OXFORD — Two injuries in 2023 sent a mediocre Ole Miss football offensive line into meltdown mode.

Micah Pettus, a tackle, couldn't suit up for the final four games of the season. In a lopsided loss to Georgia after Pettus' injury, Ole Miss allowed pressure on 38% of quarterback Jaxson Dart's dropbacks – and Pettus' backup, Jayden Williams, was also injured. The next week, a terrible ULM team bottled up the Ole Miss run game and held the Rebels to seven first-half points. Mississippi State limited Ole Miss to 17 points in the Egg Bowl, before the Rebels regrouped and handled a strong Penn State front seven in the Peach Bowl, despite a high-pressure rate.

All the while, Ole Miss shuffled its offensive linemen around, looking for a five-man unit that could hold its own. It proved elusive.

This year, coach Lane Kiffin hopes, will be different.

"That group in general has never looked like this, where you're like, 'OK, there's competition at all five spots,' " Kiffin said Monday. "We've never had that, where it's a really competitive competition of guys that probably can all play really well at this level. So, it's really good to have."

The Rebels infused arguably their weakest position in 2023 with four experienced transfers.

Diego Pounds, a strong performer at tackle for North Carolina last year, joined the group. So did Washington's Julius Buelow and Nate Kalepo, fresh off appearances in the national title game. Southern Miss standout Gerquan Scott completed the quartet.

The Rebels return three starters from last season's group in Pettus, guard Jeremy James and center Caleb Warren. Williams, who started in 2022 as a freshman, is back, too.

Early returns from open practice periods make it clear that Ole Miss doesn't know its best five-man grouping yet. Pounds, absent from the first unit on Aug. 31, took first-team reps Monday. Kalepo, dealing with an injury, hasn't yet participated in open team periods. Scott has gotten a load of reps at center, despite most of his experience coming at guard.

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If at all seems a bit crowded and chaotic, well, so was the process that brought the unit together.

"We just always look at, 'OK, how can we make the roster better?' You know, NFL model," Kiffin said. "Sometimes that's signing guys – and you don't necessarily know for sure who's gonna necessarily leave, too. You're signing people, and there might be somebody that you think may be coming back and they go in the portal late, or they even go after spring. So, it doesn't quite maybe work exactly the way you would think it would."

The finished product at offensive line isn't yet visible from the outside. But the growth is evident even in the foundation.

The Rebels have, in total, nine linemen who have played extended snaps against high-level opposition in their careers. And many of them are versatile. Kiffin said Ole Miss likes what it's getting from Scott at both guard and center, for example.

Should injury strike and force the Rebels to reorganize again – and that's always a strong bet – Ole Miss should be much better positioned to plug the gaps.

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: Why Lane Kiffin sees progress on Ole Miss football's offensive line