Ole Miss football 2021: Tracking NFL declarations, returners, and transfers

With the 2020 now in the past, all eyes will be on the upcoming 2021 roster with the announcement of an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA for all student-athletes this season.

There have been announcements throughout the season of folks declaring for the NFL Draft, returning for an additional season, or transferring from the program. With the season now officially over, the time for athletes to officially announce their plans is upon us.

EDITORS NOTE: Keep up-to-date with everything here. We will continue to monitor what players are saying and updating this post throughout the off-season.

TRANSFERS

Jay Stanley, FS

Stanley announced that he would be transferring from Ole Miss after making 26 tackles with one pass breakup in his two seasons in Oxford. He has since committed to play at Southern Mississippi.

Ryder Anderson, SDE

Anderson has decided to use his remaining graduate eligibility as a transfer. The 6-foot-6 senior from Texas played in 37 games throughout his career at Ole Miss logging 38 solo tackles.

In the 2020 season, he had 2.5 sacks as well as seven tackles for loss.

RETURNERS

Mac Brown, P

Magic Mac announced that he will be returning this next season. He led the SEC and was fifth in the nation in yards per punt. While he was not used often this season with only 27 punts, he averaged 46.63 yards per punt. 2021 will be his fifth season in Oxford.

Otis Reese, DB

Otis Reese transferred to Ole Miss from Georgia in January of 2020. He was not granted eligibility to play until late November ahead of the Mississippi State game. (NCAA just doing NCAA things.) In just three game appearances this season, Reese had 23 tackles, one interception and a pass breakup.

Momo Sanogo, LB

Sanogo announced that he wasn’t quite done with Ole Miss football, and will be returning for his redshirt senior season. Sanogo has been a defensive leader since he arrived in 2017, playing early and often and leading the team in tackles in 2018 with 112.

Despite suffering an injury in 2019, he came back to play in 2020. He finished this season with 60 tackles, one sack, and four pass deflections.

Matt Corral, QB

Head coach Lane Kiffin announced Corral’s intent to return for the 2021 season in December. In the 2020 season, Corral led the country in total offense per game, throwing for 3,337 yards. He had 29 passing touchdowns as well as four rushing touchdowns. With an additional off season to nail down the playbook, Corral will be able to return even more dominant than he was this season.

As of this week, you can get our son at +1900 Heisman Trophy odds for 2021.

Lakia Henry, ILB

Henry announced in a press conference that he would be returning for his third season at Ole Miss. “I will be coming back next year,” Henry said. “I didn’t have the season that I wanted to have this year, and I felt like I can go in the first three rounds, so I am going to put my all into next year and see what happens.” The junior college transfer had 62 tackles, 2.5 sacks, as well as two forced fumbles this year before missing the bowl game due to COVID-19.

Tariqious Tisdale, DT

Tisdale had 19 tackles this season before suffering a broken arm against Mississippi State on the first defensive series of the game. In the 2019 season, he had 28 tackles and 2 sacks.

He announced his return on Twitter.

Jacquez Jones, OLB

Jones will be returning as a Rebel. In 2020, he led the team with 75 tackles and has been an important part of this Ole Miss defense. Jones is setting high expectations for next year with plans to go to the playoffs after beating No. 11 ranked Indiana.

Ben Brown, OC

During the shortened offseason, Ben Brown made the move to center. He became a vital part in the offensive production. He switched positions after playing guard for the 2018 and 2019 seasons and was the anchor the SEC’s leading rushing attack.

Sam Williams, SDE

The senior from Montgomery, Ala. announced that he will be returning for an additional season. Williams has continued to be a massive disruption by leading the team in sacks in consecutive seasons and capped his 2020 season in Tampa against Indiana, terrorizing their tackles all day.

Braylon Sanders, WR

Braylon Sanders will be coming back for his fifth season after coming into the spotlight late in the season. Sanders caught 14 passes for 370 yards and four touchdowns this season before suffering an injury against LSU.

Jaylon Jones, DB

The 2020 Chucky Mullins Award winner announced that he will be staying in Oxford for his sixth season. Jones missed the majority of the 2020 season after suffering an upper body injury. This is the second season that he was forced to missed due to injury. Before his injury this season, Jones recorded 27 tackles and one pass deflection.

Dontario Drummond, WR

Drummond will be one of the veterans in the wide receiver room as he announces his plans on Twitter to return for the 2021 season. He caught 25 passes on the season that resulted in 417 yards and seven touchdowns.

Declaring for the NFL

Elijah Moore, WR

The first team All-America wide receiver announced that he would forgo the remainder of the season to declare for the draft on December 17th. Moore had 86 receptions on the season that resulted in him breaking the Ole Miss single-season school record. He also had 1,193 yards on the season. Moore was unstoppable this season, and will surely continue to put up big numbers on Sunday’s.

Kenny Yeboah, TE

Yeboah transferred in from Temple University this last off-season. In his first (and only) year as a Rebel, he caught 27 passes for 524 yards and six touchdowns. Yeboah announced he would be declaring for the draft on the same day as Moore, and was very problematic for SEC defenses this season.

Royce Newman, OT

Newman announced on Twitter that he played his last game as a Rebel in the Outback bowl. He received an invitation to the Reese’s Senior Bowl during the season after playing 42 games throughout his Rebel career.