OXFORD | Ole Miss held its first preseason practice on Wednesday, shaking off the summer cobwebs and being together for the first time as a full team since spring.

Head coach Lane Kiffin mentioned culture multiple times during his press gathering, and it stems around the necessity for the returning players to adequately mix with nearly 20 transfer portal additions, including several who should occupy key roles for the Rebels.

There are also freshmen such as Davison Igbinosun who should fight for a niche in 2022, so the combination is a cornucopia of influx when it comes to the roster. These weeks prior to the season opener against Troy are critical to that melding into one culture, but a major key happened behind closed doors in the summer.

Each Wednesday during the summer, the players would attend Get Real meetings, gathering together in groups of 10-12 around the facility to go deeper than just introductory or platitudinal conversations. The topic changed each week, and players would take turns sharing experiences.

“Something you’ve been through in your life or a tough situation you’ve dealt with, that’s the ones that stuck out to me,” said AJ Finley, a veteran defensive back and team leader. “Knowing the back stories and what they’ve been through, that makes everyone closer. You share something.”

There’s no set structure to the groups, but they would rotate around so players would learn about each other and get a chance to delve deeper with a larger number of teammates. It might be on the practice field or in the eating area or wherever there’s quiet and room.

Auburn transfer and Oxford native JJ Pegues said the first week there was some shyness with newcomers, but over time players opened up, chose to speak and share and start the process of truly knowing each other.

“The first time you don’t know a lot of people, but once you see someone else do it, you want to express what you’ve come through,” Pegues said. “You put your pride to the side and tell people about your life. I think it will also help on the field, knowing what someone has gone through and what they need or don’t need from you.”

To balance out the difficult but rewarding conversations, the players are building trust and camaraderie through experiences. They’ve gone bowling and swimming and had a paintball outing recently. Pegues claimed he was the best paintball warrior but named Tavius Robinson the closest to him.

“I don’t know if the paintball was bonding because we went for each other,” Peagues joked.

Players repeatedly mentioned respect and trust as the keys to establishing bonds in short order. Cornerback Miles Battle said that comes in many forms, such as picking up a teammate who needs a ride or providing an example to someone new at your position.

Now comes the on-field part, the cohesion necessary to win games in the Southeastern Conference. But some of the heavy lifting is already accomplished, the human side that was needed before the football part even mattered.

“Trying to build a culture and atmosphere because those guys come from other schools from all over the country and they have their ways of doing things so getting them to buy in is big in building that one-team mentality,” Battle said.

“We’ve done a good job of doing things outside of football. Knowing each other and knowing what we’re passionate about and what we believe in.”