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Ole Miss recruiting 2016: Goodbye Rashan Gary, hello Jonathan Kongbo?

The Rebels appear to be out of the running for Gary, the country's top prospect. But after a Wednesday trek across the country, Hugh Freeze may have found himself a suitable consolation prize.

By Zach Berry
Student Sports

The No. 1 prospect in the country won't be in Oxford for Ole Miss' blowout recruiting weekend. Rashan Gary's mom told 247Sports that she and her son could be visiting not one, but two other schools instead: an official to Clemson on Friday/Saturday and an unofficial to Alabama on Saturday/Sunday.

"We're definitely going to Clemson first. That's the guarantee. If we were able to make it to Alabama we do, if we don't we don't. Rashan wants to go to Clemson. He wants to go to Alabama too but he said most importantly he wants to go to Clemson."

The smart money, however, is still on Michigan, where Gary spent last weekend on an unofficial visit alongside a whole crew of fellow New Jersey prospects.

That Gary hasn't set foot back in Oxford since his official visit in November isn't particularly dismaying in and of itself -- New Jersey to Mississippi isn't a cheap trip when you're footing your own bill -- but the fact that he's taking return unoffiicals to Ann Arbor and possibly Tuscaloosa puts the writing on the wall. Ole Miss is likely out of the running.

Which means the Rebel staff has turned its attention to another blue chip D-lineman...

Hugh Freeze visits the country's top JUCO player

Freeze trekked out to pay five-star defensive end Jonathan Kongbo a visit on Wednesday.

The 6'6, 260-pound defensive star goes to school at Western Community College in Yuma, Az., but it appears Freeze might have whipped out the passport and visited Kongbo in his home just outside of Vancouver. I haven't seen that written anywhere, but this looks a hell of a lot more like Puget Sound than it does Arizona.

Last week, Kongbo named Ole Miss, Tennessee, Florida State and Southern Cal as his top four schools. It would seem the Rebels' stiffest competition are the Vols, who Kongbo appears to be warming back up to after dropping his commitment to them in early January. Butch Jones visited him the day before Freeze. If he were to sign with Ole Miss, the big fella would immediately give the Landshark defense another huge DE to go along with Fadol Brown.

Rebs offer a 2017 4-star legacy

Freeze is already looking towards the future, having offered 2017 quarterback Tristan Gebbia on Wednesday. The four-star quarterback from Calabasas, Calif. already has offers from Alabama, Miami (Fla.), Nebraska, Washington and Washington State. The son of Rich Gebbia, who was an Ole Miss tight end in the late 80's, Tristan has already racked up 7,771 passing yards, 80 passing touchdowns, 224 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns in two years on the varsity squad.

An interesting wrinkle here is that Gebbia is teammates with 2017 four-star Keyshawn Johnson, Jr. (yes, that Keyshawn Johnson Jr.), who put Ole Miss in his top 8 last year and was excited about his teammates' news.

keyshawn jr tweet

Gebbia and Keyshawn Jr. connected for a lot of touchdowns last season. Check the highlights.

4-star WR Craig-Meyers cancels his Ole Miss official

Nate Craig-Myers, who once had the Rebels listed in his top three, looks like he's moved on. The country's sixth-rated wideout cancelled his visit to Oxford this weekend, according to ESPN's Derek Tyson. That report came out around the same time Craig-Myers released a top two of Auburn and NC State.

On the bright side, this frees up the Ole Miss staff to concentrate their efforts on a bevy of other four-star receivers still in play, including Starkville native A.J. Brown.

Quartney Davis rates his trip to Oxford a perfect 10

Another one of those four-star wideout targets is Davis, who has a top five of Ole Miss, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and UCLA. When asked by Scout's Greg Powers to rate his visit to Oxford last weekend, Davis gave it a perfect 10. His trip to Stillwater the previous weekend? An eight. Freeze is still kicking your ass, Mike Gundy.

The more important visit, however, is this weekend in College Station. With the Rebels already sitting on commitments from Dekaylin Metcalf and Tre Nixon and still chasing A.J. Brown and Mykel Jones, I'd wager Davis heads to A&M.

This 4-star safety jumped out of a damn plane

We knew that Deontay Anderson, a four-star safety who's thought to be an Ole Miss lean, was a high-flying playmaker, but this takes it to the next level.

Although this is pretty neat, I'm sure Hugh Freeze would rather Anderson stick to flying around the football field. The Under Armour All-American, who's rated the No. 2 safety in the country by the 247 Composite, will be in Oxford for Crootapalooza.