Thursday, January 15, 2015

Recruiting Heats Up

It's about to get real in recruiting.
With National Signing Day coming up on February 4, college coaches across the SEC are scrambling to make sure all their available scholarship slots are filled with the best possible prospects, Ole Miss included.

Those efforts include making offers to prospects already committed to other schools.

Sometimes the late charge pays off. Sometimes it doesn't.

For Ole Miss, trying to get offensive lineman Sage Hardin away from the Georgia will most likely fall into the "didn't pay off" category. Ole Miss offered Hardin a couple days ago, but...
“I would have appreciated the offer from Ole Miss earlier,” Hardin told the AJC. “Once Coach Bobo and Coach Friend left, Ole Miss started getting in contact with me again. I wanted to be polite. They were always one of my favorite teams before I committed to Georgia. I had a very strong relationship with Coach Freeze and some of the other coaches. I listened to what they had to say. 
“They were respectful of my decision. They were saying a lot of ifs — ‘If I was to de-commit’ or ‘If the new OL coach doesn’t like you as much as we do’ … it was just a bunch of possibilities that are highly unlikely to happen. And that’s basically why they extended the offer. They loved the way I played. I think they have a fear that one or two of their offensive linemen might de-commit (from Ole Miss). And I think they just wanted to come back after me with Coach Friend and Coach Bobo leaving.”
Hardin went on to say that he "highly doubts" he'll take an Ole Miss visit.

Hopefully, the part about offensive linemen de-committing is just conjecture on Hardin's part, but Drew Richmond is visiting Alabama this weekend, and the Rebels need his commitment to stick in the worst way.

Here's a little film on Richmond for your Thursday viewing pleasure.