OXFORD – Ole Miss senior safety Kapena Gushiken admits there have been occasional lapses by the Rebels’ new-look secondary in the early portions of fall practice. But he doesn’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing.
Ole Miss had the No. 2 scoring defense in college football a season ago, led by a fearsome pass rush and run-stopping unit that led the nation in sacks per game and tackles-for-loss and ranked second in rushing yards allowed per game. The Rebels ranked 86th nationally in pass defense, however, allowing 230.8 yards per game. Opposing passers completed 59.7% of their passes against Ole Miss last season – tied for 51st nationally, according to CFBStats – but threw just 13 touchdown passes, tied for 16th in the FBS.
The Rebels no longer have the luxury of All-SEC cornerback Trey Amos, a second-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, nor do they return any full-time starter in the secondary. Safeties John Saunders Jr., Trey Washington and Jadon Canady are gone, as are cornerbacks Isaiah Hamilton and Brandon Turnage.
A fresh batch of experienced transfer portal defensive backs were brought in during the offseason, however, including sophomore cornerback Jaylon Braxton (Arkansas), senior safeties Sage Ryan (LSU) and Wydett Williams Jr. (ULM) and Gushiken, who previously played at Washington State.
“I think we’ve been doing good,” said Gushiken, who had 52 tackles and two interceptions for the Cougars last season. “I think there’s been a lot of mistakes, but a part of that is you have to make mistakes in order to get better.”
While Ole Miss was forced to reload all over its defense – the only two returning starters are junior linebackers TJ Dottery and Suntarine Perkins – the secondary has been a topic of conversation since the spring. Head coach Lane Kiffin said he has seen noticeable improvement among the defensive backs.
“That’s been really big for us, obviously, to get that group better,” Kiffin said. “But that makes us better on the other side. In spring I felt that was an issue. We weren’t challenged a lot, with secondary issues – and some guys were hurt. So, it’s much better now, deeper, more competition, and it’s in a really good spot.”
Kiffin told reporters earlier in the week he believed the 2025 receivers room is the deepest he’s had since becoming the head coach at Ole Miss. While it’s been good for the receivers to face stiffer challenges in practice, Gushiken believes it goes both ways. If you can shut down the likes of senior De’Zhaun Stribling and junior Cayden Lee, the defensive backfield is probably in a good spot.
“It helps us understand that, if we can lock these guys down in practice, then we can lock down anybody in the country,” Gushiken said. “ … It definitely helps us as DBs, bringing that confidence every day.”
