5 Ole Miss football freshmen already standing out, including one Lane Kiffin won't 'rat poison'

Mississippi Clarion-Ledger
OXFORD — Since Ole Miss football opened preseason practice last week, most of the attention has revolved around Lane Kiffin's bevy of transfer additions and the Rebels' quarterback competition between Jaxson Dart and Spencer Sanders.
Look beneath that surface, though, and you'll find what seems to be another strong group of Ole Miss freshmen, with a handful of rookies already making plays. Here's a look at five standout freshmen performers for the Rebels, who concluded their sixth preseason practice on Thursday.
WR Ayden Williams
Never mind just freshmen, Williams belongs in the team-wide conversation when discussing the players who have flashed the most through the early portion of preseason practice.
The four-star prospect out of Ridgeland, Mississippi, has spent the last two weeks tormenting Ole Miss defensive backs and coming down with highlight-reel catches.
Kiffin, attempting to tone down the hype, refused to pile on the praise earlier this week when asked about Williams.
"I kind of rather you guys just report about how great he is so I can keep him humble and keep him working," Kiffin said. "But you guys see what I see. We still got a lot of work to do but you can report what you see. I'm not going to rat poison my own freshman."
LB Suntarine Perkins
The Rebels just put their pads on for the first time Thursday monring, so the opportunities for Perkins to flash have been somewhat less frequent than his peers at the skill positions.
Still, the five-star freshman from Raleigh, Mississippi, just looks the part.
He's instantly one of the more athletic players the Rebels have on their roster, and though he appears to be playing a more traditional linebacker role in Pete Golding's new defensive scheme for now, he has the requisite physical attributes to be a really versatile weapon for the Rebels once he learns the basics.
WR Cayden Lee
He's been overshadowed to some degree by Williams, but Lee seems to be another hit for the Rebels when it comes to recruiting wideouts.
247Sports rated Lee as a three-star prospect, but his offer list included a number of big-time programs, and it's easy to see why. He's made a handful of eyebrow-raising plays of his own.
There's so much talent within that group of Ole Miss receivers that it's probably not reasonable to expect to see Lee on the field much this fall, but he's certainly one to watch for down the line.
CB AJ Brown
No, Ole Miss hasn't acquired a clone of the AJ Brown it sent to the NFL in 2019 to become one of the league's top receivers.
This AJ Brown plays defense. And if the early takeaways are any indication, he's going to be pretty good at it. The four-star recruit out of Georgia has a nose for the football, and the kind of motor he'll need to succeed early on, too.
"He's a dog for sure," Rebels defensive back Trey Washington said. "He makes a lot of plays. He plays hungry, and I can tell he's hungry. He's gonna help us, for sure."
RB Kedrick Reescano
Similar to Perkins, it's evident that Reescano belongs at this level. His shiftiness and burst are going to make him difficult for SEC defenders to deal with sooner rather than later.
How soon, exactly, is still up in the air. Quinshon Judkins is nailed on as Ole Miss' top running back, but the Rebels run so many plays per game that their backup running back spot is going to see plenty of action. There's a crowd of players seemingly competing for that job, including Reescano and newly added Oregon State transfer Jam Griffin.
"(Reescano) has some elite traits, he was a great high school player, and he did some good things out there also," Kiffin said last week.