How the addition of TJ Dudley, Chris Graves Jr. impacts Ole Miss football, Lane Kiffin

OXFORD — Ole Miss football invited hundreds of high school prospects to campus over the weekend for "Juice Fest," one of the most important recruiting events on the calendar for the program. But it was a pair of transfer additions who made the headlines. Clemson linebacker TJ Dudley announced his pledge to play for the Rebels on Friday night, and Miami cornerback Chris Graves Jr.

did the same on Sunday. The duo all but ensures that the Rebels will once again have the SEC's largest transfer class, with 24 additions compared to 21 for Auburn, which is rebuilding its program ahead of Hugh Freeze's first season in charge. Both Dudley and Graves present a similar profile.

They were each top 250 prospects in the Class of 2022 who took redshirts in their freshman seasons, giving them four years to work with in Oxford and offering the Rebels a bit of security. Each would need a waiver in order to transfer again without sitting for a year. How TJ Dudley could fit with Ole Miss football Let's start by taking a look at the room Dudley is walking into.

There were four linebackers who played at least 400 snaps for Ole Miss last season, and two of them have moved on. Troy Brown exhausted his eligibility, while Austin Keys transferred to Auburn. That leaves Ashanti Cistrunk and Khari Coleman as the two most notable returners at that position.

Cistrunk was fifth on the team in tackles with 72, while Coleman registered 10 tackles for loss to tie him for the team lead. Ole Miss added a pair of linebackers in the winter transfer period in Louisville's Monty Montgomery and UCF's Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste. Both were key figures with their previous programs and are entering their final season of eligibility.

Finally, we have to mention five-star freshman Suntarine Perkins, who arrived on campus this summer. All of those newcomers combine to make this a position where we don't know very much yet. This fall is going to be key for Dudley and everyone else in that room.

The exact number of snaps available to Dudley and the rest of the linebackers will be interesting to monitor, too. New defensive coordinator Pete Golding looks to be bringing his 4-2-5 system to Oxford. Last season at Alabama, only three linebackers played more than 100 snaps.

That number will have to grow to some degree with a fast-paced Ole Miss offense forcing its defense to endure more plays per game, but there will be less opportunity available than there would be under a three-linebacker system. Dudley will reportedly need a waiver in order to play immediately, otherwise this all becomes moot. How Chris Graves Jr.

could fit with Ole Miss football Similarly, Graves will walk into an Ole Miss secondary that has a whole lot of sorting out to do. There were six defensive backs who played more than 500 snaps for the Rebels last season, and only Isheem Young and Deantre Prince return for 2023. That leaves several spots in the secondary unaccounted for, and we saw that reflected in the way Ole Miss acted in the transfer portal.

WHAT WE COULD LEARN:Three things we could learn from Ole Miss football's first day of preseason practice Graves is the seventh transfer addition in the secondary for Ole Miss. There are three teams in the SEC that did not bring in seven transfer additions total. Unlike Dudley, who saw some limited action in 2022 while retaining his redshirt, Graves did not play at all for Miami in 2022 as he dealt with an injury.

Because of that, it's difficult to know how exactly he profiles at the collegiate level until his move is official and coach Lane Kiffin can speak about him to the media. But it is abundantly clear that Ole Miss has a need at corner, and, if he's good enough, he'll play quickly. .