With fewer scholarships available, Ole Miss takes cautious approach this year in recruiting
OXFORD – For the first time in the Hugh Freeze era, Ole Miss will have a full allotment of scholarships used.
Full, as in all 85 the NCAA allows Ole Miss to give out.
That’s partly why Freeze says the program’s talent level and depth are closer to what is required to compete in the Southeastern Conference, particularly the SEC West.
But it’s also created a problem going forward because replenishing the roster has created an uneven scholarship distribution.
Ole Miss is believed to have 15 scholarship seniors in 2014, and therefore may only be able to sign 15 players in the class of 2015 without attrition from its younger classes. The Rebels currently have 10 commitments, but the latest (Gulfport’s Jordus Smith) is an expected sign-and-place to a junior college.
How did this happen? Keep in mind that Ole Miss does not release a list of players on scholarship, claiming Family Educational Rights and Privacy Actlaws. But through a combination of its National Signing Day classes each year and its own media guide (which often specifies players who joined the team as walk-ons), we can get an understanding.
2012
Freeze has inherited a mess of a roster, one that won all of two games in 2011 and has massive academic issues that threaten to leave around 25 of his players ineligible for the season. The only good news is that the former coach Houston Nutt, in his later years as head coach, heavily recruited junior colleges and brought significant talent out of the high school ranks. As a result, the team is largely made up of sophomores and seniors.
Freeze does not make a lot of reaches in recruiting, adding four early enrollees and 13 freshmen to get to 75 players on scholarship. Being selective in his first recruiting class allows him to load up on available scholarships for down the road, which he’ll soon use.
2013
Ole Miss brings back 53 scholarship players after losing 27 lettermen but only five starters from a team that won the BBVA Compass Bowl. That group out the door includes Ralph Williams (Bethune-Cookman) and Frank Crawford (UNLV), both transferring in the spring semester. Tobias Singleton (Jackson State) also left before the season began.
Freeze uses counting back to bring in large mid-year class that includes five players — Nick Brassell, Quadarias Mireles, Lavon Hooks, Mark Dodson and Christian Morgan. Freeze then signs 22 more freshmen in February to make it a class of 27, adds Florida International transfer Fadol Brown in the summer and gets up to 80 on scholarship.
Ole Miss could have been full a year early, but attrition happens. A.J. Jackson and Marcus Robinson (always a sign-and-place) do not qualify, Brassell flunks out, and Maikhail Miller (UT-Martin) and Kameron Wood (Jacksonville State) both transfer. Punter Will Gleeson enrolls earlier than expected, and Freeze is able to hand out the remaining scholarships to worthy walk-ons.
2014
Both before and following a second-straight season that ends with winning a bowl game, Freeze experiences more attrition. In season, Ole Miss loses Christian Morgan to a career-ending knee injury, and then Ethan Hutson (Troy) transfers after the season is over. Bobby Hill is dismissed, and Austin Golson (Auburn) and Anthony Standifer (Eastern Illinois) transfer after spring practice.
Add that to the 16 scholarship seniors, and Ole Miss has lost 21 scholarship players. There’s still 63 on hand in the spring because of four who enroll early (C.J. Hampton, Marquis Haynes, Jeremy Liggins and Christian Russell). Ole Miss signs 20 additional players on National Signing Day, adds freshman wide receiver Alex Weber after that and brings in wide receiver Damore’ea Stringfellow as a transfer from Washington. There remains two potential academic issues in the class, but cornerback Tee Shepard and defensive tackle Chris Williams both are waiting on the NCAA clearinghouse to approve what Ole Miss says are the necessary grades. As as a result, Ole Miss is now at the full 85.
Ole Miss has done nothing abnormal in building back the program. SEC scholarship rules prevented the coaching staff from signing as many players as it wanted, and perhaps as a result, they are hitting at a high percentage of getting the players they sign to campus.
There have been departures but not widespread (and, outside of Golson, usually in search of playing time that was unlikely to ever happen at Ole Miss). And while Ole Miss has been active recruiting junior colleges, it’s been pragmatic with its JUCO additions.
2015 and beyond
Time will fix things.
Ole Miss has 19 juniors who will be seniors in 2015, and that number of departures could grow if the star sophomores like Laquon Treadwell, Laremy Tunsil and Robert Nkemdiche go pro early. Others will likely transfer.
But for the moment, expect Ole Miss to be cautious with who it will sign in February.