Ranking The 25 Greatest Players in Ole Miss Football History

The list of greatest Ole Miss football players begins with a couple of guys named Manning.

No argument there.

Archie Manning remains the most iconic player in Ole Miss football history more than 50 years after throwing his final pass for the Rebels. And his son Eli surpassed all his statistical records in an equally memorable career. Eli Manning is 1 of 6 Rebels on the SEC’s list of 3,000-yard passers.

But there are plenty of other great players who have left an indelible mark during their careers in Oxford. It’s a list that includes 10 current College Football Hall of Famers along with a couple of more who are sure-things as soon as they become eligible, 2 Pro Football Hall of Famers, 19 first-round NFL Draft picks and 1 who was the first overall selection.

Top 25 Ole Miss Rebels of All-Time

Ole Miss has been playing football for 130 years and is 1 of the 10 original schools that formed the SEC in December 1932. Since then, more than 13,000 players have earned varsity letters while playing for the Rebels.

 Narrowing that list down to the 25 best is an almost impossible task. But we’ve given it our best trip. So here goes.

Let the disagreements begin.

25. Greg Hardy, DE (2006-2009)

A ferocious pass rusher who is second on Ole Miss’ all-time sacks list with 26.5 despite missing 9 games over 3 seasons because of injuries. His best statistical season came as a sophomore in 2007 when he recorded an SEC-leading 10 sacks to go along with 64 total tackles, 18.5 tackles for loss, 3 forced fumbles and 2 touchdown receptions on offense to earn first-team all-conference selection. A year later, he picked up 8.5 sacks to rank third in the SEC despite playing in only 9 games because of foot surgery. In addition to the sacks Hardy finished his career with 39.5 TFLs before becoming an All-Pro with the Dallas Cowboys.

24. Elijah Moore, WR (2018-2020)

Moore is best remembered for drawing a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for pretending to be a dog doing its business in the end zone after scoring a touchdown against rival Mississippi State in 2019. But that incident overshadows an outstanding career that saw him earn first-team All-American honors and earn a nomination as a Biletnikoff Award finalist in 2020. He had 2 games with more than 200 receiving yards that season, including a then-school-record 238 against Vanderbilt. Moore finished his career ranked among the top 5 in program history with 189 catches for 2,441 yards and 16 touchdowns. He’s on the list of the SEC’s 1,000-yard receivers.

23. Larry Grantham, LB (1957-1959)

Grantham came to Ole Miss on a baseball scholarship and was offered a tryout to walk on as a linebacker on the football team. He impressed the coaching staff so much that he didn’t just earn a spot on the team, he won a starting job by his sophomore season. As a senior in 1959, he was a member of a legendary defense that allowed only 21 points all season while going 10-1. He also played end on offense, catching 8 touchdown passes during his career. One of those scores came against LSU in the 1960 Sugar Bowl, a game in which he also had a team-leading 9 tackles and a blocked punt to help avenge the Rebels’ only loss. Despite being undersized for a professional linebacker, he played 13 seasons with the New York Jets and was a member of the team’s historic Super III victory against the Baltimore Colts.

22. Bobby Wilson, DB (1946-1949)

Wilson was a key member of coach Johnny Vaught’s first SEC championship team in 1947. His career interceptions are still an Ole Miss record and are tied with LSU’s Chris Williams (1977-80) for the most in SEC history. Wilson’s 379 return yards on interceptions are also the most ever by a Rebel and rank fourth in the SEC. A 2-sport star who also played baseball at Ole Miss, Wilson was inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame in 1988.

21. Laremy Tunsil, OT (2013-2015)

A starter at left tackle from his first game as a true freshman, Tunsil allowed only 1 sack all season on the way to winning Freshman All-American recognition. He was an All-SEC selection as a sophomore despite playing most of the season with a particularly torn bicep and got the better of first overall NFL Draft pick Myles Garrett of Texas in a head-to-head matchup while also scoring a rushing touchdown in the Rebels’ Sugar Bowl victory against Oklahoma State before deciding to skip his senior season and declare for the draft. As good as Tunsil was on the field, his career was marred by controversy. He was suspended for the first 7 games of his junior season for accepting improper benefits from sports agents. And his draft stock plummeted after a photo of him smoking marijuana while wearing a gas mask appeared online only hours before the draft began.

20. Evan Engram, TE (2013-2016)

Engram set the standard for tight ends at Ole Miss by catching 162 passes for 2,320 yards and 15 catches in his 4-season career, figures that rank among the top 10 in school history. He was twice named to the All-SEC first team while also earning selection as a consensus All-American as a senior in 2016. He caught 65 passes for 926 yards and 8 touchdowns that season, a performance that earned him the Ozzie Newsome Award as the nation’s best college tight end and a first-round NFL Draft selection by the New York Giants.

19. Dexter McCluster, RB (2006-2009)

McCluster might have been small at just 5-8, 170 pounds. But his lightning quickness and an elusiveness that helped him break tackles and find running room made him arguably the best all-purpose back ever to play for the Rebels. After spending his first 2 seasons as primarily a third-down back catching passes out of the backfield and kick returner, he evolved into a workhorse who finished with 1,955 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns in his career. He also finished with 130 catches for 1,703 yards and 7 more scores. He solidified his first-team All-SEC status in 2009 by becoming the first player in SEC history to record more than 1,000 rushing yards and 500 receiving yards in a season, punctuated by a school-record 282 rushing yards and scoring 4 touchdowns in a 42-17 rout of Tennessee.

18. Jeff Herrod, LB  (1984-1987)

Herrod considered joining the Marines before deciding to accept the only Division I scholarship he was offered, from coach Billy Brewer at Ole Miss. Four years later, he left Oxford for the NFL as one of the most accomplished defensive players in SEC history. The 6-foot, 239-pound ballhawk set school records with 28 tackles in a game (on only 53 snaps), 128 tackles in a season and 528 in his career – a total that ranks second all-time in the conference behind only Tennessee’s Andy Spiva. Herrod was twice selected as a second-team All-American and in 2013 he was chosen as an SEC Football Legend. He played 11 seasons in the NFL, leading the league in tackles with the Indianapolis Colts in 1994.

17. Michael Oher, OT (2005-2008)

Oher’s personal story is well-known thanks to the movie “The Blind Side.” But there’s a lot more to the 6-4, 315-pound tackle than just the off-the-field struggles he was able to overcome with the help of adopted parents Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy. Oher made an immediate impact on the field at Ole Miss, starting 10 games and earning Freshman All-American honors in his first college season.. He shifted to tackle as a sophomore and earned All-SEC honors in each of the next 3 years. Oher declared for the NFL Draft following his junior season,, but changed his mind and returned to Ole Miss, where he became a first-team All-American, an Outland Trophy finalist and winner of the SEC’s Jacobs Blocking Trophy as the league’s best offensive lineman.

16. Laquon Treadwell, WR (2013-2015)

A 5-star recruit who was part of Hugh Freeze’s star-studded 2013 signing class, Treadwell more than lived up to the hype by catching a program-record 202 passes during his 3 seasons. The 2015 SEC Freshman of the Year and a first-team all-conference selection as a junior in 2015, Treadwell caught at least 1 pass in all 35 games he played in a Rebels uniform. His 14 catches in a 2015 win against Memphis are tied for the most in Ole Miss history as are his 11 touchdown grabs that same season. He is fifth on the Rebels’ all-time list with 2,393 career receiving yards and third with 21 touchdowns. He is 1 of 6 Rebels who had a 1,000-yard receiving season in the SEC.

15. Wesley Walls, DE/TE (1985-1988)

Walls played the majority of his career at Ole Miss as a defensive end, recording 140 tackles, 19.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks in his career. But it was a decision by new offensive coordinator Red Parker during spring practice before his senior season of 1988 that transformed Walls into a Rebels legend, helped earn him a place in the College Football Hall of Fame and catapulted him to NFL stardom. Parker saw the 6-5, 250-pound Walls as a natural tight end. And he was right. Walls became a first-team All-American by catching 36 passes for 426 yards and 3 touchdowns. He was also used as a runner in short-yardage situations and completed a pass for 34 yards while continuing to play a regular role on defense.

14. Charlie Flowers, Fullback (1957-1959)

Flowers was a 2-time All-SEC selection and a unanimous All-American pick in 1959 who earned induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997. A rugged fullback who also started all 3 of his varsity seasons at linebacker, Flowers ended his career with 1,730 rushing yards, and a 5.64 per carry average, both of which were school records at the time. He led the SEC in rushing and finished second nationally with 733 with 11 touchdowns in 1959 in helping the Rebels to a 10-1 record that included a Sugar Bowl win against LSU. Ole Miss went 28-4-1 during his tenure at the school.

13. AJ Brown, WR (2016-2018)

A gifted athlete who spent his first 2 seasons splitting time between football at Ole Miss and baseball as a member of the San Diego Padres organization, Brown rewrote the school record book during his 3 seasons with the Rebels. He produced the 2 best receiving seasons in Rebels history with 1,320 yards in 2018 and 1,252 in 2017. The 2,984 yards he compiled in his 3 seasons are also a career mark while he shares Ole Miss records for catches in a game with 14 against Louisiana-Lafayette in 2017 and 11 touchdown catches that same season. Brown twice earned first-team All-SEC honors before leaving after his junior year to enjoy success in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans and as a Super Bowl champion with the Philadelphia Eagles.

12. Gene Hickerson, Tackle (1955-1957)

Considered one of the best offensive linemen in SEC history, Hickerson was an integral part of Ole Miss teams that compiled a 3-year record of 26-5-1 with a conference championship in 1955. He served as co-captain during his senior season of 1957, which ended with a dominating 39-7 win against Texas in the Sugar Bowl. Hickerson played so well in the game that he was later voted to the All-Time Sugar Bowl Team. Although he is not a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, Hickerson is 1 of 2 Rebel alumni to be enshrined in Pro Football Hall of Fame for his work with the Cleveland Browns as the lead blocker for fellow Hall of Famers Jim Brown, Leroy Kelly and Bobby Mitchell.

11. Parker Hall, Halfback (1936-1938)

Known as “Bullet,” Hall used his speed and elusiveness to lead the nation in scoring and all-purpose yardage in 1938. He gained 1,558 yards rushing receiving and returning kicks while scoring 73 points on 11 touchdowns and 7 extra points while helping to raise the Rebels from the depths of the SEC to respectability. After going winless in the conference in 1936 and ’37, Hall’s contributions helped Ole Miss to a winning league record and a 9-2 mark overall. He also intercepted 7 passes that season – a total bettered only 4 times since – in earning first-team All-American recognition. Hall was taken by the Cleveland Rams as the third overall pick in the 1939 NFL Draft and won the league’s MVP award as a rookie. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1991.

10. Jake Gibbs, QB (1958-1960)

Gibbs was the quarterback for Ole Miss teams that won a share of the national championship in 1959 and 1960. He led the SEC in passing and total offense in 1959 and was named SEC Player of the Year and a consensus All-American as a senior in 1960, capping his Rebels career by scoring the only 2 touchdowns in a 14-6 Sugar Bowl win against Rice. Although he never won the Heisman Trophy himself, Gibbs had a hand in someone else earning college football’s top individual award. In 1959, LSU’s Billy Cannon returned a punt by Gibbs 89 yards for the winning touchdown that made him into a college football legend. In 1965, after playing 10 seasons of Major League Baseball with the Yankees, Gibbs returned to Ole Miss as a quarterbacks coach and mentor for Rebels legend Archie Manning.

9. Barney Poole, End (1942, 1947-48)

Thanks to wartime eligibility rules, Poole played 7 seasons of college football. He started at Ole Miss in 1942 but he left to play with the North Carolina V-12 unit when World War II broke out and eventually transferred to Army, where he earned All-American honors and helped the Cadets win 2 national championships. After the war, he returned to Ole Miss for his final 2 seasons, winning All-America recognition again as an end, playing on both sides of the ball. His 52 catches for 511 yards and 8 touchdowns led the nation in 1947 and were all school records at the time. Poole was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1947 and was named as a member of the Rebels’ Team of the 20th Century.

8. Johnny “Kayo” Dottley, RB (1947-1950)

How impressive was Kay Dottley’s 1949 season? It was so impressive that it took 73 years for Quinshon Judkins to come along and surpass his single-season school records of 1,312 yards and 14 touchdowns. Even then, it took Judkins 13 games to do it. Dottley joined the list of 1,000-yard rushers in SEC history in only 9. Those 1,312 yards also stood as an SEC record until 1971. And Dottley was anything but a 1-year wonder. He was the first Rebel to rush for 1,000-plus yards in back-to-back seasons and his career total of 2,654 yards still ranks fourth among Ole Miss’ rushers while his 26 touchdowns rank seventh all-time.

7. Deuce McAllister, RB (1997-2000)

McAllister is the Rebels’ all-time leader in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns and rushing attempts with 3,060 yards and 37 touchdowns on 616 carries. But he wasn’t just a star running back during his 4 seasons at Ole Miss. He was an explosive offensive playmaker who also had an impact as a receiver out of the backfield and as a kick returner. McAllister is still the only player in school history to record 3 seasons with at least 1,000 all-purpose yards. After leading the SEC with 17 touchdowns as a senior in 2000 (14 rushing, 2 receiving and 1 punt return), he was chosen in the first round of the NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints.

6. Jaxson Dart, QB (2022-2024)

Dart started his college career at Southern Cal, but transferred to Ole Miss after 1 season when new coach Lincoln Riley brought Caleb Williams with him from Oklahoma. The arrangement worked out well for both quarterbacks. Williams won a Heisman Trophy with the Trojans white Dart thrived in Lane Kiffin’s offensive scheme. A flamboyant performer who played with emotion and reckless abandon as a runner, Dart led the Rebels to 10-win seasons in 2023 and 2024 and earned first-team All-ACC honors as a senior. Despite playing only 3 seasons in Oxford, Dart left as the first-round pick of the New York Giants as the school’s all-time leader with 10,617 yards. He joined the 3,000-yard passing club by throwing for 3,364 yards in 2023 before setting an Ole Miss record with 4,279 in 2024. He also has the single-game mark with 515 yards against Arkansas in 2024.

5. Charley Conerly (1942, 1946-1947)

Conerly’s statistics might seem pedestrian by today’s standards. He finished with 3,076 yards of total offense in 3 varsity seasons, including 2,313 yards and 26 touchdowns passing. But they were good enough in his era to earn All-SEC recognition twice and selection as the 1947 conference Player of the Year. And they were even more impressive considering the circumstances under which he played. Conerly left Ole Miss after his freshman season to join the Marines and see combat in the South Pacific during World War II. He returned to Oxford after a 4-year absence in 1946 and led the Rebels to their first-ever SEC championship a year later. He was also an accomplished baseball player who hit .467 for the Rebels as a senior before embarking on a 13-year NFL career with the New York Giants. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1966.

4. Bruiser Kinard, Tackle (1935-1937)

Bruiser wasn’t just a nickname for Frank Manning Kinard. It was an accurate description for the way he played. He was a standout tackle with a reputation for physical play on both sides of the line during the era of 2-way football. He averaged 55 minutes of playing time in each of his 34 games as a Rebel. As a junior in 1936, he played all 60 minutes in 9 of the team’s 10 games. Kinard was Ole Miss’ first consensus All-American, he helped lead the Rebels to their first-ever bowl game at the Orange Bowl in 1936 and was inducted into both the College and Pro football halls of fame.

3. Eli Manning, QB (2000-2003)

The youngest of Archie Manning’s sons took on the challenge of following his father’s footsteps to Ole Miss rather than creating his own legacy someplace else like his brother Peyton at Tennessee. Despite the pressure of living up to incredibly high expectations, Eli put together a career that far outpaced anything anyone in school history – including Archie – had done statistically. He threw for 10,119 yards, an Ole Miss record until Jaxson Dart came along. And his 81 career touchdowns are still the most ever. He won the Maxwell and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm awards as a senior while leading the Rebels to a 10-3 record before becoming the first overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft. Twice, he threw for 3,000 yards in a season.

2. Patrick Willis, LB (2003-2006)

Willis was described by coach Ed Orgeron as a leader by example. It’s a trait he came by naturally, considering how hard he had to work just to get to Ole Miss’ campus. He was forced to work in the cotton fields near his home in Tennessee at the age of 10. And he became a father figure to his younger siblings after moving out of a violent home environment as a high school senior. He overcame those obstacles to become the best defensive player in Rebels history. Willis was twice named SEC Defensive Player of the Year Award after leading the conference in tackles in both 2005 and 2006. He won the Butkus Award and Lambert Trophy as the nation’s best linebacker as a senior after finishing his college career with 355 tackles and 11 sacks. He also received the Scholar-Athlete Award from the Ole Miss chapter of the National Football Foundation. He continued his success in the NFL by earning multiple Pro Bowl and All-Pro selections.

1. Archie Manning, QB (1968-1970)

Manning’s career passing numbers of 4,753 yards, 31 touchdowns and a .528 completion percentage might seem like the equivalent of one solid season by today’s standards. But in his day, no one in college football was more dynamic and more productive than the player who remains the face of Ole Miss football more than a half-century after he played his final game (with a cast on his arm, no less). Manning burst onto the national scene by setting SEC records for passing yards, completions and total offense in a nationally televised game against Alabama in 1969 by throwing for 435 yards and 3 touchdowns and rushing for 104 yards. It took 43 years for his total offense mark of 539 yards to finally be surpassed by Johnny Manziel in 2012. Manning was the 1969 SEC Player of the Year and was a Heisman Trophy frontrunner in 1970 until a broken left wrist forced him to miss 3 games and limited his effectiveness once he did try to return. He was the first player selected in the NFL Draft in 1971 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989. The patriarch of the Manning quarterback legacy is so beloved in Oxford that the speed limit on campus is 18 MPH in honor of his retired jersey number.

Brett Friedlander

Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.