OXFORD — This Ole Miss baseball team will seem, to many fans with fond memories of a 2022 national title, unfamiliar.

With seven transfer additions and a lineup that doesn't include any starters from that championship team, it feels like a new era of Ole Miss baseball after an ugly 2023 campaign for coach Mike Bianco's team.

How will it go for the Rebels? Here are three bold predictions for 2024.

Campbell Smithwick will rank among the SEC's top freshmen

Not everything went right for the Rebels at last summer's MLB Draft, but they scored one major win when catcher Campbell Smithwick wasn't selected.

Smithwick was ranked by MLB.com as a top-160 draft prospect. Perfect Game ranked him as the No. 63 overall freshman. He's in a class of prospect that generally doesn't always make it to a college campus.

He's missed time recently with what Bianco termed a stress reaction in his foot, but Bianco listed him within his projected starting lineup for the opening weekend.

If he's healthy, there's no reason he can't be among the top class of freshmen in the SEC. Managing a pitching staff and learning the defensive intricacies of catching at the collegiate level will take time, but the offense could be an immediate asset.

"I think he's going to fit right in with a long line of great catchers that we've had here," Bianco said. "... He's a tremendous offensive player, and I don't think that surprises anybody if you watch him hit batting practice. I think he's a really athletic kid behind the plate. That part of his game is probably not talked about as much and it should be."

At least one of Ole Miss baseball's sophomore starters breaks out

When Ole Miss didn't snag a headline starting pitcher out of the transfer portal, it signaled confidence in the development of its sophomore duo of JT Quinn and Grayson Saunier.

Neither pitched well as freshmen, holding ERAs north of 6.80.

But Bianco has made it clear on multiple occasions that he believes. Quinn will take the ball on Friday when Ole Miss opens its season at Hawaii, with Saunier following on Saturday.

With veteran southpaw and projected weekend starter Xavier Rivas now joining Hunter Elliott on the sidelines for the season, the Rebels need one ‒ if not both ‒ of Saunier and Quinn to find something if they hope to make an NCAA regional after failing to do so in 2023.

It seems likely enough that at least one of the two will take a step forward. There's too much arm talent between Quinn and Saunier for both to struggle so heavily yet again.

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Ole Miss baseball cracks an NCAA regional – but only just

It's clear from the preseason coaches poll, where Ole Miss was picked sixth in the seven-team SEC West, that the Rebels are not considered to be among the favorites to compete for a conference title.

It's a fair assessment. The Rebels are counting on newcomers to replace the best players from a bad team in 2023, and they need some youngsters to take serious steps forward on the mound, where they struggled considerably a year ago.

Still, the position-player talent Ole Miss acquired over the offseason is impressive. The Rebels should be able to hit well enough to avoid the SEC basement, where they spent the 2023 season.

If Ole Miss can find a way to finish fifth in the West, it will give itself a strong chance at a postseason appearance.

David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Can Ole Miss baseball make 2024 NCAA Regionals, other bold predictions