OXFORD | Michael Trigg, during Saturday’s scrimmage, found an opening in the middle of the field and grabbed the ball out of the air, getting into the end zone moments later.
It was an on-target strike from Jaxson Dart, and Trigg said on Tuesday it was a pass that is a year in the making. The former USC teammates transferred to Ole Miss together, and they are roommates in Oxford. Somewhat inseparable, the pair has shown excellent chemistry on the field so far.
“Honestly we do everything together,” Trigg said. “If he’s hungry and I’m not hungry, we’ll go eat together. It’s just like that. He’s my brother.”
"That's what we practice. Me and Jaxson are just chilling at the house we'll go to the indoor, and I'll stand in that exact spot and he'll put it in that exact spot. That's the catch we'll work on. We'll do it in practice and it's like second nature, and we just rep it over and over again."
Trigg caught seven passes for 109 yards during his lone season with the Trojans. Plagued by injury during the majority of the year, he played in six games as a true freshman.
Surrounded by several familiar faces, Trigg has shown well during spring work, hauling passes from all over the place and also learning to block at the position. He mentioned he’s excited for the physical part of tight end to improve his draft stock.
Ole Miss tight ends coach John David Baker was at USC when Trigg committed to the Pac 12 school, and he called Baker first when he entered the transfer portal. There’s a comfort in that relationship as well as with two other fellow former trojans on the offensive staff — analysts Seth Doege and Dane Stevens.
“I know we’re kind of implementing some USC spread stuff so it’s good,” Trigg said.
While Trigg and Dart have plenty of practice together, the 6-foot-3, 240-pounder is also working to develop continuity with Luke Altmyer, who, too, found Trigg for a touchdown on Saturday.
“(Luke and I) already knew each other and the first week here we weren’t even practicing as a team but I was here throwing with Luke and it’s good,” Trigg said. “Both quarterbacks have a strong arms and my connection with Luke is going to get better over time because we just started throwing together.
“My connection with Jaxson we’ve been tougher for a year so there’s a difference but me and Luke can get on that same page, as well.”
Trigg’s athleticism is a known. He was the No. 71 overall prospect in the 2021 class out of Tampa, Florida. He had 47 offers and could have had one from any school he wanted. Lane Kiffin knew what potential was there then, and he’s seeing it on the field now. Development and maturation should continue to come, but the talent is obvious.
"He's just a unique skill set," Kiffin said. “Knox (Kiffin) was here and we were talking about it afterwards. He just said grown-man catches. I was trying to describe what it looks like. It's kind of like when the older guys play with the younger guys and there's the guy in high school playing with the junior high kids, that's kind of how he plays.
"Not necessarily faster and quicker than everybody, but his body control and his length looks like, even though he's younger, because he's a freshman, it looks like he's older than them playing with younger guys. It's very unique."
