Georgia was the overwhelming preseason No. 1 team. Texas is the highest-ranked SEC team in the College Football Playoff at No. 3. Alabama has more Top 25 wins this season than the CFP’s top five teams combined.

But the SEC team that no one wants to play right now is one that isn’t even in the top 10.

“If you ask me right now which team I’d least want to face, it’s Ole Miss,” said an SEC defensive coordinator of a Top 25 team. “They’re now the most talented defensive team in the league. They have all these difference-maker pass rushers and a true lockdown corner in Trey Amos.

“They just got all these dudes up front. Three guys in the top five of sack leaders in the SEC (Suntarine Perkins, 10 sacks and No. 1; Princely Umanmielen, 9.5 sacks and tied for No. 2; and Jared Ivey, 7.5 sacks and tied for No. 5). That’s crazy! (J.J.) Pegues was a featured guy for them last year; he’s still really good (11.5 TFLs, two sacks) and he’s not even one of their top three! Walter Nolen is also really good. An inside guy with four sacks is pretty dang good. It’s really impressive.”

The other part of this that multiple SEC assistant coaches noted was that Ole Miss beat up Georgia even though the Rebels were without their best player, Tre Harris, a wide receiver who has been dealing with a lower-body injury. Harris’ 141 yards per game leads the country.

Last Saturday the Rebels held Georgia to its fewest points of the Kirby Smart era (10), its fewest total yards in seven seasons (245) and its fewest rushing yards since 2021 (59). Ole Miss leads the SEC in yards per play allowed in games against ranked opponents among the 14 teams who have faced at least two Top 25 opponents. Last year, the Rebels were dead last in the SEC at 7.81 YPP in those games.

To say Ole Miss has a ferocious defensive front is an understatement. It’s why defensive line coach Randall Joyner, a Larry Johnson protege, is making a good case to get Broyles Award consideration. That award is given to the nation’s top assistant, but, of course, Rebels defensive coordinator Pete Golding is also making a compelling case. Ole Miss has 23 more TFLs than anyone else in the SEC (103) and 18 more than anyone else in the country. It also has 13 more sacks than any other team in the SEC.

Four players already have double-digits in TFLs, and Ivey is close at 9.5. Last year, they only had one guy in double digits (Ivey with 11.5) Eight Rebels have at least four TFLs.

A big piece of that impact is due to the commitment Ole Miss made this offseason to upgrading its talent in the trenches through the portal.

Umanmielen, who transferred from Florida, and Nolan, who transferred from Texas A&M, were the big headliners. But other transfers are making a statement: top tackler Chris Paul Jr. (74 tackles, 10 TFLs) from Arkansas; second-leading tackler T.J. Dottery from Clemson; Amos from Alabama; and defensive back John Saunders from Miami (Ohio). Some current leaders transferred three years ago, like the 325-pound Pegues (Auburn), Ivey (Georgia Tech) and linebacker Khari Coleman (TCU).

The 6-foot-4, 255-pound Umanmielen has had 11.5 TFLs and 8.5 sacks in his last six games and has emerged as a dominant force for the Rebels.

“His quick get-off is phenomenal,” a Rebels coach told The Athletic this week. “He sets them up where he wants to counter them, sometimes with a spin move, or he will go speed-to-power rush at times. One of the (Georgia) tackles overset too quickly because he was so worried about Princely’s speed rush, so (Umanmielen) countered him with a spin move and was able to get a sack. He’s very smart and does a good job of studying the opposing tackles. He picks them apart.”

Umanmielen only played one snap in a 29-26 loss to LSU due to injury.

“If we had him, we win that game,” said that Rebels coach.

The 6-1, 210-pound Perkins, a former five-star recruit, has been another nightmare for offenses.

“He’s so freakin explosive. He’s one of the best QB spies in the country,” said the Rebels coach.

“He is stronger than you think at the point of attack for being a lighter guy,” said a rival SEC DC who has seen a lot of Ole Miss on crossover film. That coach has been very impressed with the job Golding has done this year. “They run more games than he used to at Alabama. He’s been really aggressive on first and second downs and he has really cut that D-line loose.”

What else is on my radar

Trends in the coaching carousel

The coaching carousel often follows perceived trends. This winter is not expected to have a lot of changes, but one thing to watch is whether older, proven winners from lower-levels of football are in vogue. Why? Athletic directors and search company heads have taken note of what has happened at Indiana this year, I’m told.

Curt Cignetti has led the Hoosiers to a 10-0 start. The 63-year-old began his head coaching career in 2011 at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in the Division II PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference), where he spent six seasons before moving on to FCS Elon in the CAA (Coastal Athletic Association), where he went 14-9. Cignetti was then hired at James Madison, where that program elevated to FBS under him; JMU went 11-1 last year in the Sun Belt. Cignetti follows in the success of Lance Leipold, a former Division III coach who has won big everywhere he’s been while moving up.

Cignetti’s established ways in running a program have paid off in Bloomington. It’s why Skip Holtz, who has spent over two decades as a head coach outside the Power 4 and is now winning big in the UFL, could be in play for the Southern Miss and Rice openings. Same for Sam Houston’s K.C. Keeler, a 65-year-old who has won two FCS national titles. Keeler took a team that went 3-9 in its first season in the FBS in Conference USA to a 7-2 mark that began with a blowout win at Rice in August.

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Keeler, I expect, will be in play for the Rice vacancy as well as USM.

SEC QB draft stock

Georgia QB Carson Beck’s draft stock isn’t the only one in an interesting spot. LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier, a redshirt junior who spent much of the previous two seasons on the sidelines watching Jayden Daniels, had begun to emerge as the top quarterback prospect in the 2025 class, according to our NFL draft expert Dane Brugler. But that changed since halftime of the Tigers’ loss to Texas A&M last month.

Nussmeier, the son of Eagles QB coach Doug Nussmeier, ranks No. 30 on Brugler’s latest Top 50 Big Board. “With only 10 collegiate starts on his resume, Nussmeier would be wise to return to school,” Brugler wrote.

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In recent weeks, defenses have continued showing him different pictures and giving him different looks, whether that meant to show six up and bring pressure, or drop out people off the edge.

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Nussmeier has thrown five INTs in the last two games — both double-digit losses. Still, his arm talent is tantalizing.

“I do think he’s the most talented,” a long-time NFL scout told me. “If I were a GM, I would pick him over all these guys. He just needs to play a lot more. I think he’s seeing things that he’s never seen before. He’s got 11 starts and it’s starting to show. (Texas A&M coach Mike) Elko did some stuff to him, and he looks confused.”

“I think he’s as good as any of them,” another SEC DC said. “He is way more aggressive than Carson Beck. He is a true gunslinger, where he’s like, if my guy is covered, I can throw him open — and 70 percent of the time he’s gonna be right. He’s also cost his team at times because they are so much more one-dimensional than Georgia is.

“This kid is probably taking a beating right now. This kid is like Brett Favre. He’s a freaking gunslinger. If he figures it out, in another year or whatever, he can have a really great career. I’m telling you: In big moments, in two-minute drives, you’re like, ‘Holy shit, this dude is good.’”

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A wild-card QB prospect

The biggest wild card in the 2025 NFL quarterback draft class is Louisville’s Tyler Shough. The 6-5, 230-pounder began his career at Oregon before transferring to Texas Tech before transferring again to Louisville. He’s thrown 20 touchdowns and five INTs this season and has thrown nine TDs and just two picks in four games against Top 25 opponents.

“The guy with the best tape in terms of the physical tools is Tyler Shough,” said an NFL scout. “When you watch him compared to the Riley Leonards, Will Howards and Kurtis Rourkes, throw Mark Gronowski in there, Shough’s arm talent looks head and shoulders better. I know there are some age and durability questions about him. He’s never finished a season, so knock on wood, I hope he makes it through this year. He can really chuck it. If you were to tell me four years from now that he’s been able to stay healthy and is a winning starter in the NFL, I wouldn’t be shocked by that.

“It’s a weird (quarterback) class.”

(Photo illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Photos: Wesley Hitt, John Bunch / Icon Sportswire via Getty)

Colorado coach Deion Sanders says he’ll do his part to steer his son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders, and Buffaloes’ receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter to better situations in next year’s NFL Draft.

During an appearance on Fox Sports 1’s “Speak,” Deion Sanders was asked by co-host Keyshawn Johnson if he would step in during the draft process if the “wrong” team drafted Shedeur.

“Yeah, but I’m not going to do it publicly. I’ll do it privately,” Sanders said. “I’m gonna be Dad until the cows come home, and with Travis as well.”

.@DeionSanders says he will step in if the wrong team drafts Shedeur. 👀 pic.twitter.com/WK67vSyouY

— Speak (@SpeakOnFS1) November 12, 2024

Shedeur Sanders and Hunter are both likely first-round picks. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler had Hunter as No. 1 on his latest list of the top 50 NFL Draft prospects. Sanders was No. 23, third among quarterbacks behind Miami’s Cam Ward and Alabama’s Jalen Milroe.

Sanders declined to identify teams he wants Shedeur to play for, but instead pointed to traits he wanted in a team for Shedeur’s next stop.

“Somebody that can handle the quarterback he is and somebody that can handle, understanding what he’s capable of,” Deion Sanders said. “Someone that has had success in the past handling quarterbacks or someone and an organization that understands what they’re doing. Not just throwing you out there amongst the wolves if you don’t have the support and the infrastructure of the team.

“Forget the (offensive) line. He’s played with lines that weren’t great but he’s been able to do his thing. But just the infrastructure of the team and the direction of where we’re going.”

Colorado is 7-2 and ranked 17th in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings. The Buffaloes host Utah on Saturday and are alone in second place in the Big 12, on pace to play for the league title and a spot in the Playoff.

Hunter is atop The Athletic’s Heisman Straw Poll this week.

Sanders has coached his son throughout his football career, from youth leagues to high school and at Jackson State before the duo came to Colorado together after the 2022 season. Sanders also reiterated he was happy to be at Colorado when asked if he would be interested in coaching the Dallas Cowboys, where he played for five seasons.

“Shedeur has started every game in high school, every game in college but one and he is like that, man. He has a true gift. It comes from God and he loves football,” he said. “This kid loves this game and he has an insatiable appetite to win. And I want somebody to be able to propel him to the next level as well, not just get drafted by a team because we ain’t having it.”

Eli Manning, who won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants, famously declared along with his father Archie Manning that Eli would not play for the San Diego Chargers ahead of the 2004 NFL Draft. The Chargers held the No. 1 pick but the Mannings opposed Eli beginning his career there, in part because of how the franchise handled personal problems that arose during Ryan Leaf’s tenure there after being picked No. 2 in 1998. The Chargers drafted Manning but traded him to the New York Giants the same day.

The move echoes one Sanders made during his own draft process in 1989. The Giants asked draft prospects to take a two-hour psychological assessment at the NFL Scouting Combine. Upon learning the Giants had the 18th pick in the draft, Sanders declined to take the assessment.

“I said, ‘I’ll be gone before then. I’ll see y’all later. I ain’t got time for this,’” Sanders recounted in a 2017 interview.

The Atlanta Falcons drafted him fifth overall.

Required reading

Photo: Christian Peterson / Getty Images

BELLAIR, Fla. — There were hushed tones and whispers as 6:30 came and went, as each minute ticked closer to the 7 a.m. tee time. Was there traffic? Has anyone seen her? LPGA and tournament organizers, eager to see Wednesday go off without a hiccup, fretted the day would instead begin with one.

Then, around 19 minutes before her tee time, Caitlin Clark strolled onto the driving range at the Pelican Golf Club. Casual and cool in head-to-toe Nike, an official carrying her bag to the far end where cameras were set up to document her first swings. She thinned the first couple, but soon enough was launching them into the sun as it rose over the tree line. An introduction to her caddie, an insistence to him that she would not care if a club was dropped along the next 18 holes, and a cart ride later, Clark was standing on the first tee box at The Annika next to its namesake and Nelly Korda, the No. 1 golfer in the world — with all the attention on her, a 16 handicap.

This is Caitlin Clark’s normal but something extraordinary for this golf tournament, a crowd that swelled to in the thousands, following the biggest women’s basketball star in the world hit a little white ball.

“We’ve messaged a little on Instagram beforehand but to get to spend some time with her and to see the influence that she has on people, bringing people out here, and to see how amazing of an influence she is just for sports, was really cool to see firsthand today,” Korda said.

So how is Caitlin Clark’s golf swing?

In a word, relatable.

The Athletic sent multiple videos of her swings during Wednesday’s pro-am to golf coach Dana Dahlquist, who works with Bryson DeChambeau, among others. Dahlquist’s biggest takeaway was, like a lot of amateurs, Clark doesn’t load properly into her left side and doesn’t get the hands to square the club face early enough. So by the time she gets to impact, she has to “stand up” to attempt to strike the ball with a square face, which reduces the potential for power, speed, etc.

“For amateur golfers, it’s an interesting thing that all golfers that are not high-level players struggle with the same thing,” Dahlquist said. “They tend to somewhat spin out, tend to have the face more often and if you’re taking lessons it’s a good balance between educating your hands how the club releases and then learning to get to your left side appropriately so you can straighten out your golf ball and make good contact.”

At the same time, Clark’s elite athleticism and understanding of her body still allow her to recover and generate considerable clubhead speed. Her first tee shot was on the same line as Korda’s, and only around 20 yards behind Korda, averaging 269 yards off the tee this year. Even if her approach game leaves her left of her target with a tendency to pull her irons, she always had the length to get to the green.

Clark said she first began playing golf with a pink set of junior clubs, going to the course in Iowa with her dad, and watching Rory McIlroy on TV. She’s since upgraded to Callaway, and in advance of this week (set up through Gainbridge, a title sponsor for this LPGA Tour stop and one of Clark’s sponsors) has been taking lessons from former LPGA pro Martha Foyer-Faulconer in Indianapolis, Golf Week reported.

Clark said following the end of the Indiana Fever’s playoffs she hoped to become a professional golfer in the offseason. It was a joke taken seriously in some quarters, to her surprise, but Clark does want to play competitive golf — against her friends, for bragging rights. “That’s what’s been fun about it. It’s challenging,” Clark said.

Pro golf has occasionally been accused of being too thirsty for attention from other professional athletes and celebrities, eager to bring their youthful energy and audiences to a sport that skews older. That can lead to awkward fits and partnerships that come off as inauthentic.

Clark and the LPGA — this is her second pro-am appearance, after a 2023 PGA Tour John Deere Classic showing — is not that. She is a golfer, casually and comfortably speaking the lingo and dropping Pebble Beach as her bucket list course. She friggin’ cleans the grooves of her irons with a tee as she waits for her next shot.

But she faces unique challenges compared to the rest of us, like LPGA pros lining up to take selfies with her as she walks up the 18th fairway. Or doing a walk-and-talk up No. 7 with Golf Channel, then immediately having to swing — Clark asked for and received a mulligan after chunking her shot 100 yards, and ultimately decided she was done with the hole after airmailing the green. “I’m just the average golfer. I’m going to hit some good, I’m going to hit some bad. It is what it is,” Clark said.

If anything was surprising about Clark’s game, it was how the famously competitive WNBA Rookie of the Year could shrug and laugh off even the worst of shots — a shanked tee shot on the third hole sent a portion of the crowd ducking for cover.

Clark played with Korda on the front nine and then Sorenstam on the back nine. While the former said she was more focused on getting ready for the tournament and light conversation, the latter did offer Clark some swing thoughts.

“It was more just tempo. She hits it a little quick,” Sorenstam said. “She played with Nelly on the front and Nelly is about power, so of course when you play with someone like that you want to swing harder and faster. Now when it’s windy, I’m like, just got to calm down, find the tempo, and try to make sure that club face is more square to the target.”

The Athletic’s Gabby Herzig contributed to this story.

(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; Photo: Douglas P. DeFelice / Getty Images)