Ole Miss football recruiting: Ole Miss’ No. 1 target in the 2020 class is a monster

Four-star defensive tackle McKinnley Jackson has be a known commodity for a few years now. The No. 1 player in Mississippi and the 112th overall player in the country has been a monster his entire high school career.

The 6’2, 327-pounder has gotten his senior season off to a solid start, collecting 19 tackles, eight tackles for a loss, and three sacks in three games for George County (Miss.). And the Rebels 2020 needs align perfectly for Jackson with Benito Jones leaving the program and vacating that front four spot for defensive line coach Freddie Roach.

He has been adamant about his recruitment going all the National Signing Day and his top five of Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M will certainly make Ole Miss fans bite their nails until he decides, but sources tell us that the Rebs like where they stand right now.

In an interview with the Sun Herald, George County head coach Matt Caldwell talked about his star player.

“In my 24 years, I’ve never seen anything like him,” Caldwell said. “I know I’ve never coached anything like him. You talk about (former Wayne County stars) Jerrell Powe and Benito Jones and those guys like (former Moss Point standout) Willie Packer. He’s in the same group with those guys. He gets double and triple-teamed all night long. He never gets a single block. Whatever he gets he has to work for.”

Roach and Matt Luke need Jackson to sign in this 2020 class. He is an integral part of what they want to do on defense in the new 3-4 and his is a special, special talent that could be a book-end guy moving forward in this rebuild post-NCAA colonoscopy.

Robby Ashford to miss 4-to-6 weeks with foot injury.

Four-star quarterback commit Robby Ashford suffered a fracture in his foot last week against Thompson (Ala.) and will be out for at least a month after undergoing surgery. The Hoover (Ala.) two-sport star told WBRC News that he suffered a Jones fracture and expects to be back once he feels it’s 100 percent.

The 6’2, 204-pounder still completed 16-of-32 through the air for 261 yards and two touchdowns while also gaining 126 yards on 13 carries before going down with the injury. Now, it sucks that Ashford will miss a few regular season games, but Ashford along with most of the medical experts in Alabama expect him to be back healthy soon.

Jabari Small continues to shred defenses.

The three-star athlete from Briarcrest Christian (Tenn.) was back on his bullshit against Pope John Paul II (Tenn.) last Friday. The game got out of hand early so his numbers weren’t as impressive as last week, but he found the end zone twice while the Saints cruised to a 40-7 win in Nashville.

Through three games, Small is averaging 10.6(!) yards per carry and has eight touchdowns. He has 546 all-purpose yards and will receive a stiff test next week back at home against Montgomery Bell Academy (Tenn.), a perennial power from Nashville.

Jakivuan Brown continues transition to OLB.

Despite looking like a natural three weeks into the season, three-star Jakivuan Brown is starting to round out his game as a linebacker. The former Mississippi State commit is doing his damnedest to help Horn Lake (Miss.) on defense and he is looking like someone who can step right in for Mike MacIntyre’s 3-4 defense in 2020.

Everything appears to come so easy to him at the point of attack and even when his eyes get caught in the backfield and he is pursuing the ball carrier from either behind or the other side of the field, he has the athleticism and speed to still make the play. He still needs some refining in technique and learning the nuances of the position, but once he arrives in Oxford he will receive plenty of that and be a huge contributor off the edge.