Continuing a jaw-dropping run on the 2013 recruiting trail, Hugh Freeze and Ole Miss have officially landed the biggest fish in this year’s overflowing pond of prospects.
In a nationally-televised announcement made at his Georgia high school Wednesday morning, Robert Nkemdiche confirmed that, as many have expected, he will be signing with Ole Miss. The five-star defensive end is the No. 1-rated recruit at any position according to Rivals.com, 247Sports.com, Scout.com and pretty much every other recruiting service on the planet.
Nkemdiche’s decision ends a wild eight-month ride for the 6-5, 260-pound lineman.
In June of last year, Nkemdiche surprised many an eyebrow by committing to Clemson. Five months later, and after some very public posturing on the part of his mother, Nkemdiche surprised almost no one by decommitting from Clemson.
Nkemdiche acknowledged in late December that he was still considering Alabama (his mom’s preference), Clemson, Florida, Georgia, LSU and Ole Miss, although that list was ultimately whittled down to the latter two. The Gators had been in his final three as recently as two weeks ago, although they were quickly eliminated following a Jnauary visit.
A visit this past weekend to LSU had Nkemdiche tweeting that the process was “getting hard now,” leading some to wonder if the Tigers could pull the upset on National Signing Day. In the end, the lure of playing with his brother -- All-SEC Freshman linebacker Denzel Nkemdiche -- and the job Freeze and his staff did in sealing the deal was too much for any program to overcome.
Entering signing day, Ole Miss’ 2013 recruiting class was ranked No. 11 by Rivals, with the very realistic possibility of pushing deep into the top ten -- perhaps even the top five -- depending on how the Herbie Hancocks shake out Wednesday. To put that into perspective, the Rebels recruiting classes have been rated 27th or worse seven of the past 11 years. Their best class ever? 2006, with a ranking of 15th in the country.