Ole Miss flips 2 recruits, climbs rankings
OXFORD — In one night, Ole Miss climbed 13 spots in the national recruiting rankings thanks to a couple flips from a rival.
Former Mississippi State commits Brandon Buckhaulter and Makylan Pounders committed to Ole Miss on Wednesday night. In both cases, the commitments came within a week of their decommitments from Mississippi State.
Thanks to those flips and the bumped ranking of junior college defensive tackle Isaiah Iton, Ole Miss jumped to No. 28 in the 247 Sports composite team rankings for the class of 2021 and No. 8 in the SEC. Prior to those three moves, Ole Miss ranked No. 41 in the national team rankings and No. 13 in the SEC.
Ole Miss has received six commitments since the start of December. Interestingly, most of the commitments came from familiar faces and names. Buckhaulter, defensive end Demarcus Smith and safety Elijah Sabbatini are all former Ole Miss commits who recommitted to the program. Pounders and quarterback Luke Altmyer are both instate prospects who landed in the 2020 Clarion Ledger Dandy Dozen.
The Rebels have 17 players committed to this recruiting class with less than a week remaining before the start of the early signing period. Ole Miss’ coaches haven’t been coy on Twitter about commitments. Every time one player commits, they hint there are more to come.
Lane Kiffin posted #Morepresentscoming in a tweet shortly after Buckhaulter committed.
Buckhaulter is the second wide receiver committed to the Rebels for 2021 and Pounders is the third offensive lineman.
Pounders is a 6-foot-6, 295-pound lineman from Byhalia who ranks as the No. 15 prospect in Mississippi in this class. Buckhaulter is the No. 9 prospect in Mississippi in 2021 and the secondhighest rated in-state high school prospect committed to the Rebels behind Altmyer.
Contact Nick Suss at 601-408-2674 or nsuss@gannett.com. Follow @nicksuss on Twitter.