Ole Miss Football: A Very Brief Look At Ole Miss Football Recruiting
It hasn’t been a very good season for Ole Miss football on or off the field. Nothing reflects a bad season more than poor recruiting.
Ole Miss football has been in a state of turmoil for the past few years and is being seen in one major area, recruiting. At one point it looked like Ole Miss was really pulling in a few good recruits. How well we remember the Freeze YAHTZEE tweets. However, then the resignation of former coach Hugh Freeze resulted in the sudden de-commitments of two highly touted players.
The state of Ole Miss football recruiting has remained stagnant in the wake of the upcoming COI ruling and a very sub-par season under a very interim head coach. No it hasn’t been pretty at all. While many players are still in the wait and see mode concerning Ole Miss football and their commitments, there have been a few bright spots. Ole Miss is back up to 10 solid commitments from the low number of 8 after Freeze resigned.
At this point in the season 10 is not a good number to be at however it’s not surprising and could be much worse. Considering we are at the bottom of the conference in SEC play it’s not much of a surprise we’d be ranked 14th in the SEC from a recruiting standpoint.
We all know we’ll see a new staff in Oxford next season and very soon we’ll also know the ruling of the COI. One question is, can Bjork make a big-time hire to bring in a late but talented recruiting class? The other question is, will the COI be willing to accept self-imposed sanctions? These are the two big swings in a decent recruiting class and a sub-par recruiting class.
OHT Promised Bright Spots
Ole Miss Rebels Football
In college football recruiting there are trends which we can look at. Ole Miss football fans can look at the commits from this class thus far and see several recruiting trends. Rebels fans don’t have to rewind very far to see there have been deficiencies in recruiting in the past on the defensive side of the ball.
With this class, whom all have been recruited by the staff which Freeze hired at the end of the 2016 season, we see a focus on defense. Of 10 hard commits 8 of them are defensive players.
Another exciting trend thus far from this class is the fact there are five players from the State of Alabama. When you can gain the commitment of players from two SEC opponents backyards then it’s a positive.
Still Areas Of Concern
There are five defensive linemen among the 10 commits. Of course, with the planned and hoped for resurgence of the Landshark Defense we can expect to see linemen in this class. There are four defensive tackles and one defensive end. We all know the defensive line is one of the strongest aspects of our defense this season so it’s good to see that group reinforced with good talent.
However, our main areas of concern are at linebacker and in the secondary. With only two linebackers and one corner-back among the commits there certainly needs to be more focus placed on those areas moving forward. So far this season we have seen the deficiencies in those two areas which have to be shored up with good, young talent.
Don’t Give Up Hope
Don’t give up hope on Ole Miss football recruiting just yet. Things will get better with time and that is what we are considering to be in the very near future. There is a growing sentiment among many Ole Miss Rebels faithful the COI ruling will come very soon. Also included within that sentiment if the belief the COI will accept the self-imposed sanctions offered by the university. If this is the way it begins to play out we’ll see things swing upward for recruiting.
Add to that the fact there will be a new staff in Oxford soon after the post-season and we could see a dramatic improvement in the recruiting picture at Ole Miss in the hours leading right into National Signing Day! Hotty Toddy!