Logan Diggs has played for Notre Dame, LSU and Ole Miss. What’s it really like at all three? Plus, what the Rebels’ RB expects in 2025 —  By Billy Watkins

By Billy Watkins

OXFORD — Logan Diggs was a popular man at Ole Miss’ football media day. He sat before every TV camera on site. Other writers took their turns talking with him. He was my main interview target, too. While I waited, I interviewed other players you can read about here in the coming weeks.

The players were stationed at tables inside the indoor practice facility, the same set-up used at Super Bowls. Finally, there  was only one player and one writer remaining.

“You got time for one more?” I asked. 

Diggs smiled. “Sure.”

He graduated from Ole Miss last December in multi-disciplinary studies. Now he’s focusing on a Master’s certificate in athletic administration.

“You have played at some cool places,” I said.

He smiled and chuckled. “I have,” he agreed.

Diggs, a 23-year-old running back from Boutte, La., spent his first two seasons at Notre Dame. In 20 games with the Fighting Irish, he gained 1,052 yards and scored seven TDs. He ranked third on the team in rushing his freshman season and second as a sophomore.

In 2023, he transferred to LSU — rejoining head coach Brian Kelly, who was his coach his freshman year in South Bend — and was second in rushing with the Tigers,, behind only quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels.

And now Diggs, rated the No. 22 running back nationally in the class of 2021, is in his second year at Ole Miss. The season starts Saturday night at 6:45  in Oxford against Georgia State.

During the Tigers’ Gator Bowl  victory over Wisconsin on the first day of 2024, Diggs suffered a serious knee injury. By the time his surgery was done, he had  entered the portal and Ole Miss was the first team to call. Rebel coaches did not pressure him.

“I knew right then that I didn’t have to take any more (recruiting) calls,” Diggs said. “They said, ‘We want you to rehab, give it your all, maybe be able to play by the end of  the (2024) season. And then be here for 2025.”

He paused. Members of the Ole Miss media staff were taking down the vacant tables and stacking them against a wall. He ignored the noise. 

“This place, these people wanted me when I was at my lowest, when I had no hope. I was injured right there before the NFL draft. I was turning pro after the bowl game. I remember my mom (Ayanni) came down and watched the second half of the game on TV in the dressing room with me. We just sat there in silence. We didn’t know what God was trying to tell us or show us.

“God has a plan for everyone.He brought me to Ole Miss. They helped me get healthy again. And now I hope I can give back to them.” 

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In  52 games, counting the one season  spent rehabbing at Ole Miss, he has been part of  40 victories and just 12 losses. 

In his first three seasons, his game-day homes were two of the most iconic venues in college football — Notre Dame Stadium and Tiger Stadium

I wanted to know what it’s really like to play at those schools. What’s the coolest part about it? He seemed to enjoy the question

“The coolest thing about Notre Dame was probably the culture, the brotherhood. That’s why I went there out of high school,” he said. “It showed me what college football was all about. Walking into that locker room with guys who loved football  and guys I was going to compete with . . . they had a hard-nosed mindset of dominating and being gritty and tough. That’s real up there. It helped mold me into a better, stronger young man.

“Plus, all the history and tradition there was cool,. And coming from an all-boys Catholic high school to Notre Dame — another Catholic school — only strengthened the brotherhood for me.”

So why did he leave South Bend?

“I’m always honest about it,” he said.  “Really, it was about me being greedy. I felt like I wanted more out of myself as a football player. I didn’t see the big picture of what my coach there was  trying to do. Playing three or four backs.  Having fresh guys to come in.  

     “When I look back, it was a blessing. I wanted all those carries, but it takes time to mature. I wanted to go somewhere and be ‘the guy’ and show the world what I could do.”

And the coolest thing about playing for LSU?

“It has to be game day,” he said. “The fans. The walk to the stadium. Walking into Death Valley (the nickname of the stadium). All of that.

“And playing in Death Valley, that’s a big thing for them. They just don’t lose there — they truly believe that. And that was cool.”

The Tigers were 7-0 at Death Valley his lone season in Baton Rouge.

So why did he leave?

“That’s always been kind of a sensitive topic to me, but I just felt like I needed a change,” he said. “After the injury, I wanted to be at the best place, physically and mentally, to overcome the injury. I felt like that place was Ole Miss. They recruited me out of high school, honored me by telling me I was one of the only backs they wanted to sign.  Strange how things work.”

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Diggs is familiar with the Rebels’ Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, as well. He ran for 101 yards and scored two touchdowns for the visiting Tigers in the classic 2023 shootout, won by the Rebels 55-49.

Ole Miss came back from two scores down in the fourth quarter to win. Jaxson Dart threw for four touchdowns and ran for another. Daniels also threw for four, ran for one. Ole Miss had 706 total yards and LSU 637.

“What a game,” Diggs said. “But let me tell you something. If you could ask every member of that 2023 LSU team what the toughest places to play that year was, they would all say ‘Alabama and Ole Miss.’ It was crazy up here in Oxford. That game is probably the most electric, intense game I’ve ever played in.”

He tried to spoil the Rebels’ party. On the game’s next-to-last play from the Ole Miss’ 21-yard line, Daniels threw to Diggs on a wheel route out of the backfield. The Rebels had three defenders around him at the goal line, and the pass was batted away.

“The crazy thing about that play was that we repped it all week in practice and not once did Jaylen throw me the ball. I was the last read on that play,” he said. “I don’t know where it was supposed to go, but it definitely wasn’t supposed to come to me — especially with three or four defenders on me.”

He found out something cool about Ole Miss that day.

“They like to be gritty and tough, too,” he said, “but Ole Miss players have some swag to them. And when I got here, I realized they had that brotherhood, same as it was at Notre Dame. And Coach (Lane) Kiffin helps us grow as football players and as young men.”

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Diggs improved enough to play briefly in Ole Miss’ Gator Bowl victory over Duke last January 2. He had one run for 15 yards and a reception for six yards.

He has put the work in, now it’s a matter of handling the physical and mental tests ahead.  

“It’s been a long road, but I’m on the back end of it now,” he said. “I’m starting to feel more normal every day. A lot of people don’t come back from this, so I’ve been pushing hard through it.”

I asked him what would be a successful season for him personally.

“I’ve been in this mindset for a while, and that is I don’t want anything handed to me. I want to earn everything I get,” he said. “I just want to enjoy being back out there,  playing the game I love without having to worry about accolades or what might happen in the draft. All I can do is control what I can control, trust in God and know that He will never leave me. I’ve done every thing I can and I will  live with the results.”

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