Ole Miss football flips Austin Simmons in huge recruiting win

Ole Miss football didn’t sign a quarterback in the 2023 recruiting class until the Rebels did on Saturday as Austin Simmons flipped and re-classified.

Lane Kiffin always seems to have something up his sleeve and after some reports about four-star quarterback Austin Simmons this week, the one-time 2025 quarterback has flipped his commitment to Ole Miss football.

Simmons was initially committed to Florida as part of the 2025 class. There were rumors that he was going to re-classify. However, Simmons shot down those rumors on Friday.

But they did prove to be true, at least the part about Simmons re-classifying because the 6-foot-3, 195-pounder has joined the 2023 Ole Miss football recruiting class, which means he’ll be able to enroll in the fall and could play as early as next season.

Here’s part of what the top-100 quarterback (now in the 2023 class) said about his move to On3.com in a statement sent to the website:

"“I will be Flipping My Commitment and taking my talents to The Sip! Also after long conversations with my family and mentors, I have decided to Reclassify to the Class of 2023. I can’t wait to see what my future holds! To Coach Kiffin and the rest of the coaching staff, thank you for giving me this opportunity to bring a National Championship to Oxford!”"

Another big recruiting win for Lane Kiff and Ole Miss football

You have to tip your cap to Ole Miss football head coach Lane Kiffin. He’s done a stellar job in the transfer portal over the years at the quarterback position, but this is the first big high school recruiting victory at the quarterback position.

Simmons is ranked 159th overall right now according to the On3 Industry rankings. He’s ranked 12th in the 2023 class and he’s a really interesting piece going forward.

The Rebels have Jaxson Dart, Spender Sanders, and Walker Howard duking it out to be the starting quarterback in the 2023 season. I wouldn’t expect Simmons to factor seriously into the conversation, but getting to spend a year redshirting and developing could be critical.

Howard probably was hoping that he was going to be the quarterback of the future and it could lead to an interesting competition going into 2024. But Simmons is a special talent and in his own class, he ranks as one of the elite prospects.

And after Ole Miss football didn’t sign a 2023 quarterback, adding an elite passer at this stage of the game is a boon, even if Simmons is more about the future than helping right away.