The 2026 NFL Draft is sleeping on Ole Miss WR De'Zhaun Stribling, and he's giving them more reasons not to.
The WR's a complete package. Not only do they get elite speed and a vertical threat in him, but they also get a leader capable enough to be the glue holding the WR room together when everything falls apart.
De'Zhaun Stribling opens up on Lane Kiffin's exit
Lane Kiffin's exit and the weeks following it were probably the toughest circumstances Ole Miss pulled through, even thougher than the CFP showdowns.
But the jersey #1, Stribling, explained how he pushed the players to believe in themselves in the most insanely-timed coaching change of the decade.
"Yeah, I think for more of the younger guys, it had a big effect on them, because they’d never really been through something like that before. But me, being like an older guy and a leader on the team, my only job was just to keep the whole team morale up, keep everyone in some high hopes, very locked in, and focusing on the main thing," Stribling told PFSN, talking about the aftermath of Kiffin bailing on the Rebels.
"It was quite a distraction," he said. "We talked about it constantly, like, ‘What is he going to do? Is he going to leave? Is he going to stay? What happens next?’ [I was] just trying to keep everyone level-headed and keep everyone focused on winning games."
Stribling locker room pep talk was simple: it's all about the ones making plays, not the ones calling them from the tunnel.
“That allowed everyone to really stay locked in. Lane Kiffin is a great coach, great guy, called a lot of great plays, but [I was] showing everybody that, “hey, we’re the ones out there making all the plays. Just because he’s not here anymore doesn’t mean we’re not out there. We’re all the playmakers. We make everything come to life, so just have hope and trust each other.”
These are the type of intangibles that scouts drool over. The franchise already spends millions on staff who can make any decent player learn the required skills. What they need are players with the right mindset to lead the locker room.
Stribling is already considered one of the most underrated players in this draft, and any team that gets him will surely be hitting a jackpot of a wideout.
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