Ole Miss Football: Rebels hope to keep Top 20 recruiting class
Ole Miss football has weather the NCAA storm. The Rebels are continuing to recruit at a high level, highlighted a strong 2019 class.
The repercussions of the NCAA investigation into the potential recruiting violations at Ole Miss shook the program to its core. Hugh Freeze’s departure coincided with a low point this program would never have believed coming off the 2013 recruiting class which included four 5-star recruits.
An exodus of transfers left the program with only a handful of premier players. Those few remaining stars (AJ Brown, D.K. Metcalf and Jordan Ta’amu) were enough to inspire confidence in new head coach Matt Luke and the future of Ole Miss football.
That’s how, just a few years removed from what some thought might have been a program-killing ordeal, Ole Miss has returned to the nation’s Top 25 recruiting ranks. With the early signing period nearing, Ole Miss hols the No. 19 ranked class in the nation. The Rebels has 27 commitments, many of which they hope to lock down in December which should lead to a relatively uneventful National Signing Day in Oxford.
Leading the class are five 4-star prospects: running back Jerrion Ealy, wide receiver Dannis Jackson, wide receiver Jonathan Mingo, offensive lineman Darius Thomas and JUCO defensive end Sam Williams. Those five blue-chippers equal the number of blue-chip players committed to South Carolina and are one more than the number of blue-chip players committed to Kentucky, Missouri and Vanderbilt, combined.
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It’s a good start for Ole Miss, but there’s no denying it’s going to be an uphill battle. The Rebel’s 2019 class ranks ninth best in the SEC, just barely behind Arkansas. Ole Miss is going to have to battle to work their way back to the top of the pack, but this class is a sign things are heading in the right direction.