Former Clemson four star gets a second chance at Ole Miss via transfer portal

Rebel defensive coordinator Pete Golding is continuing to work his magic and pulled a four star commitment on Saturday from a former Clemson linebacker.

TJ Dudley, originally from Montgomery, Ala., announced via Twitter or X or whatever the hell it is this week his intention to transfer to Ole Miss. Dudley was dismissed from Clemson for a violation of team rules, according to reports, though it is not clear what rules were broken. It’s Dabo Swinney, so it could be something like “wearing those damned saggy britches” or “listening to that boom boom boom music”.

Dudley appeared in four games for the Tigers while redshirting, so my advanced math tells me he has a projected four years of eligibility remaining, which seems good. Standing at 6’1” and a healthy 230 lbs., Dudley was the 2021 3A defensive lineman of the year in Alabama and helped lead his high school defense to allowing only 43 points in 14 games that season.

With fall camp starting in a week, this is some potentially huge news for the linebacker room in Oxford. The Rebels already had added the No. 1 player in the state in LB Suntarine Perkins to the mix, and now a Clemson transfer who clearly could have gone anywhere in the country out of high school.

Golding has repeatedly said Ole Miss is moving to a 3-4 defense and that puts a clear emphasis on linebacker depth needs for the Rebels. Transfers Monty Montgomery from Louisville, Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste from UCF, and returning LB Khari Coleman and Ashanti Cistrunk means the former Alabama coordinator might be getting close to where he’d like to be at least from a numbers standpoint.

But this is the era of transfer portal, NIL and Lane Kiffin is the head coach last I checked. The Rebels are still looking to make this defense better for 2023, keep your head on a damn swivel y’all.