OXFORD | Talent is unquestionably the most important attribute in SEC baseball.

The baseline for conference success, especially in this NIL and portal era, is well-above-average ability from a national level, as the league added two recent College World Series participants and is the undisputed best collection of talent and results in the country.

D1Baseball lists four of the top five and seven of the top 10 from the SEC in its initial poll for the season. Three other SEC teams are in the top 20, and all three of Ole Miss’ opening-weekend opponents are ranked in the top 21, giving the Rebels an early glimpse of what’s required.

Ole Miss isn’t ranked following back-to-back below .500 seasons, but in addition to what it hopes is the talent necessary with incoming players, the Rebels went with maturity and experience to retool its outfield.

One of the most likely starting outfield combinations features three transfers who have played a combined 456 games and 10 full seasons.

“A goal going into the portal was to get older guys with college at-bats under their belt,” Ole Miss hitting coach Mike Clement said during Reb Talk. “We accomplished that and guys you’ll see in our lineup. They’ll step in and be a big piece of what we’re doing.”

Ole Miss opens the season on February 14 against Arizona in Arlington at Globe Life Field. The weekend continues on Saturday versus Texas and Sunday versus Clemson.

Isaac Humphrey is Ole Miss’ highest rated portal pickup and a unanimous top 50 transfer target out of Louisville. He hit .310 for the Cardinals with a .978 OPS and 32 strikeouts in 221 plate appearances. He also stole nine bases and had more walks and hit by pitches combined than strikeouts.

Ethan Lege and Andrew Fischer are the only 2024 Rebels who created more runs than Humphrey’s 132 at Louisville. Lege is now in pro baseball, and Fischer transferred to Tennessee.

Mitchell Sanford originally signed with LSU and spent two seasons in Baton Rouge before injuries halted his time there and at UT-Arlington in 2022. The likely centefielder was the Southland Conference Player of the Year in 2024, hitting .381 with 15 home runs and 21 doubles. Sanford is also a plus runner.

Ryan Moerman played three seasons at Illinois and had 19 home runs. He struck out 48 times in 228 plate appearances. The 26 percent strikeout rate needs to improve unless the power completely translates, but the 116 runs created a year ago would have placed fourth on Ole Miss’ roster. The key is the Big Ten to SEC transition.

Moerman gives a right-handed option, as only three of the projected starting nine offensive players hit from that side – Judd Utermark and Luke Hill are the other two, both of whom are certain opening day starters.