Princely Umanmielen Gives Insight Into Wake Forest, Start of His Rebel Career

Umanmielen has flashed so far this season, but what does this defense need to do heading on the road in Week 3?

Aug 31, 2024; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi Rebels defensive linemen Princely Umanmielen (1) rushes the Furman Paladins quarterback during the first half at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

Getting Princely Unamielen out of the portal this offseason was one of the most important moves for Pete Golding and his revamped defensive front.

Umanmielen has added a spark off the edge for the Rebels so far in 2024, and he seems to be enjoying the start of his career at Ole Miss.

"It's been a great experience playing at Ole Miss as an Ole Miss player," Umanmielen said. "The first game when I ran out of the tunnel, the stadium was way louder than I expected."

Princely also seems confident in how this defense has performed, but the theme of everyone in the Manning Center is not to be complacent.

"I feel like we have been doing a great job as far as stopping the run," Umanmielen said when asked how he would assess the defensive line play. "We are only two games into the season. We've got a little more stuff we need to clean up to be like truly elite at every single phase of the defense."

The Rebels sound confident heading into their first road test in Winston-Salem. Wake Forest is a Power Four team, but that hasn't impacted the focus of Umanmielen or the rest of the team. For them, the preparation process is the same each week.

"Week-in and week-out, we go into the game with the same mentality, no matter who we are playing," Umanmielen said. "We are going to go into Wake Forest and try and dominate them just like we have these past two weeks."

It should be a good test for the Rebels, but the confidence is high, and Ole Miss is hungry to make another statement. The game against Wake Forest is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, and the game will be televised on The CW.