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Ole Miss recruiting: Can the Rebs swoop a pair of 5-star decommits?

Blue chippers Greg Little and Isaac Nauta recently backed out of their pledges to A&M and Florida State, respectively. Both of them have big-time prep teammates that are currently committed to Ole Miss.

By Zach Berry
Student Sports

Woo, man, the past two weeks have been a tornado of crootin in Oxford, Miss. So we might as well keep sipping the #TheNetwork Kool-Aid and embrace the insane thing we know and love that is college football recruiting. In case you missed it, five-star offensive tackle and all-around human anchor Greg Little recently decommitted from Texas A&M and has released a top five of Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, Texas A&M and Ole Miss.

Before you blast me in the comments with "this is old news, Zaaaach," things are going to heat up even more now with the commitment of Allen's teammate, Jaylon Jones. Word on the street is that the Tide is in the lead for Little's services, but Jones says he will make it a point to land Little and bring home a No. 1-ranked crootin class for the Rebs. Matt Luke has done an outstanding job recruiting offensive linemen so far in this class, so we'll see if he can close with a 2013-esque bang with the 6'5, 305 monster.

Shea Patterson's 5-star teammate decommits from FSU

In other decommittment news, five-star tight end and Shea Patterson's new best friend, Isaac Nauta, has backed off his pledge to the Florida State Seminoles. The 6'4, 237-pound freak was going to be playing alongside a future teammate at IMG in quarterback Malik Henry, but Henry's relationship with the prep school has soured and he has since moved on. Insert Mr. Patterson and the Rebels are suddenly in the mix for the Buford, Ga. native's services. As of now, Georgia is looking like the likely destination, but best believe Shea will be on him every single day about joining him in Oxford.

Former Auburn commit names Ole Miss his favorite

I alluded to the crootin frenzy that's been going on the past few weeks with commitments from four different prepsters. Well, this week wasn't a commitment, but there was a huge prospect who DID in fact name Ole Miss his leader. Four-star defensive end and former Auburn commit David Marshall announced on Tuesday that the Rebs were the leaders for his signature in February. The 6'3, 256-pound Peach State native was all Tiger until recently when he backed off his pledge due to the relentless recruiting from Rebel defensive line coach Chris Kiffin. Last season, the Upson-Lee High Schooler collected 57 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and 10 sacks.

Louisiana wideout puts Rebs in top 4

Late Thursday evening, four-star receiver Mykel Jones named his four finalists and the Rebs made the cut. The young man from Patterson, La. named Alabama, LSU, Tennessee and Ole Miss as his favorite schools. Most believe that the writing's on the wall with Jones as he has Nick Saban on his Twitter profile, but you can't count out the friendship he has with five-star Ole Miss commit Shea Patterson (yes, Shea is just friends with everyone because he's the coolest). The 6'0, 180-pound playmaker would be a welcomed addition to the Rebels' offense and he would bring a dynamic option in the slot for Hugh Freeze and Dan Werner. His recruitment will likely go all the way to National Signing Day.

Racketbears snag their own 5-stars

In just his second year as head coach of the Ole Miss tennis team, Toby Hansson has caught himself a big ole fish from across the pond. Coach Hansson has secured a signing of Croatia's best player, Filip Kraljevic. The No. 71-ranked player in the ITF World Junior Rankings, Kraljevic will bring an impressive 45-25 record as a junior on all surfaces and the experience of being a professional since 2008. The 19-year old Rijeka, Croatia native will not be alone on the roster as Hansson signed last year's No. 1 player from the Republic, Zvonimir Babic. For those of you that are behind on your Racketbear news, Babic and the rest of the Rebels finished last season with a final ranking of No. 17 in the nation and won the ITA All-Academic Team Award. Hansson's fellas finished this past academic year with a 3.40 GPA.

Not to be outdone, women's coach Mark Byers introduced his own Croat, Tea Jandric. The national champion junior won the title in singles and doubles in the 18U division. She was also a member of the Croatian National team at every age group since turning pro. Jandric rounds out a ridiculous signing class for Coach Byers as he also has a five-star in Phoenix, Ariz. native Allie Sanford, four-star Augusta, Ga. native Brooke Stevens and Czech Republic star Tereza Janatova. Coach Byers and the Lady Racketbears will look to improve on last season's second round appearance in the NCAAs will this influx of talent to Oxford.