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Blake Baumgartner, ESPN Staff Writer
Mississippi sophomore running back Quinshon Judkins is entering the transfer portal, ESPN has confirmed.
In two seasons for Lane Kiffin and the Rebels, Judkins made his presence known.
A year after earning SEC Freshman of the Year honors in 2022 after with an SEC-high 1,567 yards and 16 touchdowns, the 5-foot-11, 210-pound Judkins led the conference this season with 15 rushing touchdowns while finishing second in rushing (1,158) behind Missouri’s Cody Schrader.
The Rebels (11-2 in 2023) won 11 games in a season for the first time in program history, punctuated by a 38-25 victory over Penn State in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl last month.
In that victory over the Nittany Lions, Judkins tied Deuce McAllister’s program record of 14 career 100-yard rushing games as the offense put up 504 total yards against the second-best defense in the country. Penn State had been allowing only 223.2 yards a game coming into the game.
Kiffin’s offense averaged 461.9 total yards per game (13th in the FBS) and 35.1 points per game (16th in the FBS) this season, finishing second in the SEC in both categories behind only Georgia.
Mississippi averaged 176.3 yards on the ground (39th in the FBS) this season. Sophomore Matt Jones is the team’s leading returning rusher (79 yards and two TDs in 2023), with Judkins’ transfer and senior Ulysses Bentley IV (540 yards and four TDs in 2023) graduating.