Well, we’re here at the home stretch of the summer doldrums, with about 30 days until Ole Miss (hopefully) names its score against Furman and we get a look at the entirety of the 2024 Rebel roster.
With the end in sight, and with the big Ole Miss recruiting event of the summer already behind us, let’s take general stock of how things are going for Lane Kiffin in recruiting.
“The Big Three” in Mississippi
In case you’re pretty much checked out of the current high school recruiting landscape, this year within the state of Mississippi there are three offensive superstars – a wide receiver, a running back, and a quarterback – who sit atop the statewide rankings, and are all pretty much consensus top-50 players nationally. It wasn’t too long ago that Quitman running back Akylin Dear was committed to the Rebs, George County QB Deuce Knight was considered likely to flip his commitment from Notre Dame over to Ole Miss, and Choctaw County wideout Caleb Cunningham received a couple of controversial picks from recruiting analysts to eventually sign with Lane Kiffin and co.
Now, Dear has backed off his commitment (but also has not committed to Alabama, as most thought he would), Knight has verbally reaffirmed his Notre Dame pledge (though he is certainly still entertaining overtures from Ole Miss), and Cunningham has committed to the Crimson Tide. Where there once seemed to be a path for the Rebs to sign all three of these superstars, now it’s looking like we’ll be lucky to sign one. I have all the faith in the world that Lane Kiffin will sign a good class and fill the team’s needs (and will heavily draw from the portal to fill any remaining holes), but it’ll be impossible to consider this class a success while going 0/3 on a historic trio of Mississippi-made blue chips. In the NIL era, it’s likely a matter of whether Kiffin and the Grove Collective are willing and able to “overpay” for the spots these three would occupy. But in my opinion, it would be hard to put a price tag on the statement it would make to keep these guys in the ‘Sip.
**late edit: Deuce Knight is strongly rumored to have visited Oxford earlier this week, for whatever that’s worth. Maybe it means nothing. But maybe… maybe it means EVERYTHING?!?!
Deion Smith, the next great Ole Miss recruiting meme?
When we first started this Web Sight back in 2006, we all wrote under pseudonyms, lest we get in trouble for cussing online, and a few of us still do: namely myself, One Man to Beat, and JUCO All-American. JUCO, of course, named himself in reference to what was already a well-established trope in Ole Miss recruiting: the JUCO stud that is supposed to come in and boost the program, only to come in and underwhelm… or to not make it to campus at all. Well, the latest iteration of that phenomenon appears to be playing out before our eyes, as we wait for former LSU and JUCO All-Universe wide receiver Deion Smith works to get his sh*t right and join the program. A 6’4 dynamo with speed and moves after the catch, some recruitniks have breathlessly predicted that Smith would end up being the best wideout in Oxford come this fall. And while that could still be the case, Smith did not report with the rest of the players at the beginning of this week, and his status is the source of rumor and speculation. At issue, we generally hear, is a considerable academic hole that Smith dug while he had one foot out the door at LSU. Ole Miss will certainly be fine at receiver either way, but if Smith is the early draft pick he’s made out to be, he’d certainly come in handy come College Football Playoff time. Failing that, however…
Ole Miss set to make a super late 2024 addition?
Both 247 Sports Ole Miss reporter David Johnson and On3 recruiting analyst Zach Berry have predicted that the Rebs are set to add one final piece to its 2024 roster (excluding Deion Smith) in Utah State receiver and return specialist Micah Davis. An honorable mention All-Mountain West selection last year, Davis is a Georgia native, listed at 5’11 and 185 lbs. Davis is able to transfer outside of the normal portal recruiting windows because Utah State fired its head coach. For me, it’s hard to see this news and not read into what it might infer about Deion Smith, but Davis certainly fills a different role. He gives Jordan Watkins a break as the primary returner, letting him focus on wide receiver, where he’s more valuable. He also gives the Rebs another experienced slot man if Watkins or Caden Lee were to suffer an injury. It could be that Davis didn’t have too much time to make a decision, and Kiffin is always keen to add competition and experience to the roster if it’s available.
We’ve got some more thoughts and notes on the Rebels’ recruiting efforts so far this season, which we’ll hash out within the next couple of days; stay tuned for more within the next couple of days. We’ll talk about who could be the next few guys to join the 2025 class, some extra takeaways from Juice Fest, and what the Rebs need the most down the stretch.
