O'Gara: Quinshon Judkins hitting the transfer portal throws a massive wrench in Ole Miss' offseason of buzz
I had heard a few weeks ago that Ole Miss star Quinshon Judkins could be entering the transfer portal, but then brushed it off when it didn’t happen.
As that talk faded, Lane Kiffin dipped into the portal to get proven SEC player after proven SEC player. When Ole Miss clubbed Penn State in the Peach Bowl to earn its 11th win for the first time in program history, it established Kiffin’s squad as the ultimate good vibes team this offseason.
Well, nothing will kill a vibe quite like the idea of losing a star player.
As it turned out, there was some truth to those initial rumblings. Multiple outlets reported that Judkins, AKA the guy who became the first SEC player since Herschel Walker to have 15 touchdowns in each of his first 2 seasons, has entered the transfer portal.
What does that mean? A lot of things.
For starters, it doesn’t mean that Judkins is guaranteed to leave. Entering the portal just means that he can have legal contact with other teams. At the very least, that’ll drive up his NIL price. That’s to be expected. A player of Judkins’ caliber would fit in any backfield in America. He was a preseason All-American entering his sophomore season, and that figures to be the case again as he enters his pre-Draft season.
This doesn’t, however, mean that Judkins is about to follow the Jordan Addison path. Addison sent shockwaves through the sport in the spring of 2022 when he made the controversial decision to enter the portal as the reigning Biletnikoff Award winner. Addison was in a different spot than Judkins. Entering 2022, Addison was set to have a new quarterback after Kenny Pickett left Pitt for the NFL, and the Panthers had a new offensive play-caller after Mark Whipple left to become the OC at Nebraska.
Judkins’ surroundings aren’t changing. If anything, they’re only getting better. He’ll have the same starting quarterback in Jaxson Dart, who announced his decision to return earlier in the week. He’ll have the same offensive play-callers in Charlie Weis Jr. and Kiffin. In case that wasn’t enough, Ole Miss will return elite blocking tight end Caden Prieskorn, who played a major role in sparking the ground game after Judkins got off to a slow start.
It’s because of those factors that we shouldn’t be stunned if Judkins takes a look around and returns to Ole Miss, albeit with even more NIL money coming his way.
Let’s remember that this is the same guy who made an announcement that he was returning for his second season at Ole Miss. That’s become the norm in this era of the transfer portal. Doak Walker Award winner Ollie Gordon II made a similar announcement at the end of this season that he was returning for his pre-Draft season at Oklahoma State.
It’s a sign of the times. Kiffin knows that.
After Addison’s portal entry, Kiffin went on the record with a suggestion that Bryce Young should’ve entered the transfer portal before his pre-Draft season. Why? Not to seek a new home, but to get himself the most guaranteed money. While one could argue there’s a different set of factors that could prevent a quarterback from doing that as the face of a program, Kiffin foresaw the possibility that superstars in great situations could still opt to maximize their monetary value in the portal.
Judkins is essentially doing what his own coach outlined 2 years ago. Whether he returns remains to be seen.
It’s hard to imagine a situation better than the one that he’s currently in. Even Alabama has more questions in the ground game than Ole Miss. But we shouldn’t rule anything out for Judkins, who didn’t get love from the Tide as an in-state recruit at Pike Road (Ala.). It was Kiffin who was credited for “discovering” Judkins when he sat through crummy conditions and watched him lead the program to its first state title. It was Kiffin who recognized Judkins’ brilliance and moved him up the depth chart into a featured role even after landing coveted running back transfers Zach Evans and Ulysses Bentley.
Maybe the loyalty to Kiffin and Ole Miss will win out. If it doesn’t, it’s fair to question if Ole Miss is worthy of the same love it would’ve gotten with the star tailback leading the offense. His burst, his ability to make people miss in space and his power through contact should shut down any notion that he’s just a byproduct of Kiffin’s system. “System backs” don’t walk into the SEC and rack up a combined 3,006 scrimmage yards and 34 touchdowns in 2 seasons.
Losing Judkins would be devastating as Ole Miss ramps up for what it hopes will be its first Playoff run during the first year of the 12-team field. If he does return, it might be the biggest recruiting victory to date for Kiffin.
At the very least, the good vibes are on standby as long as Judkins is in the portal.