Ole Miss Nabs New Mexico RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt From Transfer Portal.

As the second transfer portal window is in effect following Spring football, Lane Kiffin is mostly expected to focus on playing defense, keeping members of his deep and talented 2024 squad out of the portal. However, on Friday, Kiffin started things off on offense, addressing perhaps the thinnest position group on the team. New Mexico Lobos running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt committed to the Rebs, reversing an earlier pledge to transfer to Arizona. An Alabama native who started his career at Alabama State in 2019, Croskey-Merritt had a pretty middling career, statistically speaking, before busting out with a 1,190-yard, 17 touchdown campaign in 2023, averaging 6.3 ypc. Given that he’s already played significant snaps in five football seasons, it is… unclear how Croskey-Merritt has any eligibility left, but we’ll take it, I suppose.

Croskey-Merritt is currently listed at 5’11 and about 205 lbs, and aside from his considerable productivity, he shows above-average speed and quickness, an ability to make his body narrow to hit sub-optimal gaps, good recognition in the pass blocking game, and a knack for minimizing negative plays.

His commitment comes at a position of great need for Ole Miss. Ulysses Bentley IV has the potential to be electric as a starter, but has spent a lot of his Ole Miss career banged up. Behind him, there’s a true sophomore without a career carry in Kedrick Reescano, a former walk-on, albeit a really good one, in Matt Jones, and a quality P5 starter who is recovering from a major knee injury, status unknown (Logan Diggs).

At this point, it is heavily assumed that the Rebs will take another running back from the portal, with targets including former Ole Miss and current Miami back Henry Parrish, Indiana bruiser Trent Howland, and Peny Boone, a sought-after portal rusher who just three months ago transferred from Toledo to Louisville.