Clemons has been rated as a three-star DE and the 11th ranked JUCO recruit in 2017. He is the fourth highest rated Ole Miss football commit for 2017.
Under Hugh Freeze, East Mississippi Community College has been a gold mine of talent. Most notably, the Rebels have signed Bo Wallace, Chad Kelly, D.J. Jones, Christian Russell, and Jacob Feeley. It does not look like that trend will be stopping anytime soon.
Monday afternoon, Ole Miss received a commitment from defensive end Rasool Clemons, the second time Clemons has committed to Ole Miss. Originally, Rasool was a four-star defensive end (per 247 sports) out of South Aiken, South Carolina, who signed with Ole Miss in the 2015 class.
He had chosen the Rebels over a host of big offers including USC, in-state South Carolina, Miami, Tennessee, LSU, Clemson, and more.
Because of academic issues, Rasool went the JUCO route, so Ole Miss placed him at East Mississippi. Since being there, he has gone from 6’6 212, to 6’6 236 pounds and plans to gain more.
Because of his continued development, Ole Miss decided to re-offer him a few weeks ago to go along with offers from Texas A&M, Mississippi State, Louisville, and more.
He has long been considered by scouts to be a superb defender with raw talent and with Chris Kiffin as the defensive line coach, you know he will be learning from one of the best. When watching his film, his athleticism and length jumps off the screen and he screams upside.
Rasool plans to be an early enrollee and has three years to play two, which means if a redshirt year is needed to continue to add weight or learn the playbook, he can sit out a year and have two years to play still. At Ole Miss, I see him as a weakside defensive end that will be used as a pass rushing specialist.
Realistically to play all three downs, Ole Miss will probably want him to be around 255-265 pounds and with his body frame, I could easily see him being able to add that by the beginning of the 2017 season.
Next: Ole Miss football: 4-star LB Willie Gay commits to Ole Miss
All in all, Clemons was a great pickup and Ole Miss’ fifth in a little over a week. The commitment brings the 2017 class to 10 commitments total and 31st in the country per 247 sports composite rankings. Look for that ranking to continue to rise.