Less than a week shy of National Signing Day, sources announced “about 30” NCAA rules violations by the University of Mississippi, Ole Miss. With one of the top Williamson County football recruits, Brentwood Academy offensive tackle Bryce Mathews, a solid commitment to the Rebels, how might this affect his recruitment?
The Rebels are riding 4 years of continued improvement after a program worst 2-10 record in 2011. After the 2011 season, Hugh Freeze was brought in and began the turnaround, which led to the highly-regarded 2013 recruiting class. The three top members of that class are all projected to be first round draft picks in this year’s upcoming NFL
draft. However, that class raised some eyebrows as to how recently lowly Ole Miss was getting top high school talent. The allegations from fans of improper benefits have continued since then, including this season’s recruiting class.
On Friday, Yahoo’s Pat Forde reported that the Rebels’ athletics program would be charged with “about 30” rules violations by the NCAA. The investigation into these allegations began in 2014 and the investigation is just coming to a close. The three sports indicted in the allegations are women’s basketball, track and field, and football. Though the NCAA is yet to officially announce the violations of Ole Miss, most of them stem from the women’s basketball program and their attempt to get an ineligible player eligible. The coach during that season was released prior to coaching a game on the Rebels’ sideline once the allegations were made public. Sources in Oxford say the breakdown of allegations is roughly 90% women’s basketball, 9% track and field, and less than 1% football. The football allegations are all from prior to the current coaching regime and the highly-touted 2013 recruiting class.
As far as the implications on Bryce Mathews and his future team, it appears as if they will be minimal. With the few football violations predating the current coaching staff, a loss of scholarships or a postseason ban seem unlikely. The Rebels self-imposed punishments during 2015, which might prove all the repercussions for their football team. The punishments levied will likely be to the women’s basketball and track and field teams for the Rebels.
For more signing day coverage, be sure to follow the Williamson Source on National Signing Day to know where all the local talent is headed to play at the next level. We will have live coverage of where local athletes- such as Independence’s Nate Johnson, Spring Hill’s Tylin Oden, Centennial’s Tyrel Dodson or Ravenwood’s Chris Rowland– sign.
This involves a staff that has been gone 4 years…Nothing to it