{"id":83422,"date":"2025-12-05T11:00:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T16:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=83422"},"modified":"2025-12-05T07:49:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T12:49:21","slug":"ole-miss-early-signing-day-shows-promise-amidst-uncertainties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/12\/05\/ole-miss-early-signing-day-shows-promise-amidst-uncertainties\/","title":{"rendered":"Ole Miss’ Early Signing Day Shows Promise, Amidst Uncertainties"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the early signing day taking place on Wednesday, schools everywhere began loading up their rosters for next season and beyond. Many schools are proud of the hauls they managed to bring in. Others (we’re looking at you, Penn State) have to be questioning where things went wrong. And some saw a mix of good and bad. Following a bizarre circus of a coaching change<\/a>, Ole Miss’s early signing day class fits squarely into that category.<\/p>\n

With all the distractions surrounding the program, the new coaching staff did primarily what was expected.\u00a0 Especially on such short notice. Even though the rankings may not reflect it (the Rebels come in at 33rd in 247Sports composite rankings<\/a>), head coach Pete Golding managed to essentially keep the entire defensive side of their recruiting class together.\u00a0 The big question now is whether they can find a few offensive pieces in the transfer portal. If they can do that, it could end up being a really solid class for his first year in Oxford.<\/p>\n

That being said, who were some of the biggest names Ole Miss landed on early signing day?<\/p>\n

Biggest Names From Ole Miss Early Signing Day<\/h2>\n

Landon Barnes<\/h3>\n

Edge rusher Landon Barnes is currently the highest-rated player of Ole Miss’ class so far. The Duncanville, Texas native is the 12th-best edge rusher in the country. He also comes in at 115 overall, according to 247Sports. Listed at 235 pounds, he’s a bit undersized compared to what many think of when they think of edge rushers. However, he has elite speed coming around the end. And he does a really good job of fighting through blocks, despite his size.<\/p>\n

The other positive about Barnes’ commitment to Rebel fans is where he comes from. Coming from a traditional powerhouse in the Dallas\/Fort Worth area, he’s used to playing against good competition. That should do wonders for him when it comes to immediately jumping into an SEC schedule. If he can put on a bit more weight and get stronger, which should come with age, Barnes has the potential to be a tremendous edge rusher for Ole Miss in the years to come.<\/p>\n

Carmelow Reed<\/h3>\n

Carmelow Reed is another defensive line commit for the Rebels. A three-star prospect coming out of the Chicago area, Reed is listed at 6-foot-7-inches. He also weighs in right around 250 pounds. When watching his tape, the first thing that stands out is his height. At 6’7″ with long arms, he can be disruptive on short to intermediate passes over the middle. But he is also quick enough to get off blocks and get after the quarterback. And with his size, even if he doesn’t actively make the play, he takes up a ton of space. This makes running the ball to his side of the line difficult.<\/p>\n

Starting off, expect Reed to be listed as a defensive end\/edge rusher. However, if he can put on more weight, the Rebels could look to move him to an interior lineman position. And with Golding’s success with pass rushers over the years, there’s no question he’ll be in good hands when he arrives in Oxford.<\/p>\n

Damarius Yates<\/h3>\n

Damarius Yates is the latest Ole Miss running back commit, at a position we’ve grown accustomed to seeing the Rebels excel at. With Quinshon Judkins<\/a> for two seasons, and this year with Kewan Lacy<\/a>, there’s been no shortage of running back talent in Oxford lately. And Yates certainly has plenty of talent. As a senior, he tied the Mississippi record with eight rushing touchdowns in a single game. He also has good hands coming out of the backfield as a pass catcher.<\/p>\n

If there is one area of concern, it’s questioning the competition the De Kalb, MS has faced in his high school career. And at 190 pounds, he is slightly smaller than most SEC running backs. However, despite his size, he does run in a physical manner. And he has shifty feet that make him difficult to bring down. This is part of the reason he is listed as the 126th best prospect in the country and the 12th rated running back.<\/p>\n

So if he can adjust to playing against tougher competition, he certainly has the potential to be the next elite Ole Miss running back.<\/p>\n

Kervin Johnson Jr.<\/h3>\n

Another big pickup for the Rebels is Kervin Johnson Jr. The 6-foot-2-inch wide receiver flipped to Ole Miss after being committed to LSU for months. After watching Lane Kiffin leave for the Bayou, flipping a piece of that class has to feel good for the Rebels.<\/p>\n

In terms of on-field potential, Johnson Jr. spent time at cornerback, safety, and wide receiver during his high school career. He also played basketball and was on the track and field team at Tioga High School in Louisiana. With his big frame, it’s expected that he’s going to spend most snaps at receiver at the next level. And while he may not have elite speed, he is a relatively big target with good athleticism. This makes him an option on contested catches, as well as a solid red-zone target.<\/p>\n

A Few Other Names to Watch<\/h3>\n

While early signing day was Wednesday, there are a few more announcements expected by the end of the week. And Ole Miss has stayed active in trying to land a couple more guys to their class. One name to watch is Auburn wide receiver commit Jase Mathews.<\/p>\n

Mathews, a Leakeville, Mississippi native, is a four-star prospect, ranked as the 13th best receiver in the country. And despite being verbally committed to Auburn since August, LSU and Ole Miss have both made strong runs late, as signing day approached.<\/p>\n

One other potential flip comes courtesy of Suwanee, Georgia native Deuce Geralds. Another four-star prospect, Geralds is listed as the sixth-best defensive lineman prospect in the country, as well as 54th overall. Despite having been verbally committed to LSU since August, he decided to postpone his signing amidst the coaching change taking place in Baton Rouge. Since that announcement, Ole Miss has made a strong push to get the flip. If Golding and company can secure Geralds, he would become the highest-rated recruit in the Rebels’ class this season.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the early signing day taking place on Wednesday, schools everywhere began loading up their rosters for next season and beyond. Many schools are proud of the hauls they managed to bring in. Others (we’re looking at you, Penn State) have to be questioning where things went wrong. And some saw a mix of good […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4571,"featured_media":69681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17,35582,3],"tags":[4470],"class_list":["post-83422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news","category-ole-miss-rebels","category-sec","tag-pete-golding"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4571"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83422"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83458,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83422\/revisions\/83458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}