Christmas may be a week away but Wednesday the early signing period began and Christmas came early for Coach Matt Luke and Ole Miss football.
The Christmas holiday is a wonderful time of year and it is a season of giving and receiving. Well Christmas came early for coach Matt Luke and Ole Miss football Wednesday with the 2018 early signing period. Luke and the Rebels once again turned a potential train-wreck into a top ranked Ole Miss football recruiting class.
Wednesday coach Matt Luke and the Rebels jumped into the national recruiting headlines with a No.23 ranked class inking a total of 25 letters of intent. While there were a few misses with the class it was expected by many Ole Miss football fans to be much worse considering everything the program had been thru in recent weeks.
Not An Easy Task
Ole Miss Rebels
Unlike 2017 there were a few obstacles which coach Matt Luke was forced to deal with prior to the early signing period. The Rebels of course hired a new defensive coordinator within the past two weeks and still have no obvious choice for the vacant offensive coordinator position. This made many of the pundits expect the worse and Rebels fans were beginning to agree.
Given the circumstances Ole Miss football fans couldn’t have really expected Wednesdays outcome to be much better. As with any college football recruiting period there was plenty of drama and a few hurt feelings but Luke and the Rebels fared very well. Of course, there were also a few surprises.
Dedicated to Ole Miss
One pleasant surprise was the LOI from longtime Rebels commit Grant Tisdale who a few pundits projected to sign elsewhere. Tisdale is a dual threat quarterback who was heavily recruited but has continued faith in Matt Luke and the Ole Miss football program. There was also Sam Williams who is the 2018 JUCO defensive player of the year and Dontario Drummond who is rated as one of the top receivers from the JUCO ranks in 2018.
Considering everything which coach Matt Luke has had to deal with in his time as HC at Ole Miss then we can or should appreciate what he has done. In two years he has had two Top25 recruiting classes and has had to deal with many hurdles. While many Ole Miss Rebels fans haven’t played for or coached in Oxford we should keep a few things in mind. Coach Matt Luke is a Rebel. Period. Luke has a fervor for making this program great again. Two Top-25 classes given the entire situation is hard to dispute.
While many of us may disagree on a variety of issues concerning Ole Miss football we should all give Matt Luke the chance to show what this class can do on the field. OHT will be breaking down this signing class in further detail in the days ahead and will be giving updates on the remaining commits who have yet to sign. For now, welcome to Ole Miss for all the new signees and Hotty Toddy!