Ole Miss Targeting Flip Candidates Following Justyn Martin Picking UCLA
Most of the quarterback attention regarding Ole Miss recruiting focuses on Arch Manning, the 2023 passer with the name and ties to Oxford while commanding the industry's attention.
But in the class of 2022, the senior class, Lane Kiffin and company are yet to land a signal-caller despite pushes for out-of-state talent in recent months. One of the top targets, Justyn Martin, came off the board Thursday afternoon in picking UCLA over Ole Miss and Michigan.
Among known targets in the class, it pushes the conversation to one it offered even more recently in Devin Brown, technically still a verbal commitment to USC despite programs like Ohio State, Texas and others pushing for a change of heart the same way Ole Miss is.
The Draper (Utah) Corner Canyon standout took an official visit to Oxford for the shootout win over Arkansas earlier this month.
"SEC is definitely different," Brown said. "It's a lot bigger football, the fan base is a lot crazier and at the game day experience, there's a lot more people. Me and my family had a really great time in Oxford. They were showing me a lot of tape of Matt Corral, how I fit into the offense and what they have planned for me in the system."
Trips to Ohio State and Texas are being planned for November as Brown works towards a final decision during the Early Signing Period window in December.
Outside of Brown, the Rebels have shown interest in class of 2022 passers, but have yet to push as far as The Grove Report can track in late October. It changed November 1 as longtime LSU commitment Walker Howard set a visit to Oxford.
If it misses on Brown and Howard, could it mean no passer in the 2022 cycle?
Does that help with the pitch to Manning next year?
What about the transfer portal?
Each of those questions remains to be seen, especially the third. The portal will of course be a major player ahead of the 2022 college football season, with multiple Power 5 passers already opting to play elsewhere next season including Tennessee's Harrison Bailey and Syracuse's Tommy DeVito.
Then there are also names like Oklahoma's Spencer Rattler, and Texas' Hudson Card, neither have entered officially entered the portal as of yet, but could be trending in that direction after losing their starting jobs.
Rattler, who is the more likely of the two to leave, was benched in favor of freshman Caleb Williams in the Red River Showdown vs. Texas and has since become an afterthought in Norman.
Card meanwhile, lost his job in the Longhorns early-season loss to Arkansas, and while he is still a freshman, he will have an increasingly difficult path to regaining a starting position over Casey Thompson, who still has two years of eligibility remaining.
On Monday, a rivals report surfaced suggesting LSU quarterback Myles Brennan will be entering the portal next. The experienced passer is a Magnolia State native who broke the all-time yardage and touchdown record when prepping at Bay St. Louis (Miss.) St. Stanislaus High School. Oregon confirmed the news later in the day.
Texas also has plans of signing a pair of freshman quarterbacks in the 2022 class, with one already committed in Junipero Serra (Gardena, CA) signal-caller, Maalik Murphy.
Either way, with the season winding down and the early signing period quickly approaching, we will find out soon enough.
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