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Can transfer TE Dillon Barrett add another dimension to the Ole Miss offense?

The Lamar University transplant will be counted on to replace the recently-booted Sammie Epps on the tight end depth chart.

By Zach Berry
Joe Murphy/Getty Images

In case you missed it, redshirt freshman tight end Sammie Epps was dismissed from the Ole Miss football team this week. Despite the constant reassuring from badass John Youngblood that he would take care of everything, Hugh Freeze has welcomed in another transfer.  According to 247Sports David Johnson, the Rebels added Dillon Barrett to bolster the depth chart late Wednesday afternoon.

This move has been in the works since May, when Barrett tweeted that he was transferring to the Rebs.

At Lamar, Barrett caught 21 passes for 254 yards in two years as a tight end. The young man from Dry Prong, La., is a graduate transfer who will be eligible immediately and will add some valuable depth behind preseason All-American Evan Engram. Epps, who was dismissed for breaking team rules, was expected to be a viable backup if needed this season, but unfortunately that is no longer the case. With Barrett, the Rebels will get a mature player who has the frame to be a run blocker and a receiver.

Barrett is a 6'4, 235-pound former quarterback from the Pelican State who is surprisingly athletic for his size and shows better than average hands as an H-back AND from the slot. Hold on...wait...former quarterback from Louisiana turned tight end you say? Robert Lane much? As a senior at Grant High School, Barrett collected more than 2,000 all-purpose yards and originally enrolled at Fort Scott Community College in Kansas to play football as a signal caller.

And hey, he's been working out with Number Four (not as a quarterback, we're assuming).

How does he fit in?

Barrett gives Freeze and Dan Werner the flexibility of having Engram and Barrett on the field at the same time. This just screams mismatch city for linebackers if you can put Engram in the slot and have the comfort of knowing Barrett is there to pass block. It also goes without saying that Barrett can assist with revitalizing the run game as he shows excellent technique with his hands and feet when run blocking.

After struggling to crack the starting lineup at Lamar as a QB, he elected to switch positions and looks to be pretty nimble. With that being said, we know that he has the athleticism to play quarterback in a spread offense in high school and he's shown the ability to produce as a pass catcher in college. Granted, his time as a tight end was spent playing against the likes of Mississippi College and Central Arkansas in the Southland Conference, but the tight end position needs all the depth it can get.