UGA Football

Georgia Recruiting: How Serious is Laremy Tunsil About Ole Miss?

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Laremy Tunsil is unsure what program will get his decision come NSD. Photo: Fox Sports

Prior to this past weekend, Laremy Tunsil was considered by many to be a Georgia lean. He enjoyed the attention he received from the staff during his official visit to campus the weekend of January 18, and it seemed as if the only competition Georgia would have for him down the stretch was Alabama. However, in recruiting, nothing makes a bigger impression than the last impression and, in the case of  Tunsil and Ole Miss, it sounds like they did a helluva job convincing him that Georgia and Alabama aren’t the only SEC schools he can play for next season.

“I mean Ole Miss has been near the top, too,” Tunsil said. “But after I went down there, it made them go up a little bit. They are even with Georgia and Alabama. I like their tempo on offense. They think I could fit in with their tempo and I think I could, too.”

In December, Tunsil told Georgia early enrollee quarterback Brice Ramsey and current Georgia running back Todd Gurley on his Instagram account that he would be attending Georgia. Tunsil doesn’t deny that he said that, but does say things have changed.

“That was a long time ago,” he said. “I’m confused right now. I really don’t know what I’m going to do. I think it’s going to be like a last-minute thing, like when I wake up the morning of signing day, the first team on my mind is probably going to be the college I pick.” (Derek Tyson, ESPN)

Excuse me while I go lose my mind for a minute………………………okay, I’m back. 

As my husband would say, ‘what the hell is goin’ on ’round here?’.

Look, I know it’s crunch time and schools are willing to beg, borrow, and steal to land a top-tier, uncommitted, prospect but I have to say this is a bit of a surprise. Tunsil went into his visit with the Rebels expecting nothing and came out of it essentially with them in a very favorable (some even swore he committed silently before he left campus).

Ole Miss is not only in the same boat as Alabama and Georgia, but they potentially have leap frogged one of the two—if not both.

Talk about your change of hearts.

Here’s my two cents: I still believe Laremy Tunsil will end up at Georgia. I won’t say I’m 100% sure about my prediction, but place me at about 80-85 % at the moment; the reason for that is I think he truly loves the staff at Georgia and relishes the opportunity to play with guys like Brice Ramsey and Tray Matthews; guys he’s known and stayed in close contact with throughout the recruiting cycle.

I don’t know what Ole Miss was selling over the weekend, but it’s clear that Hugh Freeze has made a lot of believers in Oxford and with the commitment of Robert Nkemdiche only a formality at this point, it won’t be long before the Rebels are right there with other programs in the west—i.e. Arkansas and Auburn—as far as recruiting goes.

But I digress.

For now, we’ll just have to see what a little time and distance from this past weekend will do for Tunsil’s “confused” status, but it’s certainly obvious the Rebels gave him something to think about.

 

 

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Kimberley Nash

I am not a 'journalist' by trade, nor do I present myself as such. I am just a wife, mother, and Georgia Bulldog fan who likes to write about two of her favorite things: the Georgia Bulldogs and college football. I write. You read...it's a give and take experience.

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  • Rebchuck

    There were three components of his visit to Oxford that had an impact on him, two minor the other very major.

    First he assumed that Ole Miss’ football facilities were inferior to the rest of the SEC, he found that not to be the case.

    Secondly Oxford is a pretty cool college town and experience. I have been to all sec campuses and Athens is the only place that I would consider close to being as cool as Oxford.

    But more importantly he saw a group of commits (announced and unannounced) that are going to join together for a historic class and who have bonded as a group to be a part of what they view as changing a program. The Ole Miss commitments have turned out to be as good, if not better, recruiters than the Ole Miss staff. And do not underestimate the impact that Nkemdiche is having on this process.

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  • fred russo

    You know what these kids are wack jobs This kid will end up with who ever see last.

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  • UGA70

    Thanks Kimberley, I think. While I had pretty much taken for granted that LT was a lock, I was always a little concerned that he was not making his last visit to Athens. However, it’s better to know now that he may be interested in Ole Miss rather than learning this next Sunday or Monday. This should give CMR time to bring him back “home”. I’d sure like to know how his Mama feels about Ole Miss. I’m originally from Moultrie and went to grad school at Ole Miss so I can tell you from experience, it is not a short trip to Oxford and there’s no Interstate highways to get there from Vienna.

    Anyway, I hope this is just an immediate reaction to a fun visit over the weekend but once he starts adding up the pros and cons of his top schools he’ll come to his senses and commit to the G.

    • http://www.theladysportswriter.com/ Kimberley Nash

      Hey, thanks for the comments!

      LT would be coming from Florida; he’s going to be leaving his home state (shunning both FSU and UF) for an out-of-state SEC school. Montravius Adams is from Vienna; that said, I don’t know how much of a role distance plays in LT’s favor, but it certainly makes a small one in Montravius’; his mom (Adams) has already stated she likes Georgia better, but will support her son wherever he decides to go.
      As for LT, I’m sure a lot of this is post-visit euphoria. He was interviewed right after his visit and hardly had time to breathe before making these comments. I know he has a really good relationship with the UGA coaching staff and loves the program in Athens; hopefully, he’ll remember all of that come NSD.

  • Champ

    I’m confident he’ll land at UGA. The coaching staff hasn’t shown any signs of concern and following him on twitter you get the vibe that he really likes UGA and has developed some relationships with the current players. But you never know as we all remember the Da’Rick Rogers saga. Crazy things happen on NSD.

    • http://www.theladysportswriter.com/ Kimberley Nash

      I tend to agree with you but, as you pointed out, anything can happen on NSD. I still feel pretty good about Tunsil, but I’m hardly willing to bet a fool’s ransom on my prediction.

    • http://www.theladysportswriter.com/ Kimberley Nash

      Yeah, I tend to agree with you; but, like you said, it’s better to remain cautious about such things because you really never know.

  • Midas Mulligan

    Pretty good job for a fan piece. I enjoyed reading your opinion. I would point out, however, that Ole Miss has out-recruited Arkansas most every year in the past. Auburn’s typical recruiting success on the other hand is more on par with where I think the Rebels COULD be going forward with Hugh Freeze as the Coach.

    All that is basically a long way of saying that Arkansas & Auburn are typically not anywhere close to each other in recruiting. Auburn annually pulls in top 10-15 classes. Arkansas usually recruits “below” Ole Miss per the “experts”.

    Again, just pointing out one little point. Don’t mean to criticize! As an OM fan, the scariest aspect of this year is that it is validating my fear that SEC-W membership for A&M has given them recruiting advantages over the Texas that they’ve never had. With the high school programs around there, I sincerely hope all of us longstanding SEC teams haven’t created yet another Bama.

    Now I think I’m going to be sick. ugggggghhhh

    • http://www.theladysportswriter.com/ Kimberley Nash

      I see what you’re saying and I believe my statement, while signaling out recruiting, was more meant to address the national profile of Ole Miss. The Rebels haven’t been in the SEC West spotlight much since the departures of Michael Oher, Dexter McCluster, and Jevan Snead; that allowed Arkansas (under Petrino) to become more of a media darling over the last few years.

      That said, Freeze has done a nice job of retooling and rejuvenating the football program, in a positive manner, and that has really made people start looking at Ole Miss as a contender in the west again.

      As for A&M, I think they come back to earth next season. I think Manziel winning the Heisman was the worst thing for him as he doesn’t seem to know how to handle the pressure of being in so much spotlight; He won’t be coming into 2013 as a sleeper, he’ll be expected to win—lets see how he handles the expectations of being the guy with the target on his back.

      Thanks for stopping by!

  • GreerDawg

    He just wanted to see Ole Miss ‘cuz we won’t have them on our schedule during the time he’s at UGA. There is too much of a relationship investment between Tunsil and UGA for Ole Miss to truly compete at this point.

    • http://www.theladysportswriter.com/ Kimberley Nash

      Tunsil has repeatedly stated his love for UGA and he’s certainly amassed a laundry list of reasons for wanting to go there—I still feel he will, but I’m not going to take anything for granted.

  • 202dawg

    I think i’m going to be sick…