OXFORD | Jam Griffin has a lot of the marks a team looking for depth would desire out of the transfer portal, and he’s made a solid impression during his first few days at Ole Miss.
The Rebels, who had three scholarship running backs prior to Griffin’s addition, were searching for an extra option and got it with the Oregon State product who started his career at Georgia Tech. The graduate transfer has two years of eligibility remaining.
Griffin got mostly second-team carries during Ole Miss’ scrimmage on Saturday and also caught multiple passes out of the backfield. He brings Ole Miss the experience of 172 Power Five rushes but the limited use of a tailback who has never had more than 85 attempts in one year — that coming in 2022 with the Beavers.
“Talking about Jam, since he’s gotten in here, for a guy that just transferred in, he’s in shape and understands the concepts really well,” said Ole Miss assistant Derrick Nix, who coaches running backs for the Rebels for 12 seasons before moving to wide receivers. “You notice automatically the quickness of his feet and he can get to top speed and accelerate in a hurry.”
The 5-foot-9, 212-pounder joins a backfield featuring preseason All-American and 2022 SEC rushing leader Quinshon Judkins, senior Ulysses Bentley and true freshman Kedrick Reescano. Walk-on sophomore Matt Jones had three carries last season.
Bentley missed time last season with a wrist injury that required surgery and was held out of practice Saturday because of a minor injury, highlighting the need for Griffin. Reescano, a four-star signee, had an excellent scrimmage with approximately 40 yards on seven carries. He was the only running back to be full contact.
Griffin averaged a noteworthy 5.7 yards per carry at Oregon State, scoring four touchdowns and fumbling once on 88 touches. He had 486 yards on those 85 carries and was mostly used in rushing situations. He played 177 snaps, 117 of which were run plays. He averaged 3.80 yards per rush after contact, 66 percent of his rushing yards.
Griffin's best games were 12 carries for 84 yards against USC and eight carries for 75 yards against Oregon.
Oregon State threw to him four times and he caught three of them for 19 yards. The only pass to him beyond the line of scrimmage was a 19-yard gain. The two catches behind the line went for negative-six yards and six yards.
Griffin played 133 snaps as a true freshman at Georgia Tech in 2019, 157 snaps in 2020 and 21 snaps with the Yellow Jackets during 2021 when he entered the portal twice before transferring to Oregon State. In three seasons at Georgia Tech, he had 87 carries, two touchdowns and 375 yards.
He was a four-star prospect out of Rome, Ga., when he signed with Georgia Tech.
"Jam is new, so to be 23 days from our first game, there's an emphasis on how much he needs to know as soon as possible," Judkins said. "Being a run-first offense, that's major for him... Being here so late in the process, it's all about learning as fast as possible."
