Ole Miss football’s Otis Reese finally declared eligible by NCAA after 10 months

Better late than never, but for real, fuck y’all.

The NCAA took their sweet fucking time, but Otis Reese, the former Georgia Bulldog now Ole Miss Rebel, is eligible for the final three games of the 2020 season. The NCAA initially rejected his waiver request but, Ole Miss submitted a request “on different grounds” and the NCAA gave Reese his eligibility.

Back in October, Otis was declared eligible by the Southeastern Conference, but the NCAA had yet to weigh in on it despite doing so for several other transfers all over the country. And they gave no reason for it. At all.

Before that in September, Reese posted a tweet, alleging issues of police harassment and race-based conflict, but it wasn’t enough to get things rolling fast enough apparently.

Nevertheless, Reese is a huge shot in the arm for a defense that is riding on fumes heading into the final two months of the season. The Leesburg, Ga. native was the nation’s 56th-ranked player overall and the No. 4 outside linebacker in the country. As a senior at Lee County High School, Reese led the Trojans to a 14-1 season and the GHSA Class 6A title. He was named to the USA Today 2017 All-USA Georgia first team defense, was named the 2017 Class 6A Defensive Player of the Year, and was a member of the 2017 All-State Class 6A first-team defense.

He chose to sign with Georgia over notable offers from Florida, LSU, UCLA, and Southern Cal after flipping his commitment from the Michigan Wolverines to the Bulldogs. Former assistant Michigan coach now Ole Miss co-defensive coordinator Chris Partridge was his primary recruiter. Now, the two are reunited in Oxford.

The former top-60 player and four-star recruit should be able to help the secondary in next week’s Egg Bowl when they take on Mike Leach and his Air Raid offense at 3pm CDT at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

Anyways, whatever. Cue the music.