3-star ATH De’Rickey Wright flips from Alabama to Ole Miss

The June run of commitments is still going.

Ole Miss recruiting has been on fire this month and the flame is borderline eternal, now that the Rebels have received a commitment from former Alabama outside linebacker De’Rickey Wright. The three-star athlete from Gadsen City was committed to the Crimson Tide for almost four months before unofficially visiting Oxford with his mother earlier this month and re-thinking things.

The No. 26 athlete in the country is a two-way player in high school but will be in linebackers coach Jeff Koonz’s room as an outside linebacker in Ole Miss’ 3-4 system that has been implemented by Mike MacIntyre.

The explosive athlete from the Yellowhammer State ran a 4.69 forty-yard dash at The Opening Regional earlier this year and jumped 35” as well. The former Etowah prospect blew up on the recruiting trail once he made the move to defense. He returned three of his six interceptions for touchdowns as a junior, scored a touchdown on a fumble return, broke up six passes, and made 54 tackles.

Since making the permanent move to defense, he has blown up in the state of Alabama and beyond as a 2020 prospect.

The first-team 5A All-State performer was a part of a Blue Devils’ defense that only allowed 8.7 points per game, carrying them in their first 12 games before losing to eventual state champ Central-Clay County in the Class 5A quarterfinals.

Wright chose the Rebs over notable offers from Alabama, LSU, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, Virginia, and Virginia Tech among others. Both Nix brothers, who attended Etowah High School, were a big part of this recruitment.

How does he fit in?

The 6’4, 220-pound jumbo athlete is a perfect fit for MacIntyre’s 3-4 defense. He is a super athletic, long prospect who can really run, cover the flats in the pass game, and is not shy at all to come up at the point of attack and lower the boom. He runs extremely well, is an opportunistic defender (as evidenced by his stats above), and could potentially be used in multiple formations and schemes.

He was athletic enough to play quarterback as a sophomore and has now blossomed into quite the promising defensive prospect.

He honestly reminds me a lot of former Rebels Josh Clarke and Kevontae Ruggs, size:speed ratio-wise. Both were athletic football players with tremendous length and upside before leaving the program. I think Wright will step in behind Ashanti Cistrunk and be a player to watch once he steps on campus. If he can develop early on he could be a nice addition to the linebacker room and/or Mac’s safeties room.

Not to mention Nick Saban and Pete Golding thought he was good enough to play in Tuscaloosa. That’s all you need to know, right?

Highlights