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Ole Miss hasn’t made the College Football Playoff yet under Lane Kiffin, but the program has been trending upward in recent years under Kiffin.
And that trend continued in the dead of the college football offseason, because the Rebels were in higher demand than ever during this weekend’s NFL Draft in Green Bay. In fact, with 7 Ole Miss players already being drafted, the Rebels set a program record for most players taken in 1 draft during the 7-round draft era.
Somewhere, Archie Manning — and his son, Eli, for that matter — are smiling, because Ole Miss football has been on display in heavy doses on the national stage all weekend in Green Bay.
Former Rebels star defensive tackle Walter Nolen got the Ole Miss draft roll call started on Thursday night by being picked No. 16 overall by the Arizona Cardinals. Just 9 picks later, the centerpiece of Ole Miss’s recent upswing was taken off the board when quarterback Jaxson Dart was snagged by the New York Giants, who traded with the Houston Texans for the 25th spot and the opportunity to get their hands on Dart.
The tone was set on Thursday night with those 2 Rebels going in the first round, and it hasn’t stopped. Two more former Rebels were taken in the second round — Tre Harris at No. 55 and Trey Amos at No. 61. Princely Umanmielen was picked with the 77th selection in the third round, Jordan Watkins was taken with the 138th pick in the fourth round, Chris Paul Jr. was picked with the 172nd selection in the fifth round, and JJ Pegues was selected with the 180th pick in the sixth round.
Ole Miss already has its 7-round draft record, and there was still plenty of time left on Saturday for more of Kiffin’s players to realize their NFL dreams.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
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