A good many football and baseball questions filled this mailbag, so let's get to it. To avoid redundancy, I combined some answers and just posted one version of the questions that fit those categories.

On to the topics...

Driver: Taylormade Sim2

Three wood: Taylormade Sim2

2 Hybrid: Callaway Rogue

Irons: PXG three iron and five through gap (48 degree)

Wedges: PXG 52, 56, 60

Putter: Piretti Teramo

Bag: Stitch SL2 Gen2

The 2 hybrid and three iron basically do the same thing, but it shows that I'm a bit of a mental midget on the golf course. I feel more comfortable with each one depending on the shot. Plus, the three iron flight is pretty low and rolls, so there are some instances where that's better than a hybrid flight. However, one or the other would be fine.

I'll say Jaxson Dart is a mid-to-late pick in the first round. It's a fairly thin quarterback class, and I expect him to take another jump in year three with Lane Kiffin.

A genealogist in our family, Marjorie Parham Hailey, put together a family history book in 1987. It's 350-plus pages and is very detailed with a family tree dating back centuries and pictures from the United States and England.

It says the first Parhams arrived in Charles Citie County, Virginia in 1655, with some descendants moving to Mississippi in the 1840s. I've never studied it, but I'll take her word for it.

That he takes the Florida job at the end of the season. Ok, I'm sorry, I should have warned you before doing that to you. In all seriousness, that's potentially the next major threat, so that's the most likely one until it passes and another surfaces at some point.

NFL teams don't seem to be doing the college route right now, outside of Jim Harbaugh, so college teams are more severe threats. I don't know the level Kiffin would consider the Florida gig, but the timing is interesting to me.

Ole Miss has done a phenomenal job providing NIL and resources and football, and with Kiffin at the helm, it's arguable if Florida is even a better job. The Rebels' chore and challenge is having the necessary NIL moving forward where this is an annual thing of being competitive at the top end of the portal.

I've been calling it a proof-of-concept year because if Ole Miss can win a lot of games and recharge the NIL coffers, there's the evidence of staying power, and Kiffin doesn't need a wandering eye to Florida or all but.a handful of jobs.

If the collective bank account falters any or the season doesn't go as expected, there's maybe some uncertainty there. This season just feels big in every way. It feels like the opportunity to put staying power behind a lot of things.

Kiffin is already going into year five and the longest he's been anywhere as a head coach. No one expected that in 2019.

No. Mike Bianco will be the Ole Miss baseball coach when the Rebels head to Arlington, Texas, to open the season against Clemson, Louisville, Oklahoma State or Arizona.

I don't know yet. I'm not sure we know who any of the three weekend starters are, and there are also several questions around the position players. The MLB Draft soon will give a few more answers.

Look, things don't look good, but I'm just not making an early prediction. There's plenty of time for that once the dust settles. From a Pythagorean winning percentage perspective, Ole Miss "should have" won eight or so conference games each of the past two seasons.

There will be a salary cap as it pertains to the SEC and how much the schools pay annually to players through revenue share.

The current amount expected is $22 million, and while it's up to the schools to figure out how to dole that out inside their departments, there's a defensible theory that schools will mostly follow the same formula the NCAA is using for backpay: 75 percent for football, 15 percent for men's basketball, 5 percent for women's basketball and 5 percent for whatever else.

Is that what ends up happening? No clue. Under that formula, men's basketball would still need outside money to meet its current NIL numbers, and baseball would be below it's annual number currently, as well. The revenue sharing sets a cap on athletic departments, but it doesn't eliminate collectives from paying over it.

Where does Title IX come in? Do you have to pay to all sports or only sports with net revenue? To be determined.

Also, the $22 million is a little misleading; the real number will be higher in the SEC. The rules allow for but don't require scholarship increases -- going to full scholarships in all sports -- and Alston payments to count toward that $22 million.

However, SEC schools will end up funding the $22 million in straight revenue share and then paying the scholarship increase and Alston payments on top of that. In that scenario, Ole Miss' real number in the budget is $26 million or $27 million.

It's an 8.5 or so right now because while there's time left to get guys out of the portal and to salvage things with the MLB Draft, the margin for error just feels very small.

Ole Miss needs to use the money "saved" from the major departures this past week and replace them with the same cash, finding players that are similar or better. They need someone like Riley Maddox to return for next season, and they need some true development to occur with the current roster.

Ole Miss doesn't have a money problem; it has a reputation problem. The Rebels aren't A&M when it comes to NIL, but the amount is plenty to be way more competitive than the current situation. Players don't expect Ole Miss to be very good next season, and that's been a problem with accumulating and keeping talent.

This comes on the heels of Ole Miss having a worsening reputation in recruiting circles with pitcher development. The Rebels hired Joel Mangrum from the Guardians to assist with that, but it's not going to be an overnight change.

It's one thing when players transfer to smaller schools, but it's another when JT Quinn commits to Georgia, and Trenton Lyons is at NC State. It sets up situations of seeing what different programs do with players.

The SEC is so damn good and is only getting better. What was an 18-win roster five years ago feels like a 14-win roster now. You not only have to meet the previous standard, but you have to elevate, too.

I think the true way to fix it is through a high school class that's very competitive, and this is a very good high school class. Develop them, play them and then work with the portal to fill holes. It's what the top SEC schools are doing.

The issue is I don't think Mike Bianco has that kind of time. Even if it's a 2017 class situation, would he be here to see it through in 2018? That's why this is complicated.

So, yeah, that's the number I'd put on it. Let's evaluate again in August. There's a lot of work to do.

1. The 2005 regional win and the game one win against Texas. It felt like that team was on the cusp of doing something very special over those seven days or whatever. Also, and this is a bit of a dorky answer but when I was named sports editor of The Daily Mississippian. I started writing sports for newspapers while still in high school, and then I switched to political science for a year thinking I was going to law school or into politics in some way. When I switched back to journalism, I wasn't sure I was doing the right thing. Getting the sports editor job and having a lot of success that following academic year really set my path.

2. I do. Maybe I'm naive, but I think there will be a point where we realize and actually use our actions to show the middle matters. I hope we're at the top of the bell curve and are about to fall in a good way. There are so many reasons for where we are and in this reality TV version of politics. It's a terrible thing. I have hope it's not lasting. I do think I believe it'll get better.

3. I would choose New England,. Savannah gave me a ton of pause, but since you included the whole region, let's go with that. I love New Orleans, but for me at least I've done it so much it's not in the running for this question.

There are a couple reasons, in my opinion. First, the failed bear and landshark abomination have taken the appetite away from trying again. It's been a mess for a long time, and I don't think the administration wants to have that battle with everything else going on. Also, it's so tied to Kiffin that you'd need to really commit to it being a lab but not being Juice in any way.

I think the lab is a good idea. Make some stuffed animals and sell them like crazy. The reasons not to do it are just to avoid the headache and it's weird optically with Juice being the coach's dog. In a hypothetical world where Kiffin did take the Florida job (I'm, just making a point), Juice would be on the other sideline in 2025 in Oxford.

I think every sport is going to be asked to cut back in some capacity, but I don't foresee right now a sport being cut -- partly because it's terrible to take away opportunities, it doesn't really save that much money.

If Ole Miss had to cut a sport, it would have to be a men's sport because of title nine, and the three obvious candidates would be men's track and field, men's golf and men's tennis. In this world where you had to pick one, I THINK it would be men's tennis. I get the history, and I miss it being a top-tier sport at Ole Miss. I went to a lot of tennis matches during and right after college.

My tiebreaker for those three sports is what gives you more back in exposure, and track and field Olympians and professional golfers are far more likely than professional tennis players with name value. It's a terrible thought exercise because cutting sports is so against what this is supposed to be.

Now, in saying that, I don't think a sport will be cut. Take tennis for example, what's it really saving? Maybe $1 million? Women's tennis still exists so you don't save anything on the facility. Upkeep is the same. You're saving scholarships, travel, coach salary and equipment? It just isn't enough of a benefit in my opinion.

I haven't heard anything negative about Walker Howard's development. I expect a heck of a fight for the second quarterback job assuming Austin Simmons is good from a health standpoint. Someone that I trust did tell me that about the Peach Bowl. There's a lot to like about Simmons, but I don't think Howard haas disappointed in any way. He's very much in it.

I'm not getting a tattoo. That's completely off the table. I'd go to dinner with Wes in this scenario. Break some bread. Talk about how 2022 Tennessee baseball saved the sport. Have a cocktail or two. It sounds like a hoot.

I'm picking Georgia to win the national title until it loses a regular season game. I don't care if the Bulldogs are the favorite. You said best bets, so that doesn't mean who do I think is the favorite for the other ones.

For the Heisman, I think throwing a hundred on Dart at +2,000 and a hundred on Riley Leonard at +2,500 make sense. Notre Dame should be pretty good, has an easy schedule, and the media will hype the mess out of them late in the year.

On win totals: Ole Miss over 9.5, Texas A&M under 8.5 and Tennessee over 9.

It's weird, but I like watching that guy on YouTube who rates all the death row last meals. The things some people choose are fascinating to me. I know the first thought is to pick some really good, expensive food or go out there with something you've loved in the past, but if there's ever a time for comfort food, this is it.

Give me some great fried chicken, mac and cheese, Brussels sprouts and cornbread. Maybe some mashed potatoes and gravy. Chocolate pie. I don't think I'd even be able to eat anyway. But, if so, the great steak and shrimp meal just doesn't feel right for the occasion.

I know it sounds like a cop-out, but I'll remember the 2022 national championship game the most because of what it was for me professionally and personally after covering that program for so long. I've been to games that were more exciting or meaningful on a bigger scale, but that's what popped in my head.

On TV, it was the Saints NFC Championship win over the Vikings. That one felt different than the Super Bowl because there's a part of the Super Bowl, at least until halftime, where you're just glad to be there. But the Vikings game almost killed me. There was so much positive emotion when that kick went through to win the game.

I've been to pro high-level tennis matches, but I want to go to Wimbledon.

It's not good news, for sure, but it's not alarm. It's the world of recruiting in 2024. Welcome to musical chairs and enjoy the ride -- positively and negatively -- until the players show up on campus for good.

Things aren't over with multiple of the decommits and Ole Miss, and you just take the good with the bad and move on. Everything is different because of the multiple funnels available to get players. Fifteen years ago this would justify crazy panic. Now it's just a bad Tuesday.

The default answer for the program for years would be to say linebacker, but I'm very high on TJ Dudley and think with the improved defensive front, there will be a lot of opportunities for players on the second level. My hot take is Dudley will lead the Rebels in tackles.

This probably isn't completely fair, but I'll say offensive line just because of the variables. The group has to protect Dart in what's expected to be huge games down the stretch. It also has to provide for a running game that doesn't have Quinshon Judkins. You need the newcomers to the unit to become cohesive with the returners.

Kiffin has always run the football effectively and mixed and matched as needed up there, but with the expectations where they are, more might be required of the offensive line.

It's a good situation for the Rebels that an obvious answer didn't come to mind.