The "work in progress" sign is still hanging in Oxford as Beard continues to massage a volatile transfer class. Chris Beard isn't racing the clock in the portal; he’s trying to beat the market to find the missing pieces for 2026.
Ole Miss has stacked some portal wins recently, yet one question haunts the fan base: Why isn't Beard swinging for the fences on marquee names anymore?
Chris Beard explains portal changes this season
The Ole Miss HC explained it to 247 Sports.
"Roster construction each spring is always going to be a little different based on your needs and who you have coming back but I do think, like everything with our program, as we evaluate and try to get better, you kind of look back at some things that worked and things that didn't quite work," Beard said.
"I think we went back through every situation and every decision we made, not only last year but in years previous — the ones that worked and the ones that didn't work."
The Rebels have suffered a few setbacks in losing key players like James Scott and Eduarko Klafke to the portal, but they've also had big wins with Ilias Kamrdine returning.
ND Okafor flipping to Mississippi State was a gut-punch they weren't prepared for, but luckily, Beard still has manageable positional depth at forward.
"Our roster is a work in progress," Beard said, adding he believes his program has momentum working to its advantage in the portal. "I don't think the roster construction ever stops. We're just continuing to try to identify our needs and continuing to identify the pieces that fit and certainly trying to increase the overall talent on the roster."
As said earlier, it's still a work in progress. We'll see how it turns out.
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