Ole Miss' Pac-12 Scheduling Will Be Huge Boost for Recruiting
Ole Miss has burst onto the national scene over the last three seasons with three straight bowl games, an upset over No. 1 Alabama in 2014, a top-five ranking and—most importantly—three straight top-20 recruiting classes.
The best is yet to come.
Ole Miss announced a home-and-home series with the California Bears in 2017 (Berkeley) and 2019 (Oxford) late Thursday evening, which will fulfill the SEC requirement for teams to play at least one "power five" conference team in a non-conference matchup every year.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
| 2016 | Florida State | Orlando, Florida |
| 2017 | California | Berkeley, California |
| 2019 | California | Oxford, Mississippi |
| 2022 | Georgia Tech | Atlanta, Georgia |
| 2023 | Georgia Tech | Oxford, Mississippi |
| 2024 | Wake Forest | Winston-Salem, North Carolina |
| 2025 | Wake Forest | Oxford, Mississippi |
On the surface, playing Cal—which is a mid-level Pac-12 team at best—doesn't exactly move the meter. From a recruiting standpoint, though, it will.
From the moment head coach Hugh Freeze arrived prior to the 2012 season, he has made a concerted effort not only to increase his recruiting efforts in the state but spread out around the southeast and the rest of the country.
In the class of 2013—which really put Ole Miss on the map—Freeze went to Georgia's backyard and signed the nation's top-ranked player, defensive end Robert Nkemdiche, out of Loganville, which is a short drive from UGA's campus.
He also headed to Florida's backyard to sign offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil, the nation's third-ranked player, out of Lake City, and raided Big Ten country to lure wide receiver Laquon Treadwell out of Crete, Illinois.
Since that signature class, Freeze has cleaned up around the south, made a mark in Texas and dropped into New York and Illinois to sign players over the last two recruiting cycles.
The game vs. Cal in 2017 will be the furthest west Ole Miss has ever played, and it will be in the center of one of the most fertile recruiting grounds in the country.
B/R national recruiting writer Sanjay Kirpalani wrote earlier in February that California is one of the top five states producing high school prospects in the class of 2016, which is par for the course. The Golden State produced 44, 4- or 5-star players in the class of 2015 and 34 in the class of 2014.
The majority of those players are located in Southern California, which is quite a jaunt from the Bay Area and Berkeley. That doesn't take away the importance, though.
"I think it's a great opportunity for Ole Miss to take their brand nationally with recruits," said Kirpalani. "We've seen them become a presence throughout the southeast and even to places like Illinois with Laquon Treadwell a few years ago. Playing games like these are important in helping them get a foot in the door out on the West Coast."
Ole Miss made a splash on the recruiting trail before Freeze put the program on the national stage by winning consistently. In 2015, his program was close to center stage, as it was ranked in the top four of the inaugural College Football Playoff rankings and spent nine weeks inside the Associated Press Top 10.
It did that with an inconsistent Bo Wallace at quarterback, an offensive line that struggled and a running game that has been unable to find any room between the tackles for two years.
Powered by three straight top-20 recruiting classes, some high-profile recruits including junior college transfer Chad Kelly and 5-star pro-style commit Shea Patterson, and an increased focus on bigger backs like Akeem Judd and Eric Swinney, Ole Miss is going to be on the map up until the game vs. Cal, which could be the catalyst to developing the national brand of Ole Miss football.
It's a logical next step.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and college football video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports' composite rankings. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
