Commitments

Marcus Berg CB 5-11 170 Neptune Beach, FL - Greyshirt candidate

Michael Brown OT 6-6 305 5.45 Lexington, TX



Ryan Campbell CB 6-0 172 4.42 Columbus, GA

Tyler Campbell P 6-2 220 Little Rock, AR

Logan Clair OT 6-5 320 Miami, OK (Northeast Oklahoma A&M)

Frank Crawford S 6-1 190 4.44 Miami, FL

Craig Drummond DE 6-5 270 Chicago, IL - #119 - Rivals 250



Corey Gaines 6-0 275 4.9 Tallahassee, FL

Terrell Grant WR 6-3 215 4.48 Cleveland, MS

Jamar Hornsby S 6-3 210 4.5 Jacksonville, Ms (U of Florida, East Mississippi Community College)

Stephen Houston ATH 5-11 211 4.42 West Chester, OH - Greyshirt candidate

Gabriel Hunter RB 5-11 190 4.5 Memphis, TN

Payten Jason RB 6-0 190 Waggaman, LA

Dele Junaid S 6-1 190 Houston, TX



Article Kellam S 5-11 195 4.55 Miami, FL

Joel Kight LB 5-9 200 4.5 Lithonia, GA

DeMarcus Knight LB 6-2 230 4.6 Morristown, TN

Markell Lee DE 6-5 250 Corinth, MS

Ja-Mes Logan WR 6-3 185 4.44 Houston, TX

Zaccheus Mason 6-5 240 4.7 Nashville, TN



Clayton Moore QB 6-2 205 4.7 Louisville, MS

Emmanuel McCray OT 6-5 280 5.37 Forest Hill, MS

Thad McHaney TE 6-4 250 Brentwood, TN - Position varies

Korvic Neat RB 5-9 175 4.4 Hallandale Beach, FL - True position is slot WR

Montez Phillips WR 6-2 200 Oxford, MS

Andrew Ritter K 6-3 205 Jackson, MS

Charles Sawyer CB 6-0 175 4.5 Miami, FL

Rodney Scott RB 5-9 185 4.45 Cross City, FL - #114 - Rivals 250



Aaron Schulte OT 6-6 210 5.2 Wahpeton, ND (North Dakota State College of Science), Norfolk, NE

D.T. Shackleford LB 6-2 220 4.7 Decatur, AL

Tim Simon LB/RB 6-2 200 4.5 Cordova, AL - Position depends on recruiting service

Eric Smiley DT 6-5 280 4.75 West Helena, AR

Evan Swindall C 6-3 285 5.12 Hoover, AL - Greyshirt candidate

Bo Tillman DT 6-6 290 Meadville, MS (Franklin County HS, Mississippi Elite Christian Academy)

Mike Thomas OT 6-4 240 4.8 Mobile, AL - Plays DE but coaches want him on the OL

Demond Washington DB 5-10 170 Perkinston, MS (Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College), Tallahassee, AL



Cameron Whigham DE 6-3 230 4.7 Shiloh, GA

Turrell Williams RB 6-2 215 West Helena, AR

Walk-Ons

Clayton Moore QB 6-2 205 4.5 Louisville, MS

With the 2009 recruiting season underway and Ole Miss hosting its first Jr. Day this weekend, I figured it would be appropriate to get the 2009 commitment thread underway.

It's going to be interesting to see if Payten Jason sticks with the Rebels or if the Rebels stick with Jason.

Coach Nutt got his first commitment out of RB Turrell Williams of West Helena, Arkansas. Williams fits the big back mold as he stands 6'2" and weights 215.

just checked out some highlight films of Turrell Williams and that's some of the best ones i've seen, he looks better than Enrique Davis & Devin Thomas in that film... wow if we can land this guy next year we will be loaded with playmaking running backs we'd be in an even better situation right now if Mico wasn't a moron

The Rebels got their new first commitment of the year in Emmanuel McCray, an offensive tackle out of Forest Hill. The Rebels are in dire need of help along the offensive line and this is the first of surely many.

Ole Miss picked up a surprise second commitment today from LB DeMarcus Knight of Morristown, TN. With Ashlee Palmer, Tony Fein, Chris Bowers, and Brandon Thomas all graduating, building some depth at the LB position makes sense. Those with a Rivals account can view video of him while Scout gets him loaded up into the database.

In other news, Allen Walker is real bummed that he got caught and apparently was not over the legal limit if he were 21, but the big problem of course is he's not. He's working hard to do everything the coaching staff gives him in order to stay in good graces and get back on the field.

I need to keep better track of this with the Ole Miss summer camps starting seeing as how that's when Coach Nutt seems to get the majority of his commitments.

The third commitment to the 2009 class was from 6'5" 250 DE Markell Lee of Corinth HS. Coach Markuson apparently saw something the team needed immediately so a scholarship was offered and Lee took it. DE will become something of a necessity in the upcoming years the way Coach Nix will want to stockpile them along with Hardy, Tillman, and Stephens leaving within the next two years.

This brings me to today's commitment in 6'4" 240 DE Mike Thomas from Mobile. I can't remember the last time Ole Miss got a kid from the Mobile area and I'm sure that Auburn, Alabama, and LSU will go after him if they want him since they usually dominate the Alabama coastline.

The Rebels got a commitment today out of QB Clayton Moore. I'll post more about when I get off of work.

Now that I'm home, Clayton Moore committing to the Rebels should be a huge pickup. He's a December grad who can count back towards last year's class (and take Chris Wilkes' vacated scholarship) as well as bring in some quality recruits with him such as Dennis Thames, also out of Louisville HS, and Pat Patterson out of Noxubee County HS.

The only downside to Moore is that he's only 6'2" but the arm and the intangibles should make u for it. Size is the only reason he's rated below the two other Mississippi signal callers in Chris Garrett out of Tupelo (LSU commit) and Tyler Russell out of Meridian (MSU commit) because he's arguably the better thrower of the three. However, he is more mobile than both of them.

The top RB in the state of Tennessee, Gabriel Hunter, committed to Ole Miss today. The Rebels beat out Alabama, Tennessee, and others for his pledge as the coaches want to be able to use him as a potential replacement to Dexter McCluster in the upcoming years.

Coach Nutt continues to recruit regionally as he went to Houston to pick up safety Dele Junaid from Hightower HS. It'll be interesting to see if he stays at safety or grows into an OLB like Lekenwic Haynes (I think he will anyway).

Whoops on forgetting to add Sterling to the commit list while I was in Texas vacationing before the start of the final year of school.

Andre Sterling, one of the top backs in East Tennessee last year, re-committed to the Rebels and will join the team in the spring from Hargrave. Instead of taking a greyshirt, Sterling decided to play the fall at prep school and join the team in January. With Sterling and Hunter committed, top 5-star back Jamaal Berry taking an official in late October, and the Rebels still pushing for Auburn commit Rodney Scott, Coach Nutt continues to try to pack the backfield with more and more horses.

Also, it's hard to get excited when you sign a special teams player unless he's one of the rare players that Scout or Rivals actually gets around to evaluating, Tyler Campbell could solve many problems in one facet of the Rebels special teams game. Incumbent punter Rob Park will graduate in the spring having beat out junior Justin Sparks (who will be covering kickoffs it appears), so there will be a vacancy at punter which looks to be filled quickly by Campbell who averaged over 46 yards a punt as a junior and was booming kicks further than the current Rebel punters during summer camp according to reports.

I heard a rumor that Clayton Moore was going to decommit and take an offer for Ok State. Have you heard anything about this?

I haven't seen that on Scout, Rivals, Nafoom, or Sixpack.

The Rebel offense got a commitment today out of WR Terrell Grant from Cleveland, MS. The coaching staff continues to bring in fantastic size at the WR position to supplement some of the shorter guys the previous regime had (though Shay Hodge plays the position as if he was 6'7" instead of 6'1"). Grant had a fantastic camp on campus and received his offer soon after.

Grant chose the Rebels over offers from Mississippi State and Southern Miss.