Starkville, 41-27, finishing the regular season at 8-4 overall and 4-4 in conference play.
One week later Ole Miss accepted an invitation to play in the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic
, marking the team's second-consecutive trip to Dallas and the program's first back-to-back January bowl births in 40 years. Ole Miss defeated Oklahoma State 21-7.
On October 30, 2010, the Rebels wore all-gray uniforms for the first time in their annual bout with the Auburn Tigers. The gray jerseys are adorned with blue and red shoulder stripes and blue numbers outlined in red. Although worn at home, Mississippi's all-gray uniforms are considered white jerseys (rather than colored); consequently, visiting opponents will wear their home, colored jerseys while the Rebels wear all-gray.
The Battle of the Golden Egg (nicknamed the Egg Bowl) is an annual college football
game between the Ole Miss Rebels and in-state fellow SEC team Mississippi State University (MSU)
Bulldogs
. While the 2 teams have played each other since 1901, with 2003 being the year in which the 2 teams had played each other 100 times and now having played each other a total of 106 times, the first game officially known as "The Battle of the Golden Egg" was in 1927. While it is called a "Bowl", the game is not a postseason bowl game, but rather a regular season Southeastern Conference
(SEC) game. Ole Miss leads the series with 60 wins to MSU's 41 wins. There have been 6 ties.
. Throughout the fifties and sixties, games between the two schools featured highly ranked squads on both sides and seemingly every contest had conference, and at times national title implications - a tradition recently renewed, as the 2003 matchup decided the SEC Western Division Champion, and helped propel LSU to a national championship. A trophy has now been named for the LSU-Ole Miss rivalry known as the "Magnolia Bowl" which began in 2008 with a 31-13 victory by the Ole Miss Rebels. The 2009 game was also won by Ole Miss 25-23. The latest edition was another classic, typical of the games between these two, with LSU scoring with under a minute left to prevail 43-36. LSU leads the overall series over Ole Miss 56-39-4. 2011 will mark the 100th edition of this great rivalry.
rivalry between the Vanderbilt University
Commodores
and the University of Mississippi
Rebels. The Rebels are the Commodores' second-longest, continuous football rivalry. Both teams are founding members of the Southeastern Conference
, and their universities have the smallest and second-smallest, respectively, student body populations among SEC schools. This similar size, the schools' proximity to one another (Nashville is less than 4 hours from Oxford), and the similar culture of Greek life (both schools' student bodies have high percentages of participation in fraternities and sororities) led them to choose to be one another's inter-divisional non-rotator when the SEC grew to 12 teams for the 1992 season
. The schools have lately been rather evenly matched. In the last ten years, Ole Miss leads the series, 6-4, but Vanderbilt has won 3 of the last 5. The series has also been marked by close games, with the average margin between the teams since 1999 only 7 points. Ole Miss leads the series, 47-35-2 Although, since 1950, Ole Miss leads the series 42-13-2.
in 1963 and 1970; Ole Miss won both Sugar Bowl matchups.
In 1991, Arkansas joined the Southeastern Conference, and was placed in the same division as Ole Miss when the conference split into two divisions in 1992. Ole Miss won the first conference contest in Little Rock by a score of 17-3.
The two teams have played each other annually since 1981 yet the intensity of the rivalry pretty much died from the early 1970s until 2007.
The 2001 Ole Miss-Arkansas game set a NCAA record for most overtime periods played (7). It has since been tied, but never broken. Arkansas won that game 58–56.
2007 saw the rivalry return to a heated one when after Houston Nutt resigned as the head coach for Arkansas, Ole Miss hired him as their new head coach a week later.
2008 saw the first game between Ole Miss and Arkansas in which Nutt returned to Arkansas in his first game against his former team. Ole Miss, and Houston Nutt, won 23-21. This of course only made the rivalry that much more intense.
The following season, 2009, Arkansas went to Oxford to take on Ole Miss. Ole Miss again won, 30-17.
In 2010, Arkansas was able to finally claim a win over their former head coach Houston Nutt with a 38-24 decision in Fayetteville. Ole Miss ended the 2010 season with a 4-8 record including a season-opening loss to lower division Jacksonville State University
.
Offense
OE- Floyd Franks
OE- Barney Poole
OL- Jim Dunaway
OL- Gene Hickerson
OL- Stan Hindman
OL- Everett Lindsey
OL- Marvin Terrell
OC- Dawson Pruett
QB- Archie Manning
QB- Charlie Conerly
RB- John Dotley
RB- Charlie Flowers
PK- Robert Khayat
Defense
DL- Frank M. "Bruiser" Kinnard
DL- Kelvin Pritchett
DL- Ben Williams
DL- Freddie Joe Nunn
LB- Tony Bennett
LB- Kenny Dill
LB- Larry Grantham
LB- Jeff Herrod
DB- Billy Brewer
DB- Glenn Cannon
DB- Chris Mitchell
DB - Jimmy Patton
DB- Todd Sandroni
P- Jim Miller
Ole Miss has participated in 33 bowl games with a record of 21 wins and 12 losses. Notably, Ole Miss' win percentage of 0.636 ranks third all-time among football programs that have played in 25 or more bowl games (behind USC and Penn State). Twenty-one bowl wins also ranks 12th all-time.
Date Played
Bowl game
Winning team
Losing team
January 1, 1936
Orange
Catholic University
20
Ole Miss
19
January 1, 1948
Delta
Ole Miss
13
TCU
9
January 1, 1953
Sugar
Georgia Tech
24
Ole Miss
7
January 1, 1955
Sugar
Navy
21
Ole Miss
0
January 2, 1956
Cotton
Ole Miss
14
TCU
13
January 1, 1958
Sugar
Ole Miss
39
Texas
7
December 27, 1958
Gator
Ole Miss
7
Florida
3
January 1, 1960
Sugar
Ole Miss
21
LSU
0
January 2, 1961
Sugar
Ole Miss
14
Rice University
6
January 1, 1962
Cotton
Texas
12
Ole Miss
7
January 1, 1963
Sugar
Ole Miss
17
Arkansas
13
January 1, 1964
Sugar
Alabama
12
Ole Miss
7
December 19, 1964
Bluebonnet
Tulsa
14
Ole Miss
7
December 28, 1965
Liberty
Ole Miss
13
Auburn
7
December 17, 1966
Bluebonnet
Texas
19
Ole Miss
0
December 30, 1967
Sun
U. Texas-El Paso
14
Ole Miss
7
December 14, 1968
Liberty
Ole Miss
34
Virginia Tech
17
January 1, 1970
Sugar
Ole Miss
27
Arkansas
22
January 2, 1971
Gator
Auburn
35
Ole Miss
28
December 30, 1971
Peach
Ole Miss
41
Georgia Tech
18
December 10, 1983
Independence
Air Force
9
Ole Miss
3
December 20, 1986
Independence
Ole Miss
20
Texas Tech
17
December 28, 1989
Liberty
Ole Miss
42
Air Force
29
January 1, 1991
Gator
Michigan
35
Ole Miss
3
December 31, 1992
Liberty
Ole Miss
13
Air Force
0
December 26, 1997
Motor City
Ole Miss
34
Marshall
31
December 31, 1998
Independence
Ole Miss
35
Texas Tech
18
December 31, 1999
Independence
Ole Miss
27
Oklahoma
25
December 28, 2000
Music City
West Virginia
49
Ole Miss
38
December 27, 2002
Independence
Ole Miss
27
Nebraska
23
January 2, 2004
Cotton
Ole Miss
31
Oklahoma State
28
January 2, 2009
Cotton
Ole Miss
47
Texas Tech
34
January 2, 2010
Cotton
Ole Miss
21
Oklahoma St.
7
On December 31, 1921, Ole Miss lost 0-14 to University of Havana
, of Cuba
, in the Bacardi Bowl
. The University of Mississippi Athletic Association does not recognize this game in the Rebels' official bowl record.
.
Ole Miss has two former players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame
.
Ole Miss has three former players in the Helms Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame.
Ole Miss has one former player in the National Quarterback Club Hall of Fame.
Another official song is called Alma Mater. The song's lyrics are as follows:
Way down south in Mississippi,
There's a spot that ever calls,
Where amongst the hills enfolded,
Stand old Alma Mater's Halls.
Where the trees lift high their branches,
To the whispering Southern breeze,
There Ole Miss is calling, calling,
To our hearts fond memories.
song An American Trilogy
, now known as From Dixie with Love or Slow Dixie, was also played during football games, both home and away. The song was officially dedicated to Ole Miss fans when it was played before the Ole Miss versus LSU football game in 2003, which was at the time, the largest crowd at a football game ever in the State of Mississippi. Sometime in either 2004 or 2005, students began chanting "The South will rise again" in place of "His truth is marching on" at the end of the song which, after repeated warnings by school administrators in 2009 to stop the chant, resulted in the song being officially banned by the University's Chancellor. The traditional song "Dixie" is also unofficial, but it was not a part of the ban and is still played.
Another unofficial song is I Saw the Light.
Are you ready?
Hell yes! Damn Right!
Hotty Toddy, Gosh almighty
Who the hell are we, Hey!
Flim Flam, Bim Bam
OLE MISS BY DAMN!
Since 1983, the administration has distanced itself from Confederate
symbols, including barring faculty from displaying any Confederate imagery in their offices. In 1997, the university student senate passed a resolution requesting fans not to display the Confederate battle flag
at university athletic events. Using this action as encouragement, the university then banned sticks under the guise of fan safety, to discourage fans from displaying the Confederate flag at football games and other athletic events. This controversy began when head coach Tommy Tuberville
complained that the battle flag had hampered his attempts to recruit a few top-notch black athletes. Coaches prior to Tuberville also expressed concerns about the difficulty of recruiting top-notch black athletes.
In 1972, Ole Miss' first black football player, Ben Williams
, was signed and began playing. The defensive tackle, recruited out of a small school in the Delta region of Mississippi, eventually claimed All-SEC honors and had a long and successful NFL career following his stint at Ole Miss.
In 2003, the school's mascot, Colonel Reb
, was discontinued from official participation in athletic events by the school. The school solicited ideas to replace Colonel Reb, but after an exceedingly lackluster response, decided to go without a mascot. An unofficial Colonel Reb mascot still makes appearances in The Grove
, Ole Miss' tailgating area, before home games. In 2010, the university began its plan to phase out the use of Colonel Reb on official merchandise such as hats and shirts. The university has reclassified the Colonel Reb trademark as a historical mark of the university. On October 14, 2010, it was announced that students, alumni and season ticket holders at the university had picked Rebel Black Bear
as their new mascot. The announcement was the result of a campuswide vote in February and months of polling. The bear beat out two other finalists, the Rebel Land Shark and something called the "Hotty Toddy," an attempt to personify the school cheer.
Mullins was injured on October 28, 1989, during the Ole Miss Rebels' Homecoming game against the Vanderbilt Commodores in Oxford. As Mullins plunged head-first into a tackle of Vandy fullback Brad Gaines after a short pass reception, the impact shattered four vertebrae in his cervical spine, immediately paralyzing him.
After being airlifted to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Mullins underwent a tracheotomy and five-hour bone graft operation to fuse the vertebrae. Mullins never regained sensation below his neck; shortly before his death, however, he was able to move a hand across his body and touch his chest.
As soon as the injury occurred, Mullins became the recipient of a huge outpouring of community support. Ole Miss fans, college football fans in the South and people from all over the nation immediately began to donate money towards Mullin's growing medical expenses. President George H.W. Bush visited Mullins in his hospital room and encouraged him while on a visit to Memphis. Soon, Ole Miss established the "Chucky Mullins Trust Fund" to properly manage the donations. The city of Oxford donated land for a specially-designed handicap accessible house for Mullins. Donations to the trust fund eventually exceeded $1 million.
Mullins returned to Ole Miss on June 20, 1990 to complete his undergraduate studies.
Each spring, during the annual Grove Bowl (a game at the end of spring practices pitting Ole Miss players against each other), the senior defensive player who most embodies Chucky Mullins' spirit and courage receives the "Chucky Mullins Memorial Courage Award". With the award, the player received the right to wear jersey number 38, the same number Chucky wore on his jersey. Chucky's number 38 was retired on September 3, 2006 in a pregame ceremony before the Rebels' victory over Memphis. The winner of the "Chucky Mullins Memorial Courage Award" now wears a patch in honor of this award. Chucky's number is only the second number in Ole Miss football history to be retired. The only other was the legendary Archie Manning's number 18.
and 38 for Chucky Mullins
are the only two retired numbers in Ole Miss football history.
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1844, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford, four branch campuses located in Booneville, Grenada, Tupelo, and Southaven as well as the...
(also officially known as Ole Miss), includes the formation of the first football team in the state and is 26th on the list of college football's all-time winning programs. The Ole Miss Rebels posted their 600th win on September 27, 2008 when they defeated the (then ranked #4 and future 2008 BCS National Champ) Florida Gators
2008 Florida Gators football team
The 2008 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the sport of American football during the 2008 college football season...
31–30 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field is the football stadium for the University of Florida and the home field of the university's Florida Gators football team. It is located on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus. The stadium was originally built in 1930, and has been regularly...
in Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
.
Throughout the 115-year history of Ole Miss football, the Rebels have won six Southeastern Conference titles (1947, 1954, 1955, 1960, 1962, and 1963); they also have a claim to 3 national championships (1959, 1960, 1962).
Early history
In 1890, Dr. A.L. Bondurant, later the dean of the Ole Miss Graduate School, rallied Ole Miss students to help form an athletic department to encompass the sports of football, baseball and tennis. The students brought this initiative to reality and in 1893, with Bondurant as the coach, a football team came to fruition. The first team won four of five games during that inaugural football season. One of those wins was the very first football game ever played by an Ole Miss team, a 56-0 victory over Southwest Baptist University of Jackson, TennesseeJackson, Tennessee
Jackson is a city in Madison County, Tennessee, United States. The total population was 65,211 at the 2010 census. Jackson is the primary city of the Jackson, Tennessee metropolitan area, which is included in the Jackson-Humboldt, Tennessee Combined Statistical Area...
(now known as Union University
Union University
Union University is a private, evangelical Christian, liberal arts university located in Jackson, Tennessee, with additional campuses in Germantown, Tennessee, and Hendersonville, Tennessee...
). This was on November 11, 1893.
The next year, 1894, Bondurant passed on his coaching duties. Ole Miss Football, a book published in 1980 by Sports Yearbook Company of Oxford, MS
Oxford, Mississippi
Oxford is a city in, and the county seat of, Lafayette County, Mississippi, United States. Founded in 1835, it was named after the British university city of Oxford in hopes of having the state university located there, which it did successfully attract....
, says J.W.S. Rhea was the first coach at Ole Miss having been hired part-time by Bondurant and having led the 1894 team to a 6-1 record. The annual Ole Miss media guide lists C.D. Clark as the coach of the 1894 team and further says about him, "Although it has never been documented, it is thought that C.D. Clark of Tufts was the first paid football coach at Ole Miss. His name appears as manager of the team as shown in the Ole Miss Magazine dated November 1894." The College Football Data Warehouse
College Football Data Warehouse
College Football Data Warehouse is an American college football statistics website. The site has compiled the yearly team records, game-by-game results, championships, and statistics of college football teams, conferences, and head coaches at the NCAA Division I FBS and Division I FCS levels, as...
also lists Clark as the coach for the 1894 team.
Twice in its history, Ole Miss did not field a football team. In 1897, a yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
epidemic cancelled the football season. In 1943, football was abolished at all Mississippi state-supported institutions by the state college Board of Trustees due to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
National championships
While the NCAA's website states that "the NCAA does not conduct a national championship in Division I-A football and is not involved in the selection process," it goes on to say that "a number of polling organizations provide a final ranking of Division I-A football teams at the end of each season." Ole Miss claims three national championships based on other polls.
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The major polls of the time (Associated Press & United Press) named Syracuse University the National Champion in 1959 (The University of Mississippi was #2 in both polls), the University of Minnesota in 1960 (Mississippi was #2 in AP and #3 in the UPI) and the University of Southern California in 1962 (Mississippi was #3 in both polls).
In 1955, the Rebels were declared National Champions by the Massey Ratings, though they are not considered to be a major poll and it is not claimed by the University.
Milestones
The most points ever scored in a game by the Ole Miss Rebels was 114 when Ole Miss defeated Union College 114–0 on October 29, 1904.The Ole Miss football team was the first college team in the nation to fly to a game, having done so in 1937. The flight was from Memphis, Tennessee to Philadelphia.
Ole Miss' first game to ever be broadcast on television was in 1948 against Memphis.
Archie Manning
Elisha Archibald "Archie" Manning III is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League, playing for the New Orleans Saints from 1971 to 1982, then for the Houston Oilers and Minnesota Vikings...
, who wore the same number during his playing days at Ole Miss.
Ole Miss plays a central role in Michael Lewis
Michael Lewis (author)
Michael Lewis is an American non-fiction author and financial journalist. His bestselling books include The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, Liar's Poker, The New New Thing, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, Panic and Home Game: An...
's book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game
The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game
The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game is a book by Michael Lewis released in 2006 about American football.-Plot:It features two dominant storylines...
and its 2009 film adaptation, The Blind Side
The Blind Side (film)
The Blind Side is a 2009 American semi-biographical drama film. It is written and directed by John Lee Hancock, and based on the 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis. The storyline features Michael Oher, an offensive lineman who plays for the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL...
.
Notable games
- 1952: Maryland1952 Maryland Terrapins football teamThe 1952 Maryland Terrapins football team represented the University of Maryland in National Collegiate Athletic Association college football in its 32nd season as a member of the Southern Conference. However, during the 1952 season, Maryland underwent sanctions by the Southern Conference that...
- The Rebels splashed onto the national scene by defeating the highly ranked Maryland TerrapinsMaryland TerrapinsThe Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 27 men's and women's athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I competition...
in Oxford on Nov. 15, 1952 by the score of 21-14. This game is credited by many for being the catalyst to the great run the rebels had from 1952-1963.
- 1959: LSU1959 LSU Tigers football teamThe 1959 LSU Tigers football team represented Louisiana State University in the 1959 college football season. The Tigers were coached by Paul Dietzel and were the defending national champions.-Pre-season:...
- On Halloween night, two of the top teams in the country squared of in Baton Rouge, LA. The game would be a defensive struggle with the Rebels clinging to a 3-0 lead in the fourth quarter. Future Heisman winner Billy Cannon changed the game off a fortuitous bounce on a punt return that went 89 yards into college football lore. The replay is still played whenever a reference to this rivalry is made. Ole Miss would have one last chance to pull off the win, but was stopped short on 4th and a yard at the goal-line by Billy Cannon. LSU won 7-3.
- 1960: LSULSU Tigers footballThe LSU Tigers football team, also known as the Fighting Tigers or Bayou Bengals, represents Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States in NCAA Division I FBS college football. Current head coach Les Miles has led the team since 2005. Since 1999 when Nick Saban took over as...
- On Jan 1, 1960, one of the most anticipated rematches in college football history took place. This game, however, would not be the classic that transpired only weeks before. Ole Miss dominated the game from start to finish and came away with a decisive 21-0 win over the Tigers. The Rebels finished the season having only given up 21 points all year, declared national champions by several polls, and named the third rated team in history (through 1995) by the Sagarin ratings, behind only two great Nebraska teams.
- 1969: Tennessee1969 Tennessee Volunteers football teamThe 1969 Tennessee Volunteers football team represented the University of Tennessee in the 1969 college football season. The Volunteers offense scored 328 points while the defense allowed 179 points. Led by head coach Doug Dickey, the Volunteers competed in the...
More affectionately known as, "The Mule Game", the Rebels faced off against the Tennessee VolunteersTennessee VolunteersThe Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the National Collegiate Athletic Association college sports teams at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. Mike Hamilton is the most recent Men's Athletic Director, but resigned on June 7, 2011, and Joan Cronan is the current Women's...
in Jackson MS for a crisp mid-November affair. Prior to the game, Tennessee's Steve Kiner was interviewed by Sports Illustrated. When asked about the Rebels and all their horses in the backfield, Kiner replied, "...more like a bunch of mules." When asked specifically about Archie Manning, he responded, "Archie who?" This inspired the Johnny Rebs and propelled them to a 38-0 shellacking of the Vols. This win would push the Rebels into the 1970 Sugar Bowl1970 Sugar BowlThe 1970 Sugar Bowl was a post-season college football bowl game between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the . In the thirty-sixth Sugar Bowl, #13 Ole Miss upset #3 Arkansas, 27–22.-Setting:...
where they defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks to cap off the season.
- 1977: Notre Dame1977 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football teamThe 1977 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1977 college football season. The Irish, coached by Dan Devine, ended the season with 11 wins and one loss, winning the national championship...
- On a hot, humid day in the south, the Rebels took advantage of the weather to stun the Irish 20-13. It would be the only loss the Irish would suffer that season as they went on to claim the 1977 AP national championship. The Rebels were actually awarded the national championship by Reader's Digest at the end of the season due to being the only team to defeat Notre Dame that season.
- 19861986 NCAA Division I-A football seasonThe 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with Penn State winning the national championship. Coached by Joe Paterno, they defeated Miami 14–10 in the Fiesta Bowl. This Fiesta Bowl was the first in the game's history to decide the national championship, launching it into the top tier of...
: LSU- The Rebels jumped out to an early lead in Baton Rouge and managed to hold on to a 21-19 win. It was the biggest win for the Rebels in a relatively dry decade that only saw the Rebels go to three bowl games.
- 1997: LSU1997 LSU Tigers football teamThe 1997 LSU Tigers football team represented Louisiana State University in the college football season of 1997–1998. Coached by Gerry DiNardo in his third season at LSU, the Tigers played their home games at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana....
- Coming off two years of probation, it was anticipated it would be a couple of more years before the Rebels would fully recover. However, Ole Miss served the rest of the SEC notice that they were far from being dead by knocking off the 7th ranked Tigers 36-21 in Baton Rouge a week after LSU shocked the top-ranked Florida Gators. The Rebels would sustain several years of moderate success in the years following culminating with a top 15 finish in 2003 and winning 10 games in a season for the first time in 30 years.
- 20082008 NCAA Division I FBS football seasonThe 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season, or the college football season, began on August 28, 2008, progressing through the regular season and bowl season, and concluded with the Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game in Miami Gardens, Florida on January 8, 2009, where the #2...
: Florida2008 Florida Gators football teamThe 2008 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the sport of American football during the 2008 college football season...
- After three years of SEC purgatory, the Rebels were in a desperately needed a spark. That spark came in the form of defeating the fourth ranked Florida Gators 31-30 in Gainesville. Ole Miss took a 31-24 lead with 5 minutes to go in the game on an 86-yard bomb thrown by Jevan Snead to Shay Hodge. Florida responded within two minutes to bring the game within one, only to have the PAT blocked by Kentrell Lockett. Florida would get the ball gain but would turn the ball over on downs after all-world Heisman winner Tim Tebow would be stopped on fourth and one. The win would catapult the Rebels to back-to-back Cotton Bowl victories.
John Vaught
John Vaught, a line coach at Ole Miss in 1946 under Harold D. "Red" Drew and a former All-American at TCUTexas Christian University
Texas Christian University is a private, coeducational university located in Fort Worth, Texas, United States and founded in 1873. TCU is affiliated with, but not governed by, the Disciples of Christ...
, remained in Oxford as head coach in 1947 and led the Ole Miss program to national prominence over the next 24 years, posting 23 winning records.
In his first season at the helm in 1947, the Rebels posted a 9-2 record and won the first of six SEC crowns (1947, 1954, 1955, 1960, 1962, 1963). That 1947 season also saw Ole Miss great Charlie Conerly
Charlie Conerly
Charles Albert Conerly, Jr. was an American football quarterback in the National Football League for the New York Giants from 1948 through 1961. Conerly was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1966.-College career:Conerly attended and played college football at the University of...
become the first Rebel player to be a contender for the Heisman Trophy
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...
, placing fourth in the voting for the prestigious honor.
Vaught's squads, however, didn't stop at just winning league titles, as the Rebels claimed three national championships in 1959, 1960 and 1962. Ole Miss won the 1959 Dunkel System national crown, the 1960 Football Writers Association of America, Dunkel System, and Williamson System national championships and the 1962 Litkenhous Ratings national title. Vaught's 1962 squad remains the only undefeated team in Ole Miss football history. Vaught's 1959 squad, which was honored as the “SEC Team of the Decade,” was ranked the third best collegiate football team from 1956 to 1995, according to the Jeff Sagarin Ratings released in January 1996.
The Rebels were also among the winningest programs in the country under Vaught during the 1950s and 1960s. From 1950-59, Ole Miss posted an 80-21-5 record (.778 winning percentage). The 77.8 winning percentage was third to only Oklahoma and Miami (OH) during that decade. In the 1960s, Vaught guided the Rebels to a 77-25-6 record and a 74.0 winning percentage, which was the ninth best during that decade. The Rebels 1962 season under Vaught is, to this day, the only undefeated season in Ole Miss history. The Rebels ended that season 10 and 0 and as national champions.
In the 1950s and 1960s under Vaught, Ole Miss was a fixture in the national polls. The Rebels were ranked atop the Associated Press poll for three weeks during the 1960 season and one week during the 1961 campaign. In 1964, Ole Miss was ranked preseason No. 1 in the Associated Press poll.
Vaught also made going to postseason play the norm rather than the exception for the Rebel football program. Ole Miss played in 15 consecutive bowl games from 1957-71 which, at that time, was a national record. In all, Vaught led Ole Miss to 18 bowl game appearances, posting a 10-8 record in those contests. For his efforts, Vaught was named SEC Coach of the Year six times (1947, 1948, 1954, 1955, 1960, 1962).
During his time at the helm, Vaught coached some of the best players ever to wear the Red & Blue. In 24 seasons, Vaught produced 26 All-America first teamers. He also coached four players who finished in the top five in the Heisman Trophy voting. Along with Conerly in 1947, Charlie Flowers (5th in 1959), Jake Gibbs (3rd in 1960) and Archie Manning (4th in 1969, 3rd in 1970) were in the running for college football's top honor.
Failing health forced Vaught to resign his position in 1970 and the reins of the Ole Miss football program were turned over to Billy Kinard
Billy Kinard
William Russell Kinard is a former American football player and coach. He played as a defensive back for the NFL's Cleveland Browns and Green Bay Packers, and for the American Football League's Buffalo Bills. Kinard played college football at the University of Mississippi before being drafted by...
.
See also: 1959 Ole Miss Rebels football team
Billy R. Kinard
Billy Kinard became the first Ole Miss alumnus to head up the football program, while Frank “Bruiser” Kinard, an offensive line coach under Vaught since 1948, was named athletic director that same year.The Rebels went 16-9 under Billy Kinard, including a 10-2 record and a 41-18 Peach Bowl victory over Georgia Tech in his first year in 1971. Kinard's 10 victories are tied for fourth most by a first-year head coach in NCAA Division I history.
Kinard coached the Rebels through the 1972 season and through the third game of the 1973 season. After the disappointing 5–5 season in 1972, there was some pressure among the alumni to have Kinard removed. The administration bowed to this pressure after the Rebels started the 1973 season 1–2, including a shutout loss to Missouri, 17–0, and was upset by Memphis State, 17–13. Both Billy Kinard and Frank Kinard were fired, and John Vaught was rehired as both the head coach and athletic director.
Following the 1973 football season, Vaught resigned once again as head coach, but remained on as athletic director. His final record with the Rebels was 190–61–12. The 190 victories still rank Vaught in the top 25 winningest coaches in NCAA Division I history, and he is the fourth-winningest coach in SEC history. In 1979, Vaught was inducted in the National College Football Hall of Fame.
Ken Cooper
Ken Cooper, an assistant under Kinard since 1971, was named head coach on Jan. 17, 1974, and took Ole Miss through the 1977 season. Cooper compiled a 21-23 record during his four years at the helm, and his tenure is probably best remembered for one hot and humid day in September 1977. In one of the most memorable games in Rebel football history, Ole Miss upset Notre DameNotre Dame Fighting Irish football
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the football team of the University of Notre Dame. The team is currently coached by Brian Kelly.Notre Dame competes as an Independent at the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level, and is a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series coalition. It is an...
, 20–13 in Mississippi Memorial Stadium on Sept. 17, 1977, in Jackson. That loss was the Irish's lone setback of the 1977 campaign, as Notre Dame finished the season with an 11–1 record and claimed both the AP and UPI national titles.
Steve Sloan
Following the 1977 season, Steve SloanSteve Sloan
Stephen Charles Sloan is a former American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played college football as a quarterback at the University of Alabama from 1962 to 1965 and then played for two seasons in the National Football League with the Atlanta Falcons...
, the former All-American quarterback at Alabama under Paul "Bear" Bryant, was hired as the new Rebel boss and began his five-year stint in 1978. Sloan posted a 20–34 record from 1978–82.
Billy Brewer
After stepping outside the Ole Miss family football tree the previous nine seasons, Ole Miss looked for a familiar face to lead the football program, and the Rebels found that person when Billy BrewerBilly Brewer
Billy Brewer is a former head football coach for Southeastern Louisiana University, Louisiana Tech University and University of Mississippi. He is the current host of an Ole Miss Rebel football post-game call-in show....
returned to Oxford to take over as head coach in December 1982.
In his first season in 1983, Brewer guided the Rebels to their first winning regular season since 1977 with a 6-5 record. The Rebels also went to their first bowl game since 1971 losing to Air Force 9-3 in the Independence Bowl.
Brewer remained in Oxford for another ten seasons, leading the Rebels to five winning seasons and four bowls, including Ole Miss' 1990 New Year's Day Gator Bowl appearance, which was the program's first January bowl game since 1969. He was named SEC Coach of the Year in 1986 (8–3–1 record) and 1990 (9–3 record), and in 1986, the Rebels return to the national rankings for the first time in over a decade.
Brewer coached 11 years (1983–93) and compiled a 67–56–3 record, making him (at the time) the second winningest Ole Miss football coach behind Vaught. Brewer also led Ole Miss to eight Egg Bowl
Egg Bowl
The Battle for the Golden Egg, also known as the Egg Bowl, is an American college football rivalry game between played annually by the Mississippi State Bulldogs football team of Mississippi State University and the Ole Miss Rebels football team of the University of Mississippi . The rivalry is...
victories over rival Mississippi State.
Brewer was dismissed just prior to the 1994 season after the NCAA infractions committee found him guilty of "unethical conduct," and Ole Miss defensive coordinator Joe Lee Dunn
Joe Lee Dunn
-External links:* *...
took over as interim coach, directing the Rebels to a 4–7 record under difficult circumstances highlighted only by a 34-21 victory over rival LSU.
Tommy Tuberville
On Dec. 2, 1994, Tommy TubervilleTommy Tuberville
Thomas Hawley Tuberville is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at Texas Tech University, a position he has held since the 2010 season...
was selected as the coach in charge of getting the Rebels on the right track.
After serving as an assistant coach on the collegiate level for nine seasons (eight at Miami
Miami Hurricanes football
The Miami Hurricanes football program competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference of the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision for the University of Miami. The program began in 1926 and has won five AP national championships...
and one at Texas A&M
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
), Tuberville began creating excitement in his first season in 1995, finishing the campaign with a 6–5 record and an Egg Bowl victory over Mississippi State.
That excitement grew in 1997, when Ole Miss recorded its best season since 1992 with an 8–4 record, a thrilling 15–14 Egg Bowl victory over Mississippi State and a Motor City Bowl win over Marshall University
Marshall University
Marshall University is a coeducational public research university in Huntington, West Virginia, United States founded in 1837, and named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States....
. The bowl appearance was the program's first since 1992, and the Rebels earned a final national ranking of No. 22 in both polls.
The revitalized Ole Miss program continued in its success in 1998, but suffered a setback after the Egg Bowl
Egg Bowl
The Battle for the Golden Egg, also known as the Egg Bowl, is an American college football rivalry game between played annually by the Mississippi State Bulldogs football team of Mississippi State University and the Ole Miss Rebels football team of the University of Mississippi . The rivalry is...
when Tuberville, despite repeated assurances that he would not leave - even going so far as to say "They'll have to take me out of here in a pine box" - , agreed 2 days later to become the head coach at SEC West rival Auburn University
Auburn Tigers
Auburn Tigers is the name given to Auburn University athletic teams. The University is a member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 19 varsity teams in 13 sports:* Men's sports** Baseball** Basketball...
.
David Cutcliffe
David CutcliffeDavid Cutcliffe
David Cutcliffe is the head football coach of the Duke University Blue Devils. He is best known for coaching Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning at the University of Tennessee, and Manning's younger brother and fellow Super Bowl Champion Eli at the University of Mississippi...
took over as head coach on Dec. 2, 1998. Cutcliffe, who came to Ole Miss from his offensive coordinator post at Tennessee, took over the reins just 29 days before the Rebels' Sanford Independence Bowl date versus Texas Tech. Despite the short preparation time for the game, Cutcliffe led the Rebels to a 35–18 victory over the Red Raiders, quite arguably the biggest upset of the 1998 bowl season.
Cutcliffe brought with him to Oxford a high-powered offensive style that energized the Rebel fanbase.
In the time from 1997–2003, the Rebels played in six bowl games, tied with Arkansas for the most bowl appearances among SEC Western Division schools during that span.
Cutcliffe had four winning seasons in his first five seasons at Ole Miss, in 1999 (8–4), 2000 (7–5), 2001 (7–4) and 2002 (7–6), becoming the first Rebel mentor since Harry Mehre (1938–41) to post winning marks in his first five years. Cutcliffe also directed Ole Miss to four bowl appearances in his first five seasons, and is the only head coach in Ole Miss history to do so.
In 2003 Cutcliffe guided the Rebels to a 10–3 overall mark and a share of the SEC West title with eventual BCS National Champion LSU. Following their 31–28 victory over Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl Classic, the Rebels finished #13 in the final poll. It was Ole Miss' first New Year's bowl since the 1991 Gator Bowl against Michigan.
Despite his 44–29 record, five straight winning seasons, and guiding the team to its first 10 win season in over 30 years, Cutcliffe was fired by Ole Miss's Athletic Director Pete Boone in December 2004 after the team posted a disappointing 4–7 record and three consecutive losses to LSU.
Ed Orgeron
Ed Orgeron
Ed Orgeron is an American football coach who is currently serving as the defensive coordinator/defensive line coach/recruiting coordinator for the USC Trojans. Orgeron previously served as the head football coach of the Ole Miss Rebels from 2005 to 2007...
, regarded as one of college football's premier defensive line coaches and recruiters, was named the 35th head football coach in the history of the University of Mississippi on December 16, 2004. Orgeron, who took control of the Ole Miss program after serving the previous seven seasons as defensive line coach at the University of Southern California, and played a role in Pete Carroll's Trojan championship in 2004. He also served as USC's recruiting coordinator from 2001–2004 and was named assistant head coach in 2003. Orgeron was named the 2004 National Recruiter of the Year by The Sporting News and Rivals.com.
Orgeron's talent as a recruiter created a buzz among Rebel fans and drew national attention when Ole Miss' 2006 signing class ranked as high as fifteenth in the rankings. His 2007 recruiting class was also listed among the best in college football (#31 according to scout.com). However, his recruiting success did not translate to on the field performance. In 2007, Ole Miss was last in the SEC in scoring offense, turnover margin, rushing offense, rushing defense, punt returns, opponent first downs, red-zone offense, opponent third-down conversions, field goal percentage, time of possession and kickoff coverage.
In 2007, 20 Ole Miss football players were placed on indefinite probation by the University for having stolen pillows and clock radios from hotels in which the team had stayed in. All 20 players paid for the stolen items and therefore no NCAA rules were broken, according to the NCAA. Coach Orgeron stated that the incident would be dealt with internally and that no one would miss the season finale against arch-rival Mississippi State, because none of the 20 players had been a discipline problem before. For the same reason, that being no previous discipline issues, the school refused to release the names of the players.
The 2007 season was a historic one for Ole Miss. The Rebels went winless in the SEC for the first time since 1982 – 25 years. The Rebels, under Orgeron, ended the season at 3–9 (0–8 in SEC play).
The 2007 season culminated with the firing of Orgeron on November 24, 2007. Three days later, Houston Nutt
Houston Nutt
Houston Dale Nutt, Jr. is an American football coach and former player. Most recently he was the head football coach at the University of Mississippi from 2008 to 2011. Previously, he served as the head coach at Murray State University , Boise State University , and the University of Arkansas...
was hired as the next head football coach.
Houston Nutt
Houston Nutt
Houston Dale Nutt, Jr. is an American football coach and former player. Most recently he was the head football coach at the University of Mississippi from 2008 to 2011. Previously, he served as the head coach at Murray State University , Boise State University , and the University of Arkansas...
was hired as the new head football coach of the Ole Miss Rebels. Nutt's hiring made him the 36th head football coach at Ole Miss.
The next day, November 28, 2007, just five weeks after having defeated Ole Miss as the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks
Arkansas Razorbacks football
The Arkansas Razorbacks football program is a college football team that represents the University of Arkansas. The team is a member of the Southeastern Conference's Western Division, which is in Division I's Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association...
, Nutt was officially introduced as the new Ole Miss head football coach at a press conference at the Gertrude Castellow Ford Center for Performing Arts on the Ole Miss campus. During the press conference, Nutt stated, "One thing I love about Ole Miss is the tradition," naming past players such as Archie Manning
Archie Manning
Elisha Archibald "Archie" Manning III is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League, playing for the New Orleans Saints from 1971 to 1982, then for the Houston Oilers and Minnesota Vikings...
, Jake Gibbs
Jake Gibbs
Jerry Dean "Jake" Gibbs is a former Major League Baseball player who played for the New York Yankees as a platoon catcher from 1962 to 1971. His strong hit record in 1968 earned him the nickname "Dead-Eye" Gibbs...
, Frank "Bruiser" Kinard
Frank Kinard
Frank Manning "Bruiser" Kinard Sr. was a professional American football player for the Brooklyn Dodgers/Tigers of the National Football League and the New York Yankees of the All-America Football Conference. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971...
, Deuce McAllister
Deuce McAllister
Dulymus Jenod "Deuce" McAllister is a former American football running back. He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the first round of the 2001 NFL Draft...
and Eli Manning
Eli Manning
Eli Nelson Manning is an American football quarterback for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He is the younger brother of NFL quarterback Peyton Manning and the son of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning...
. "It's about tradition. That's the reason I am here. I feel like this place can be successful. I feel like this place can win. I can't wait to tell our players this afternoon. That's how you spell fun. The way you spell fun is “W-I-N.” That's what it is all about."
During Nutt's first season, he guided the Ole Miss Rebels to a 9-4 record with marquee victories over the eventual BCS National Champion Florida Gators squad
2008 Florida Gators football team
The 2008 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the sport of American football during the 2008 college football season...
, the reigning BCS National Champion LSU Tigers
2008 LSU Tigers football team
The 2008 LSU Tigers football team represented Louisiana State University in the college football season of 2008–2009. The team's head coach was Les Miles who entered his fourth year at the helm of LSU Football. They played their home games at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana...
, and the Texas Tech Red Raiders
2008 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team
The 2008 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team represented Texas Tech University in the college football season of 2008/09. The team was coached by Mike Leach. The Red Raiders played their home games at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. The football team competed in the Division I Football Bowl...
in the 2009 Cotton Bowl Classic. At the end of this season, the Rebels were ranked in the Top-15 in both major polls.
It was announced on April 16, 2009 that Nutt and his wife Diana had committed to give a gift of $100,000 dollars to Ole Miss. Half of the contribution will create scholarships for student-athletes. The other half of the gift will be used toward the university’s Indoor Practice Facility, which opened in 2004 and cost $17 million to build.
On November 7, 2011 it was announced that Coach Nutt will resign from the position of head coach at Ole Miss. His resignation will become official once the season comes to a close as he will finish his final 3 games at the university.
Current coaching Staff
| Name | Position |
|---|---|
| Houston Nutt Houston Nutt Houston Dale Nutt, Jr. is an American football coach and former player. Most recently he was the head football coach at the University of Mississippi from 2008 to 2011. Previously, he served as the head coach at Murray State University , Boise State University , and the University of Arkansas... |
Head Coach |
| Gunter Brewer | Associate Head Coach/Wide Receivers Coach |
| David Lee | Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach |
| Tyrone Nix | Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach |
| James Shibest | Special Teams Coordinator/Tight Ends Coach |
| Chris Vaughn | Recruiting Coordinator/Cornerbacks Coach |
| Keith Burns | Secondary Coach |
| Mike Markuson | Offensive Line Coach |
| Derrick Nix | Running Backs Coach |
| Terry Price | Defensive Line Coach |
2007 season
The 2007 season was a historic one for Ole Miss. The Rebels went winless in the SEC for the first time since 1982 – 25 years. The Rebels, under head coach Ed OrgeronEd Orgeron
Ed Orgeron is an American football coach who is currently serving as the defensive coordinator/defensive line coach/recruiting coordinator for the USC Trojans. Orgeron previously served as the head football coach of the Ole Miss Rebels from 2005 to 2007...
, ended the season at 3–9 (0–8 in SEC play).
Orgeron's talent as a recruiter created a buzz among Rebel fans and drew national attention when Ole Miss' 2006 signing class ranked as high as fifteenth in the rankings. His 2007 recruiting class was also listed among the best in college football (#31 according to scout.com). However, his recruiting success did not translate to on the field performance. In 2007, Ole Miss was last in the SEC in scoring offense, turnover margin, rushing offense, rushing defense, punt returns, opponent first downs, red-zone offense, opponent third-down conversions, field goal percentage, time of possession and kickoff coverage.
The 2007 season culminated with defeats to LSU (27-41) and MSU (14-17) which resulted in the firing of Orgeron the following day. Three days later, Houston Nutt was hired as the next head football coach.
2008 season
The biggest change for the Rebels going into the 2008 football season was the head coach. Houston Nutt began his first season as head coach of the Rebels, replacing Ed Ogeron, who was fired after his 2007 team failed to win an SEC game.With a new head coach also came new assistants, including Tight ends/special teams coach James Shibest, Running game coordinator Mike Markuson, Defensive line coach Tracy Rocker, Recruiting coordinator and Safeties coach Chris Vaughn and High School Relations director Clifton Ealy, all of whom were assistants at Arkansas under Nutt the previous season. Tyrone Nix left his position as Defensive Coordinator of the South Carolina Gamecocks
South Carolina Gamecocks football
The South Carolina Gamecocks football team represents the University of South Carolina in NCAA Division I college football. The Gamecocks have been a member of the Southeastern Conference since 1992. Steve Spurrier is the current head coach, and the team plays its home games at Williams-Brice...
to join Nutt's staff at the same position. Before his time at South Carolina, Nix spent 10 years at Southern Mississippi
Southern Miss Golden Eagles football
The Southern Miss Golden Eagles football program represents the University of Southern Mississippi in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The Eagles are members of Conference USA and player their home games at M. M. Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg, Mississippi...
.
Former Arkansas offensive coordinator David Lee originally agreed to follow Nutt from Arkansas to Ole Miss, however, he later accepted an offer to become the Quarterbacks coach for the Miami Dolphins
Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
. Upon Lee's resignation, former Ole Miss quarterback star Kent Austin
Kent Austin
Richard Kent Austin is the Head Coach for the Cornell University Big Red football team. Prior to this, he was the Offensive Coordinator for the Ole Miss Rebels football team. He is the former Head Coach of the Canadian Football League's Saskatchewan Roughriders...
, who was coming off a 2007 Grey Cup win as head coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders
Saskatchewan Roughriders
The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a Canadian Football League team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. They were founded in 1910. They play their home games at 2940 10th Avenue in Regina, which has been the team's home base for its entire history, even prior to the construction of Mosaic Stadium at Taylor...
, was hired as offensive coordinator.
Projected to place 5th in the SEC Western Division in the pre-season, the Rebels finished 2nd in the West, knocked off the last 2 national champions on the road in No. 4 (at the time) Florida and No. 18 (at the time) LSU and ended the regular season on a five-game win streak. The 20th ranked Rebels then beat the 8th ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Cotton Bowl Classic.
2009 season
The 2009 season was one of ups and downs for the Rebels, as the team entered the year with some of the highest expectations of any Ole Miss team in almost half a century. Ultimately, the Rebels failed to meet those lofty expectations. The Rebels finished with an 8-4 (4-4 SEC) record and an invitation to the Cotton Bowl Classic, a respectable showing but far short of the results that the team, its fans and the national media had anticipated before the season.The Rebels began the 2009 season ranked no. 8 by the Associated Press Poll and no. 10 by the USA Today Coaches Poll. Ole Miss started the season with wins over Memphis and Southeastern Louisiana, and after some key early season losses by other top-10 schools, the AP poll put the Rebels at no. 4 in week 3—the team's highest ranking since 1970.
The Rebels didn't play up to the ranking, however, and a lethargic Ole Miss squad was defeated by the University of South Carolina in Columbia, 16-10, on a Thursday night before a national television audience. The Sept. 24 loss snapped an 8-game winning streak for the Rebels dating back to the 2008 season and sent them tumbling in the polls, never to rise higher than no. 20 for the rest of the year.
The Rebels bounced back to beat Vanderbilt on the road, but then fell to #3 Alabama at home the next week. Ole Miss recovered to win consecutive home games against UAB and Arkansas in impressive fashion before losing at Auburn in another uneven performance, establishing what would become a signature pattern for the Rebels in 2009: strong play at home but weak efforts on the road.
Following the Auburn loss, the Rebels won three straight home games, including quality wins over Tennessee and LSU. Entering the final week of the season, the team was back in the rankings (no. 20) and seemed set for another winning record in the SEC and a trip to the Capital One Bowl, the SEC's highest-paying bowl destination outside of the BCS. Those plans were dashed, however, when Rebels lost to Mississippi State in Starkville, 41-27, finishing the regular season at 8-4 overall and 4-4 in conference play.
One week later Ole Miss accepted an invitation to play in the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic
2010 Cotton Bowl Classic
The 2010 AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic game was a post-season college football bowl game between the Oklahoma State Cowboys, representing Oklahoma State University, from the Big 12 Conference and the Ole Miss Rebels, representing the University of Mississippi, from the Southeastern Conference that took...
, marking the team's second-consecutive trip to Dallas and the program's first back-to-back January bowl births in 40 years. Ole Miss defeated Oklahoma State 21-7.
Uniforms
The Ole Miss Rebels currently have four combinations of uniforms that they are known to sport. All combinations involve gray pants with stripes of red and blue. The Rebels use blue jerseys for their primary home uniforms and red jerseys as alternates; both have bold white numbers and white shoulder stripes. White jerseys with red numbers and stripes are used on the road.On October 30, 2010, the Rebels wore all-gray uniforms for the first time in their annual bout with the Auburn Tigers. The gray jerseys are adorned with blue and red shoulder stripes and blue numbers outlined in red. Although worn at home, Mississippi's all-gray uniforms are considered white jerseys (rather than colored); consequently, visiting opponents will wear their home, colored jerseys while the Rebels wear all-gray.
Mississippi State
The Battle of the Golden Egg (nicknamed the Egg Bowl) is an annual college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
game between the Ole Miss Rebels and in-state fellow SEC team Mississippi State University (MSU)
Mississippi State University
The Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science commonly known as Mississippi State University is a land-grant university located in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States, partially in the town of Starkville and partially in an unincorporated area...
Bulldogs
Mississippi State Bulldogs football
The Mississippi State Bulldogs football program represents Mississippi State University in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, competing as a member of the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference. Mississippi State has produced 38 All-Americans, 171 All-SEC selections, and 124...
. While the 2 teams have played each other since 1901, with 2003 being the year in which the 2 teams had played each other 100 times and now having played each other a total of 106 times, the first game officially known as "The Battle of the Golden Egg" was in 1927. While it is called a "Bowl", the game is not a postseason bowl game, but rather a regular season Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
(SEC) game. Ole Miss leads the series with 60 wins to MSU's 41 wins. There have been 6 ties.
LSU
Ole Miss first played LSU on December 3, 1894 winning 26–6 in Baton Rouge, LouisianaBaton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
. Throughout the fifties and sixties, games between the two schools featured highly ranked squads on both sides and seemingly every contest had conference, and at times national title implications - a tradition recently renewed, as the 2003 matchup decided the SEC Western Division Champion, and helped propel LSU to a national championship. A trophy has now been named for the LSU-Ole Miss rivalry known as the "Magnolia Bowl" which began in 2008 with a 31-13 victory by the Ole Miss Rebels. The 2009 game was also won by Ole Miss 25-23. The latest edition was another classic, typical of the games between these two, with LSU scoring with under a minute left to prevail 43-36. LSU leads the overall series over Ole Miss 56-39-4. 2011 will mark the 100th edition of this great rivalry.
Vanderbilt
The Vanderbilt-Ole Miss rivalry is an annual college footballCollege football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
rivalry between the Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
Commodores
Vanderbilt Commodores football
The Vanderbilt Commodores football program is a college football team that represents Vanderbilt University. The team currently competes in NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Southeastern Conference...
and the University of Mississippi
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1844, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford, four branch campuses located in Booneville, Grenada, Tupelo, and Southaven as well as the...
Rebels. The Rebels are the Commodores' second-longest, continuous football rivalry. Both teams are founding members of the Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
, and their universities have the smallest and second-smallest, respectively, student body populations among SEC schools. This similar size, the schools' proximity to one another (Nashville is less than 4 hours from Oxford), and the similar culture of Greek life (both schools' student bodies have high percentages of participation in fraternities and sororities) led them to choose to be one another's inter-divisional non-rotator when the SEC grew to 12 teams for the 1992 season
1992 NCAA Division I-A football season
The 1992 NCAA Division I-A football season was the first year of the Bowl Coalition, and ended with Alabama's first national championship in thirteen years—their first since the departure of Bear Bryant...
. The schools have lately been rather evenly matched. In the last ten years, Ole Miss leads the series, 6-4, but Vanderbilt has won 3 of the last 5. The series has also been marked by close games, with the average margin between the teams since 1999 only 7 points. Ole Miss leads the series, 47-35-2 Although, since 1950, Ole Miss leads the series 42-13-2.
Arkansas
Ole Miss first played Arkansas in 1908, with Arkansas winning that game 33–0. They would play each other many times, though sporadically, over the next several decades, including two meetings in the Sugar BowlSugar Bowl
The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Sugar Bowl has been played annually since January 1, 1935, and celebrated its 75th anniversary on January 2, 2009...
in 1963 and 1970; Ole Miss won both Sugar Bowl matchups.
In 1991, Arkansas joined the Southeastern Conference, and was placed in the same division as Ole Miss when the conference split into two divisions in 1992. Ole Miss won the first conference contest in Little Rock by a score of 17-3.
The two teams have played each other annually since 1981 yet the intensity of the rivalry pretty much died from the early 1970s until 2007.
The 2001 Ole Miss-Arkansas game set a NCAA record for most overtime periods played (7). It has since been tied, but never broken. Arkansas won that game 58–56.
2007 saw the rivalry return to a heated one when after Houston Nutt resigned as the head coach for Arkansas, Ole Miss hired him as their new head coach a week later.
2008 saw the first game between Ole Miss and Arkansas in which Nutt returned to Arkansas in his first game against his former team. Ole Miss, and Houston Nutt, won 23-21. This of course only made the rivalry that much more intense.
The following season, 2009, Arkansas went to Oxford to take on Ole Miss. Ole Miss again won, 30-17.
In 2010, Arkansas was able to finally claim a win over their former head coach Houston Nutt with a 38-24 decision in Fayetteville. Ole Miss ended the 2010 season with a 4-8 record including a season-opening loss to lower division Jacksonville State University
Jacksonville State University
Jacksonville State University is a regional public coeducational university located in Jacksonville, Alabama, USA. Founded in 1883, Jacksonville State offers programs of study in four academic units leading to Bachelor's, Master's, and Education Specialist degrees, in addition to continuing and...
.
"Team of the Century"
1893–1992Offense
OE- Floyd Franks
OE- Barney Poole
Barney Poole
George Barney Poole was an American football end in the National Football League for the New York Yanks, the Dallas Texans, the Baltimore Colts, and the New York Giants. Poole also played football in the All-America Football Conference for the New York Yankees...
OL- Jim Dunaway
OL- Gene Hickerson
Gene Hickerson
Robert Gene Hickerson was a former American Football offensive guard who played for the Cleveland Browns in a fifteen-year career from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1973. Hickerson was a six-time Pro Bowler from 1965 to 1970...
OL- Stan Hindman
OL- Everett Lindsey
OL- Marvin Terrell
OC- Dawson Pruett
QB- Archie Manning
Archie Manning
Elisha Archibald "Archie" Manning III is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League, playing for the New Orleans Saints from 1971 to 1982, then for the Houston Oilers and Minnesota Vikings...
QB- Charlie Conerly
Charlie Conerly
Charles Albert Conerly, Jr. was an American football quarterback in the National Football League for the New York Giants from 1948 through 1961. Conerly was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1966.-College career:Conerly attended and played college football at the University of...
RB- John Dotley
RB- Charlie Flowers
Charlie Flowers
Charlie Flowers is a retired American football player. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997. He played professionally for the American Football League's Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers and New York Titans....
PK- Robert Khayat
Robert Khayat
-External links:*...
Defense
DL- Frank M. "Bruiser" Kinnard
Frank Kinard
Frank Manning "Bruiser" Kinard Sr. was a professional American football player for the Brooklyn Dodgers/Tigers of the National Football League and the New York Yankees of the All-America Football Conference. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971...
DL- Kelvin Pritchett
Kelvin Pritchett
Kelvin Pritchett was an American football defensive tackle.Pritchett was a first round selection by the Dallas Cowboys in the 1991 NFL Draft out of the University of Mississippi. However, Pritchett was traded to the Detroit Lions, who he played for, during 10 years and two stints with the team. He...
DL- Ben Williams
DL- Freddie Joe Nunn
Freddie Joe Nunn
Freddie Joe Nunn is an American former professional football player who was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1st round of the 1985 NFL Draft. He started his career as a defensive end and later moved to the linebacker position...
LB- Tony Bennett
LB- Kenny Dill
LB- Larry Grantham
Larry Grantham
Larry Grantham is a former American collegiate and Professional Football player.A member of the "Ole Miss" Athletic Hall of Fame, he was a linebacker of the University of Mississippi who came to the American Football League's New York Titans in the 1960 college draft and helped form the backbone...
LB- Jeff Herrod
Jeff Herrod
Jeff Sylvester Herrod is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League. He was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the ninth round of the 1988 NFL Draft...
DB- Billy Brewer
Billy Brewer
Billy Brewer is a former head football coach for Southeastern Louisiana University, Louisiana Tech University and University of Mississippi. He is the current host of an Ole Miss Rebel football post-game call-in show....
DB- Glenn Cannon
DB- Chris Mitchell
DB - Jimmy Patton
Jimmy Patton
James Russell Patton was an American football defensive back in the National Football League for the New York Giants. He was a five-time Pro Bowler...
DB- Todd Sandroni
P- Jim Miller
Jim Miller (punter)
James Gordon Miller is a former American football punter in the National Football League for the San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, and the New York Giants.-College career:...
Bowl history
TCU Horned Frogs football
The TCU Horned Frogs football team is the intercollegiate football team of Texas Christian University. TCU competes as a member of the Mountain West Conference in the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, but will move to the Big 12 Conference for the 2012 season. TCU began playing football...
1953 Sugar Bowl
The 1953 edition to the Sugar Bowl featured the second ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and the seventh ranked Ole Miss Rebels. Georgia Tech won the matchup 24-7 to clinch a national championship....
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football
The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team represents the Georgia Institute of Technology in collegiate level football. While the team is officially designated as the Yellow Jackets, it is also referred to as the Ramblin' Wreck. The Yellow Jackets are a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference...
1955 Sugar Bowl
The 1955 edition to the Sugar Bowl featured the 5th ranked Navy Midshipmen and the 6th ranked Ole Miss Rebels.Running back Joe Gattuso scored on a 3 yard touchdown run as Navy took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. The second quarter had no scoring...
Navy Midshipmen football
The Navy Midshipmen football team represents the United States Naval Academy in NCAA Division I-A college football. They are a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision independent school and coached by Ken Niumatalolo since December 2007...
1957 college football season
The 1957 college football season saw two different national champions. Auburn University was ranked first in the AP writers' poll taken at season's end, while Ohio State University was first in the UPI coaches' poll...
1958 Sugar Bowl
The 1958 edition to the Sugar Bowl featured the seventh ranked Ole Miss Rebels and the eleventh ranked Texas Longhorns.In the first quarter, Ole Miss running back Raymond Brown scored on a 1 yard touchdown run as the Rebels took a 6-0 lead. He would finish the game with 157 yards rushing on 15...
Gator Bowl
The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. Held continuously since 1946, it is the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first one ever televised nationally...
1959 college football season
The 1959 college football season saw Syracuse University crowned as the national champion by both the AP and the UPI wire services. Mississippi , which had outscored its opponents 350-21, finished #2 in both polls, and its only loss during the regular season had been to LSU, which ultimately...
1960 Sugar Bowl
The 1960 edition to the Sugar Bowl featured the 2nd ranked Ole Miss Rebels, and the third ranked LSU Tigers. LSU was the defending national champions, playing in their home state....
1959 LSU Tigers football team
The 1959 LSU Tigers football team represented Louisiana State University in the 1959 college football season. The Tigers were coached by Paul Dietzel and were the defending national champions.-Pre-season:...
1960 college football season
The 1960 college football season marked the last time that the University of Minnesota was a national champion on the gridiron. Murray Warmath's Minnesota Gophers were not in the Top 20 in preseason polling, but received the AP Trophy at the end of the regular season...
1961 Sugar Bowl
The 1961 edition to the Sugar Bowl featured the 2nd ranked Ole Miss Rebels, and the unranked Rice Owls. After winning the game Ole Miss claimed the national championship....
Rice Owls football
The Rice Owls football team represents Rice University in NCAA Division I college football. The Owls have competed in Conference USA's Western Division since 2005. Rice Stadium, built in 1950, hosts the Owls' home football games.-Venue:...
1961 college football season
During the 20th century, the NCAA had no playoff for the college football teams that would later be described as "Division I-A". The NCAA did recognize a national champion based upon the final results of "wire service" polls. The extent of that recognition came in the form of acknowledgment in...
1962 college football season
During the 20th Century, the NCAA had no playoff for the college football teams that would later be described as "Division I-A". The NCAA did recognize a national champion based upon the final results of "wire service" polls. The extent of that recognition came in the form of acknowledgment in...
1963 Sugar Bowl
The 1963 edition to the Sugar Bowl featured the 3rd ranked Ole Miss Rebels, and the 6th ranked Arkansas Razorbacks. Behind a solid win, Ole Miss locked up its second national championship in three years.-Game summary:...
1963 college football season
During the 20th Century, the NCAA had no playoff for the college football teams that would later be described as "Division I-A". The NCAA Football Guide, however, did note an "unofficial national champion" based on the top ranked teams in the "wire service" polls...
1964 Sugar Bowl
The 1964 Sugar Bowl, part of the 1963 bowl game season, was the 30th annual contest and took place on January 1, 1964, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana. The competing teams were the and the Alabama Crimson Tide, both representing the Southeastern Conference...
Bluebonnet Bowl
The Bluebonnet Bowl was an annual college football bowl game played in Houston, Texas. A civic group was appointed by the Houston Chamber of Commerce Athletics Committee in 1959 to organize the bowl game. It was held at Rice Stadium from 1959 through 1967, and again in 1985 and 1986. The game was...
Tulsa Golden Hurricane football
The University of Tulsa's Golden Hurricane football team represents Tulsa in Conference USA. Tulsa is currently coached by first-year head coach Bill Blankenship. The football team was coached by Todd Graham until he accepted the head coaching job at Pittsburgh....
Liberty Bowl
The Liberty Bowl is an annual U.S. American college football bowl game played in December of each year from 1959 to 2007 and in January in 2009 and 2010. The Liberty Bowl was sponsored by AXA Financial and was known as the AXA Liberty Bowl from 1997 to 2003...
Auburn Tigers football
Only Mohamed Amin Abughadir set the record with 1,890 yards in 1 season. He was the QB for Auburn in 1998.The Auburn Tigers football team represents Auburn University in college football as a member of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, competing in the Western Division of the...
Bluebonnet Bowl
The Bluebonnet Bowl was an annual college football bowl game played in Houston, Texas. A civic group was appointed by the Houston Chamber of Commerce Athletics Committee in 1959 to organize the bowl game. It was held at Rice Stadium from 1959 through 1967, and again in 1985 and 1986. The game was...
Sun Bowl
The Sun Bowl is an annual U.S. college football bowl game that is usually played at the end of December in El Paso, Texas. The Sun Bowl, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Orange Bowl are the second-oldest bowl games in the country, behind the Rose Bowl...
UTEP Miners football
The UTEP Miners football program is a college football team that represents the University of Texas at El Paso . With a history dating back to 1914, UTEP currently competes in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of Conference USA . UTEP currently plays their home games at the Sun Bowl...
1968 Liberty Bowl
The 1968 Liberty Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game between the Virginia Tech Hokies and the Ole Miss Rebels from the University of Mississippi at Memphis Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee on December 14, 1968...
Virginia Tech Hokies football
The Virginia Tech Hokies football team is a college football program that competes in NCAA Division I-FBS, in the Coastal Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference. They have more wins in team history than any other program in the ACC. Their home games are played at Lane Stadium which seats over...
1969 college football season
The 1969 college football season was celebrated as the 100th anniversary of college football. During the 20th Century, the NCAA had no playoff for the college football teams that would later be described as "Division I-A"...
1970 college football season
The 1970 college football season was marked by tragedy, due to two airplane crashes. On October 2, one of the planes carrying the Wichita State football team crashed on the way to a game against Utah State, killing 31 people on board, including 14 players...
1971 college football season
The 1971 college football season saw Coach Bob Devaney's Nebraska Cornhuskers repeat as national champions. After being ranked 2nd in the preseason poll, Nebraska captured first place the following week and remained there for the rest of 1971 and won the Orange Bowl 38–6 in a #1 vs...
Independence Bowl
The Independence Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that is played annually at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana, so named because it was inaugurated in the United States bicentennial year, 1976....
Air Force Falcons football
The Air Force Falcons are a college football team from the United States Air Force Academy, located just outside of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The team competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the NCAA Division I and the Mountain West Conference.-Style:...
1989 NCAA Division I-A football season
The 1989 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with Miami winning its third National Championship during the 80s, cementing its claim as the decade's top team, winning more titles than any other program....
1989 Air Force Falcons football team
The 1989 Air Force Falcons football team represented the United States Air Force Academy in the 1989 NCAA Division I-A football season. In the Ram-Falcon Trophy match, the Falcons beat the Colorado State Rams to win the trophy.-Schedule:...
1990 NCAA Division I-A football season
The 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with a split championship and the ensuing controversy led to the creation of the Bowl Coalition, a precursor to the Bowl Championship Series. The title was split between the Colorado Buffaloes and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets...
1991 Gator Bowl (January)
The January 1991 Gator Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1991. The Michigan Wolverines, co-champions of the Big Ten Conference, defeated the Ole Miss Rebels of the Southeastern Conference, 35–3....
1990 Michigan Wolverines football team
The 1990 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1990 college football season. The team's head coach was Gary Moeller. The Wolverines played their home games at Michigan Stadium...
Motor City Bowl
The Little Caesars Pizza Bowl is a post-season college football bowl game certified by the NCAA that has been played annually since 1997. The first five games were played at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. Starting in 2002, the game was moved to 65,000-seat Ford Field in downtown...
Marshall Thundering Herd football
The Marshall Thundering Herd football team is an intercollegiate varsity sports program of Marshall University. The team represents the university as a member of the Conference USA Eastern division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, playing at the Division 1 Bowl Subdivision...
1998 NCAA Division I-A football season
The 1998 NCAA Division I-A football season was the first of the Bowl Championship Series, which saw Tennessee win the national championship, one year after star quarterback Peyton Manning left for the NFL...
1999 NCAA Division I-A football season
The 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season saw Florida State named national champions, defeating Virginia Tech in the BCS Sugar Bowl.Florida State became the first team in history to start out preseason #1 and remain there through the entire season. Their 12-0 season gave them 109 victories in the...
2000 NCAA Division I-A football season
The 2000 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the Oklahoma Sooners claiming their first national championship and their first conference championship since the departure of head coach Barry Switzer....
2000 Music City Bowl
In the 2000 Music City Bowl, defeated 49–38. This game was also West Virginia Mountaineers football coach Don Nehlen's final game. Although West Virginia won the game, it was notable because of a second half comeback by freshman Eli Manning. Down 49–16 in the fourth quarter, Ole Miss coach...
West Virginia Mountaineers football
The West Virginia Mountaineers football team represents West Virginia University in the NCAA FBS division of college football. Dana Holgorsen is the team's 33rd head coach. He has held the position since he was promoted in June 2011 after the resignation of Bill Stewart. The Mountaineers play their...
2002 NCAA Division I-A football season
The 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season ended the season with what most consider an exciting double overtime national championship game. Ohio State and Miami both came into the Fiesta Bowl undefeated. The underdog Buckeyes defeated the Hurricanes 31–24, ending Miami's 34 game winning...
2002 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team
The 2002 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Frank Solich and played their home games in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.-Schedule:...
2003 NCAA Division I-A football season
The 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with an abundance of controversy, resulting in a split national championship. This was the first split title since the inception of the BCS, something the BCS intended to eliminate....
Oklahoma State Cowboys football
The Oklahoma State Cowboys football program represents Oklahoma State University–Stillwater in college football. The team is a member of the Big 12 Conference and completes at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. The Cowboys are led by Mike Gundy, who is in his seventh year as...
2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season
The 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season, or the college football season, began on August 28, 2008, progressing through the regular season and bowl season, and concluded with the Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game in Miami Gardens, Florida on January 8, 2009, where the #2...
2008 Ole Miss Rebels football team
The 2008 Ole Miss Rebels football team represented the University of Mississippi during the 2008 college football season. The team's head coach was Houston Nutt, who served his first season in the position and replaced Ed Orgeron, who was fired after accumulating a 10–25 record at Ole Miss from...
2008 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team
The 2008 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team represented Texas Tech University in the college football season of 2008/09. The team was coached by Mike Leach. The Red Raiders played their home games at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. The football team competed in the Division I Football Bowl...
2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season
The 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season, or the college football season, began on September 2, 2009, progressed through the regular season and bowl season, and concluded with the Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game in Pasadena, California on January 7, 2010, featuring the...
2010 Cotton Bowl Classic
The 2010 AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic game was a post-season college football bowl game between the Oklahoma State Cowboys, representing Oklahoma State University, from the Big 12 Conference and the Ole Miss Rebels, representing the University of Mississippi, from the Southeastern Conference that took...
2009 Ole Miss Rebels football team
The 2009 Ole Miss Rebels football team represented the University of Mississippi during the 2009 college football season. The team was led by Houston Nutt, who was in his second season as the Rebels' head coach...
2009 Oklahoma State Cowboys football team
The 2009 Oklahoma State Cowboys football team represented Oklahoma State University in the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS college football season. The Cowboys, led by 5th year head coach Mike Gundy, played their home games at Boone Pickens Stadium...
On December 31, 1921, Ole Miss lost 0-14 to University of Havana
University of Havana
The University of Havana or UH is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, Cuba. Founded in 1728, the University of Havana is the oldest university in Cuba, and one of the first to be founded in the Americas...
, of Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, in the Bacardi Bowl
Bacardi Bowl
Bacardi Bowl was a college football bowl game played seven times in Havana, Cuba at La Tropical Stadium. Sometimes referred to as the Rhumba Bowl or the Cigar Bowl, the game was the climaxing event of Cuba’s annual National Sports Festival. The first five occurrences matched an American college...
. The University of Mississippi Athletic Association does not recognize this game in the Rebels' official bowl record.
Hall of fame
Ole Miss has ten former players and coaches in the College Football Hall of FameCollege Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
.
- 1951 Frank M. "Bruiser" KinardFrank KinardFrank Manning "Bruiser" Kinard Sr. was a professional American football player for the Brooklyn Dodgers/Tigers of the National Football League and the New York Yankees of the All-America Football Conference. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971...
(charter member) - 1965 Charles "Charlie" ConerlyCharlie ConerlyCharles Albert Conerly, Jr. was an American football quarterback in the National Football League for the New York Giants from 1948 through 1961. Conerly was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1966.-College career:Conerly attended and played college football at the University of...
- 1974 Barney PooleBarney PooleGeorge Barney Poole was an American football end in the National Football League for the New York Yanks, the Dallas Texans, the Baltimore Colts, and the New York Giants. Poole also played football in the All-America Football Conference for the New York Yankees...
- 1979 Johnny VaughtJohnny VaughtJohn Howard Vaught was an American college football coach at the University of Mississippi from 1947 to 1970 and again in 1973....
(coach) - 1984 Doug KennaDoug KennaDoug Kenna was an American football player. He was a quarterback and halfback, who was coached by Earl Blaik. He played his freshman year at the University of Mississippi for the Ole Miss Rebels. Following his freshman year, Kenna received an appointment to the U.S...
(played freshman year at Ole Miss before receiving appointment to the U.S. Military Academy where he played college football for Army as a sophomore, junior and senior) - 1987 Thad "Pie" VannThad VannThad "Pie" Vann was a college football coach at Southern Miss. During his tenure, he compiled a 139-59-2 record, and helped transform the Golden Eagles into one of the nation's elite programs. His only losing season came in 1968, after he had 19 consecutive winning seasons. His 1953 team went 9-2,...
(coach) - 1989 Archie ManningArchie ManningElisha Archibald "Archie" Manning III is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League, playing for the New Orleans Saints from 1971 to 1982, then for the Houston Oilers and Minnesota Vikings...
- 1991 Parker Hall
- 1995 Jerry Dean "Jake" GibbsJake GibbsJerry Dean "Jake" Gibbs is a former Major League Baseball player who played for the New York Yankees as a platoon catcher from 1962 to 1971. His strong hit record in 1968 earned him the nickname "Dead-Eye" Gibbs...
- 1997 Charlie FlowersCharlie FlowersCharlie Flowers is a retired American football player. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997. He played professionally for the American Football League's Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers and New York Titans....
Ole Miss has two former players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...
.
- 1970 Frank M. "Bruiser" Kinard
- 2007 Gene HickersonGene HickersonRobert Gene Hickerson was a former American Football offensive guard who played for the Cleveland Browns in a fifteen-year career from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1973. Hickerson was a six-time Pro Bowler from 1965 to 1970...
Ole Miss has three former players in the Helms Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame.
- 1955 Frank M. "Bruiser" Kinard
- 1959 Charles "Charlie" Conerly
- 1966 Barney Poole
Ole Miss has one former player in the National Quarterback Club Hall of Fame.
- 2004 Archie Manning
Active in the NFL
- Charlie AndersonCharlie AndersonCharlie Alexander Anderson is an American football linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Houston Texans in the sixth round of the 2004 NFL Draft...
, LB, Miami DolphinsMiami DolphinsThe Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League... - Stacy AndrewsStacy AndrewsStacy Dewayne Andrews is an American football offensive guard for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the fourth round of the 2004 NFL Draft. He played college football at Mississippi.Andrews has also played for the Philadelphia Eagles...
, OT, Seattle SeahawksSeattle SeahawksThe Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team... - Taye BiddleTaye BiddleRaTavious Anton "Taye" Biddle is an American football wide receiver for the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League. He was previously with the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the United Football League. He was signed by the Carolina Panthers as an undrafted free agent in 2006...
, WR, Sacramento Mountain Lions (UFL) - Derrick BurgessDerrick BurgessDerrick Lee Burgess is an American football defensive end who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the third round of the 2001 NFL Draft. He played college football at Mississippi....
, DE, Philadelphia EaglesPhiladelphia EaglesThe Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League... - Kendrick ClancyKendrick ClancyLakendrick Tridel Clancy is an American football defensive tackle who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2000 and has also played for the New York Giants, Arizona Cardinals and New Orleans Saints...
, DL, New Orleans SaintsNew Orleans SaintsThe New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League .... - BenJarvus Green-EllisBenJarvus Green-EllisBenJarvus Jeremy Green-Ellis is an American football running back for the New England Patriots of the National Football League . He was signed by the Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2008. After playing college football his freshman and sophomore seasons at Indiana University, Green-Ellis...
, RB, New England PatriotsNew England PatriotsThe New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National... - Bruce HallBruce Hall (American football)Bruce Tarahn Christopher Hall is a free agent American football running back for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League. He was signed by the Bills as an undrafted free agent in 2008...
, RB, Denver BroncosDenver BroncosThe Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League... - Greg HardyGreg HardyGreg Hardy is an American football defensive end for the Carolina Panthers. He was drafted by the Panthers in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He played college football at Ole Miss.-Early years:...
, DE, Carolina PanthersCarolina PanthersThe Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are currently members of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Panthers, along with the Jacksonville Jaguars, joined the NFL as expansion... - John JerryJohn Jerry-Personal:John Jerry is the younger brother of Peria Jerry, a defensive tackle for the Atlanta Falcons. His cousins Eddie Strong and Dwayne Rudd also played in the NFL.-External links:**...
, OL, Miami DolphinsMiami DolphinsThe Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League... - Peria JerryPeria Jerry-Atlanta Falcons:Jerry was signed to a five-year contract by the Falcons on July 30, 2009. Jerry competed with Trey Lewis to replace Grady Jackson, who was not re-signed by the Falcons, at defensive tackle....
, DL, Atlanta FalconsAtlanta FalconsThe Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are a member of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League... - Kendrick LewisKendrick LewisKendrick Lewis is an American football free safety for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Chiefs in the fifth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He began his rookie season as the backup for John McGraw, but began starting after McGraw became injured. He started...
, S, Kansas City ChiefsKansas City ChiefsThe Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a... - Ken Lucas, CB, Seattle SeahawksSeattle SeahawksThe Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team...
- Eli ManningEli ManningEli Nelson Manning is an American football quarterback for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He is the younger brother of NFL quarterback Peyton Manning and the son of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning...
, QB, New York GiantsNew York GiantsThe New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League... - Dexter McClusterDexter McClusterDexter Marquise McCluster is an American football wide receiver and running back for the Kansas City Chiefs, formerly of the Ole Miss Rebels. He was considered one of the top athlete prospects for the 2010 NFL Draft...
, WR, Kansas City ChiefsKansas City ChiefsThe Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a... - Trumaine McBrideTrumaine McBrideTrumaine McBride is an American football cornerback he is currently a free agent in the National Football League. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the seventh round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He played college football at Mississippi.-Early years:McBride attended Clarksdale High School in...
, DB, Arizona CardinalsArizona CardinalsThe Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League... - Terrence MetcalfTerrence MetcalfTerrence Orlando Metcalf is an American football guard who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the third round of the 2002 NFL Draft...
, OL, Chicago BearsChicago BearsThe Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League... - Jayme MitchellJayme MitchellJayme Dondrell Mitchell is an American football defensive end who currently plays for the Cleveland Browns in the National Football League. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2006...
, DL, Minnesota VikingsMinnesota VikingsThe Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960... - Michael OherMichael OherMichael Jerome Oher is an American football offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Ravens in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He played college football at the University of Mississippi for the Ole Miss Rebels...
, OL, Baltimore RavensBaltimore RavensThe Baltimore Ravens are a professional football franchise based in Baltimore, Maryland.The Baltimore Ravens are officially a quasi-expansion franchise, having originated in 1995 with the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy after Art Modell, then owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced his... - Tutan ReyesTutan ReyesTutankhamen Marqués Reyes is a free agent American football guard in the National Football League. He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the fifth round of the 2000 NFL Draft...
, OL, Jacksonville JaguarsJacksonville JaguarsThe Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League... - Jamarca SanfordJamarca SanfordJamarca Deshaun Sanford is an American football player for the Minnesota Vikings. He was drafted by the Vikings in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL Draft as the 231st pick...
, DB, Minnesota VikingsMinnesota VikingsThe Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960... - Chris SpencerChris Spencer (American football)-Seattle Seahawks:In his first season with the Seattle Seahawks, he played 7 games. In the 2006 season, he played in all 16 games for Seattle, starting 13 of them, most at the guard position, next to longtime Seattle center Robbie Tobeck...
, C, Seattle SeahawksSeattle SeahawksThe Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team... - Micheal SpurlockMicheal SpurlockMichael Curtis Spurlock is an American football wide receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League. He was signed by the Arizona Cardinals as an undrafted free agent in 2006...
, WR, Tampa Bay BuccaneersTampa Bay BuccaneersThe Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football franchise based in Tampa, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League – they are the only team in the division not to come from the old NFC West... - Tre' StallingsTre' StallingsCornelius Tre' Stallings is an American football guard most recently was in training camp for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the sixth round of the 2006 NFL Draft He played college football at Mississippi.-External links:**...
, OL, Kansas City ChiefsKansas City ChiefsThe Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a... - Keydrick VincentKeydrick VincentKendrick Trepell Vincent is an American football guard. He was originally signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 2001. He played college football at Mississippi. He last played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers....
, OL, Tampa Bay BuccaneersTampa Bay BuccaneersThe Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football franchise based in Tampa, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League – they are the only team in the division not to come from the old NFC West... - Mike WallaceMike Wallace (American football)-Pittsburgh Steelers:Wallace was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 2009 NFL Draft with the 84th overall selection. Wallace was the 11th wide receiver chosen in the draft. On June 18, 2009, Wallace signed a three year contract with the Steelers worth $1.740 million which...
, WR, Pittsburgh SteelersPittsburgh SteelersThe Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC... - Patrick WillisPatrick WillisPatrick L. Willis is an American football player who plays inside linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League. He was selected by the San Francisco 49ers 11th overall in the 2007 NFL Draft...
, LB, San Francisco 49ersSan Francisco 49ersThe San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...
First round draft picks
Ole Miss has had 19 players selected in the first round of professional football drafts.National Football League
- 1939 - drafted #3 - Parker Hall - Cleveland RamsSt. Louis RamsThe St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...
- 1942 - drafted #8 - Merle HapesMerle HapesMerle Alison Hapes was a professional American football fullback in the National Football League. He played two seasons for the New York Giants .-External links:...
- New York GiantsNew York GiantsThe New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League... - 1954 - drafted #10 - Ed BeattyEd BeattyEdward Marshall Beatty, Jr. was an American football center in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football at the University of Mississippi and was drafted in the first round of the 1954 NFL Draft by...
- Los Angeles RamsSt. Louis RamsThe St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,... - 1961 - drafted #10 - Bobby Crespino - Cleveland BrownsCleveland BrownsThe Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
- 1963 - drafted #3 - Jim DunawayJim DunawayJames Kenneth Dunaway born September 3, 1941 in Columbia, Mississippi) was an American football player. A defensive tackle, he played college football at the University of Mississippi, and played professionally in the American Football League for the Buffalo Bills, as part of a defensive line that...
- Minnesota VikingsMinnesota VikingsThe Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960... - 1966 - drafted #11 - Stan HindmanStan HindmanStanley Chatham Hindman is a former professional American football defensive lineman in the National Football League for seven seasons for the San Francisco 49ers....
- San Francisco 49ersSan Francisco 49ersThe San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and... - 1971 - drafted #2 - Archie ManningArchie ManningElisha Archibald "Archie" Manning III is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League, playing for the New Orleans Saints from 1971 to 1982, then for the Houston Oilers and Minnesota Vikings...
- New Orleans SaintsNew Orleans SaintsThe New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League .... - 1985 - drafted #18 - Freddie Joe NunnFreddie Joe NunnFreddie Joe Nunn is an American former professional football player who was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1st round of the 1985 NFL Draft. He started his career as a defensive end and later moved to the linebacker position...
- St. Louis CardinalsArizona CardinalsThe Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League... - 1990 - drafted #18 - Tony Bennett - Green Bay PackersGreen Bay PackersThe Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
- 1991 - drafted #20 - Kelvin PritchettKelvin PritchettKelvin Pritchett was an American football defensive tackle.Pritchett was a first round selection by the Dallas Cowboys in the 1991 NFL Draft out of the University of Mississippi. However, Pritchett was traded to the Detroit Lions, who he played for, during 10 years and two stints with the team. He...
- Dallas CowboysDallas CowboysThe Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas... - 1994 - drafted #20 - Tim BowensTim BowensTim Bowens is a former American Football defensive tackle, was chosen with the 20th pick of the NFL draft by the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins received some initial criticism for the pick, because he was overweight and had only played 9 gamed in his college career at Mississippi...
- Miami DolphinsMiami DolphinsThe Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League... - 1998 - drafted #29 - John Avery - Miami DolphinsMiami DolphinsThe Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
- 2001 - drafted #23 - Deuce McAllisterDeuce McAllisterDulymus Jenod "Deuce" McAllister is a former American football running back. He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the first round of the 2001 NFL Draft...
- New Orleans SaintsNew Orleans SaintsThe New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League .... - 2004 - drafted #1 - Eli ManningEli ManningEli Nelson Manning is an American football quarterback for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He is the younger brother of NFL quarterback Peyton Manning and the son of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning...
- San Diego ChargersSan Diego ChargersThe San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
* - 2005 - drafted #26 - Chris SpencerChris Spencer (American football)-Seattle Seahawks:In his first season with the Seattle Seahawks, he played 7 games. In the 2006 season, he played in all 16 games for Seattle, starting 13 of them, most at the guard position, next to longtime Seattle center Robbie Tobeck...
- Seattle SeahawksSeattle SeahawksThe Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team... - 2007 - drafted #11 - Patrick WillisPatrick WillisPatrick L. Willis is an American football player who plays inside linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League. He was selected by the San Francisco 49ers 11th overall in the 2007 NFL Draft...
- San Francisco 49ersSan Francisco 49ersThe San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and... - 2009 - drafted #23 - Michael OherMichael OherMichael Jerome Oher is an American football offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Ravens in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He played college football at the University of Mississippi for the Ole Miss Rebels...
- Baltimore RavensBaltimore RavensThe Baltimore Ravens are a professional football franchise based in Baltimore, Maryland.The Baltimore Ravens are officially a quasi-expansion franchise, having originated in 1995 with the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy after Art Modell, then owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced his...
** - 2009 - drafted #24 - Peria JerryPeria Jerry-Atlanta Falcons:Jerry was signed to a five-year contract by the Falcons on July 30, 2009. Jerry competed with Trey Lewis to replace Grady Jackson, who was not re-signed by the Falcons, at defensive tackle....
- Atlanta FalconsAtlanta FalconsThe Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are a member of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
**
- *see Manning-Rivers trade
- **2009 marks the first time in school history Ole Miss has had two players taken in the first round of the same NFL draft.
Official
The school's fight song is Forward Rebels, also known as Rebel March.Another official song is called Alma Mater. The song's lyrics are as follows:
Way down south in Mississippi,
There's a spot that ever calls,
Where amongst the hills enfolded,
Stand old Alma Mater's Halls.
Where the trees lift high their branches,
To the whispering Southern breeze,
There Ole Miss is calling, calling,
To our hearts fond memories.
Unofficial
A modification of the Elvis PresleyElvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
song An American Trilogy
An American Trilogy
"An American Trilogy" is a song arranged by country songwriter Mickey Newbury and made popular by Elvis Presley, who began including the song as part of his regular concert routine in the 1970s, thereby making the song a showstopper...
, now known as From Dixie with Love or Slow Dixie, was also played during football games, both home and away. The song was officially dedicated to Ole Miss fans when it was played before the Ole Miss versus LSU football game in 2003, which was at the time, the largest crowd at a football game ever in the State of Mississippi. Sometime in either 2004 or 2005, students began chanting "The South will rise again" in place of "His truth is marching on" at the end of the song which, after repeated warnings by school administrators in 2009 to stop the chant, resulted in the song being officially banned by the University's Chancellor. The traditional song "Dixie" is also unofficial, but it was not a part of the ban and is still played.
Another unofficial song is I Saw the Light.
Cheers
The school cheer is entitled Hotty Toddy:Are you ready?
Hell yes! Damn Right!
Hotty Toddy, Gosh almighty
Who the hell are we, Hey!
Flim Flam, Bim Bam
OLE MISS BY DAMN!
Confederate symbols
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
symbols, including barring faculty from displaying any Confederate imagery in their offices. In 1997, the university student senate passed a resolution requesting fans not to display the Confederate battle flag
Flags of the Confederate States of America
There were only three flag designs adopted, with later, minor variants made to those designs, that served as the official national flags of the Confederate States of America and used during its existence from 1861 to 1865...
at university athletic events. Using this action as encouragement, the university then banned sticks under the guise of fan safety, to discourage fans from displaying the Confederate flag at football games and other athletic events. This controversy began when head coach Tommy Tuberville
Tommy Tuberville
Thomas Hawley Tuberville is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at Texas Tech University, a position he has held since the 2010 season...
complained that the battle flag had hampered his attempts to recruit a few top-notch black athletes. Coaches prior to Tuberville also expressed concerns about the difficulty of recruiting top-notch black athletes.
In 1972, Ole Miss' first black football player, Ben Williams
Ben Williams (American football)
Robert Jerry Williams is a retired American football defensive lineman who played in the National Football League between 1976 and 1985. He was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the third round of the 1976 NFL Draft out of the University of Mississippi...
, was signed and began playing. The defensive tackle, recruited out of a small school in the Delta region of Mississippi, eventually claimed All-SEC honors and had a long and successful NFL career following his stint at Ole Miss.
In 2003, the school's mascot, Colonel Reb
Colonel Reb
Colonel Reb is the former sporting mascot of Ole Miss Rebels, the collegiate athletic teams of the University of Mississippi . Designed in the 1930s, the figure served as the teams' official or near-official mascot from 1979 until 2003...
, was discontinued from official participation in athletic events by the school. The school solicited ideas to replace Colonel Reb, but after an exceedingly lackluster response, decided to go without a mascot. An unofficial Colonel Reb mascot still makes appearances in The Grove
The Grove (Ole Miss)
The Grove is the legendary tailgating area located at the center of the University of Mississippi campus. It is approximately in size and is shaded by oak, elm and magnolia trees hence the grove part of the name.-History:...
, Ole Miss' tailgating area, before home games. In 2010, the university began its plan to phase out the use of Colonel Reb on official merchandise such as hats and shirts. The university has reclassified the Colonel Reb trademark as a historical mark of the university. On October 14, 2010, it was announced that students, alumni and season ticket holders at the university had picked Rebel Black Bear
Rebel Black Bear
Rebel Black Bear is the official sporting mascot of the Ole Miss Rebels, the collegiate athletic teams of the University of Mississippi. The anthropomorphic black bear replaced Colonel Reb as the official mascot in 2010.-Mascot search:...
as their new mascot. The announcement was the result of a campuswide vote in February and months of polling. The bear beat out two other finalists, the Rebel Land Shark and something called the "Hotty Toddy," an attempt to personify the school cheer.
"Chucky" Mullins
October 28, 1989, Roy Lee "Chucky" Mullins (July 8, 1969 in Russellville, Alabama – May 6, 1991 in Memphis, Tennessee) was an American football player at Ole Miss (University of Mississippi) best known for the devastating football injury that left him a quadriplegic.Mullins was injured on October 28, 1989, during the Ole Miss Rebels' Homecoming game against the Vanderbilt Commodores in Oxford. As Mullins plunged head-first into a tackle of Vandy fullback Brad Gaines after a short pass reception, the impact shattered four vertebrae in his cervical spine, immediately paralyzing him.
After being airlifted to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Mullins underwent a tracheotomy and five-hour bone graft operation to fuse the vertebrae. Mullins never regained sensation below his neck; shortly before his death, however, he was able to move a hand across his body and touch his chest.
As soon as the injury occurred, Mullins became the recipient of a huge outpouring of community support. Ole Miss fans, college football fans in the South and people from all over the nation immediately began to donate money towards Mullin's growing medical expenses. President George H.W. Bush visited Mullins in his hospital room and encouraged him while on a visit to Memphis. Soon, Ole Miss established the "Chucky Mullins Trust Fund" to properly manage the donations. The city of Oxford donated land for a specially-designed handicap accessible house for Mullins. Donations to the trust fund eventually exceeded $1 million.
Mullins returned to Ole Miss on June 20, 1990 to complete his undergraduate studies.
Death
Less than a year after returning to school, Mullins was stricken by a pulmonary embolism, caused by blood clots formed by inactivity and poor circulation. He died in the hospital on May 6, 1991 and was buried outside his home town of Russellville, Alabama.Memorials
During Mullins' time in the hospital, he and Gaines, who did not know each other before the accident, became close friends. Every year since Mullins' death, Gaines, alone, visits and maintains his friend's gravesite three times a year: May 6 (the anniversary of Mullins' death), October 28 (the anniversary of the injury) and December 25 (Christmas Day). Brad Gaines continues this personal tradition to this day.Each spring, during the annual Grove Bowl (a game at the end of spring practices pitting Ole Miss players against each other), the senior defensive player who most embodies Chucky Mullins' spirit and courage receives the "Chucky Mullins Memorial Courage Award". With the award, the player received the right to wear jersey number 38, the same number Chucky wore on his jersey. Chucky's number 38 was retired on September 3, 2006 in a pregame ceremony before the Rebels' victory over Memphis. The winner of the "Chucky Mullins Memorial Courage Award" now wears a patch in honor of this award. Chucky's number is only the second number in Ole Miss football history to be retired. The only other was the legendary Archie Manning's number 18.
Winners of the Chucky Mullins Courage Award
- 1990 - Chris Mitchell
- 1991 - Jeff Carter
- 1992 - Trea Southerland
- 1993 - Johnny Dixon
- 1994 - Alundice Brice
- 1995 - Michael Lowery
- 1996 - Derek Jones
- 1997 - Nate Wayne
- 1998 - Gary Thigpen
- 1999 - Ronnie Heard
- 2000 - Anthony Magee
- 2001 - Kevin Thomas
- 2002 - Lanier Goethie
- 2003 - Jamil Northcutt
- 2004 - Eric Oliver
- 2005 - Kelvin Robinson
- 2006 - Patrick Willis
- 2007 - Jeremy Garrett
- 2008 - Jamarca Sanford
- 2009 - Marcus Tillman
- 2010 - Kentrell Lockett
- 2011 - D. T. Shackleford
Retired numbers
The numbers 18 for Archie ManningArchie Manning
Elisha Archibald "Archie" Manning III is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League, playing for the New Orleans Saints from 1971 to 1982, then for the Houston Oilers and Minnesota Vikings...
and 38 for Chucky Mullins
Chucky Mullins
Roy Lee "Chucky" Mullins was an American football player at Ole Miss best known for the devastating football injury that left him a quadriplegic....
are the only two retired numbers in Ole Miss football history.