Football

Ole Miss staying busy, signs Oregon edge Blake Purchase

Ole Miss lost two key defensive starters this week, but has been quickly working to bring them back and fill their loss with portal additions.

Published

4 months ago

January 16, 2026

Taylor Hodges

Ole Miss Rebels coach Pete Golding on the sidelines during game against the Miami Hurricanes

TJ Dottery or Princewill Umanmielen could possibly end up coming back to Oxford, but the Rebels aren’t waiting around to find out.

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— Pete Golding (@CoachGolding) January 16, 2026

Ole Miss has signed Oregon edge Blake Purchase to join coach Pete Golding’s 2026 transfer portal class. On3’s Zach Berry reports that he has already signed.

Purchase was a second-stringer with Oregon, playing behind Teitum Tuioti and Matayo Uiagelelei. He recorded 13 tackles, two sacks and an interception. He’ll at least add some depth to the edge position for Ole Miss. And who knows? If he’s given more playing time, he could show he’s a great player.

Does this mean Dottery or Umanmielen can’t reverse their decisions to enter the transfer portal and come back to Ole Miss? No. Dottery is a middle linebacker and Ole Miss is already reportedly planning to hold Umanmielen to a contract he already signed.

However, even before this week, Ole Miss had signed a lot of defensive players, in addition to other players returning (although that’s become less certain).

Will Echoles, Kam Franklin and Jam Brown are set to return along the defensive line. Ole Miss has added a pair of defensive linemen from the portal in Florida’s Michai Boireau and Colorado’s Jeheim Oatis. The Rebels also added an edge player, Nelson Maldonado, and a linebacker, Keaton Thomas.

The Rebels would absolutely be better with Dottery and/or Umanmielen back in the fold, but if not, the sky definitely isn’t falling in Oxford.