Ole Miss Competing with Two Texas Powers for Malik Jefferson


Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports

Ole Miss was the second school to offer class of 2015 outside linebacker, Malik Jefferson (Mesquite, Tx. Poteet) after Oklahoma offered the 6-3, 215-pounder one day before the Rebels entered the sweepstakes. A couple of schools in his home state are still trying to make his recruitment awfully interesting.

After competing at the first sophomore day at Texas on Mar. 23, the Longhorns extended an offer to Jefferson who is coming off a sophomore season in which he had 105 tackles, 24 for tackles loss, seven sacks, forced five fumbles and recovered three. Not a bad debut on the varsity level where high school football in is among the nation’s best.

Not wanting to be outdone by their former Big 12 rivals, Texas A&M became the fourth team to offer Jefferson who by this time next year could have five or six times that.

But I want to focus on the chances that Ole Miss has at plucking the explosive and instinctive linebacker out of state. Rebels’ linebackers coach, Tom Allen, is the primary recruiter for Jefferson and is already rubbing off on Jefferson is this tweet is any indication.

 

The phrase , “Win the Day” is the slogan that head coach Hugh Freeze has made a staple during his time in Oxford and the fact that he incorporated that into his tweet and was looking up clips of their facilities on YouTube speaks to the interest he has in being a part of this rising program.

Maybe I’m reading too much into a simple innocuous tweet because it doesn’t happen very often that recruits leave the state of Texas when the top two programs in state are pursuing you, but there is something magical happening with this program.

Perhaps Jefferson wants to be a part of something magical and help a program become elite rather than being another face at Texas or at A&M.

Ole Miss got in the chase early and saw something in Jefferson that they believe can fit in with this program and culture. While it’s very early in the recruiting process, you have to feel good where you stand if you’re Ole Miss when it comes to the recruitment of one of the best linebackers in the class of 2015.

As soon as Jefferson can make a trip to Oxford, he’ll quickly realize how beautiful it is in person and put those YouTube clips to shame.

Patrick’s a college football writer for Rant Sports and radio host on Sportstownchicago.com. Follow him on Twitter and add him to your Google network.

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