Ole Miss turning LSU win into serious recruiting momentum
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Winder (Ga.) Barrow four-star safety Giovanni Tuggle was in Oxford over the weekend and he watched Ole Miss defeat LSU in front of a packed house. On Tuesday afternoon, he told Rivals’ Steve Wiltfong that he’s now committed to the Rebels.
It’s another humongous recruiting win early on in the 2028 cycle for Pete Golding and his staff. Tuggle is the No. 63 overall prospect and No. 4 safety in the junior class, according to the Rivals Industry Rankings, a weighted average that utilizes all major recruiting media companies.
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“It just felt like home to me,” Tuggle explained to Wiltfong. Last weekend was his third visit to Ole Miss and his first game day. “They got a good coach, a very good head coach, a defensive coach. He’s a good person.”
Tuggle is the second blue-chip safety to commit to Ole Miss after watching it defeat the Tigers in Lane Kiffin’s return. On Sunday, Brentwood Academy (Tenn.) four-star safety Braylen Bedford, the No. 6 safety in the cycle, locked in his pledge.
Those two now flank Hattiesburg (Miss.) four-star defensive lineman Antavion Allen atop Ole Miss’ 2028 class. Allen, who committed last month, is the No. 78 recruit, No. 11 DL and No. 3 junior in the Magnolia State.
That trio has Ole Miss firmly inside the top five of the Rivals Industry Team Recruiting Rankings for the cycle. It’s quite early, but the SEC program has acquired some serious momentum after last weekend’s victory and it has wasted no time making a couple of big splashes on the recruiting trail.
Rebels are surging with multiple blue-chippers
Despite the departure of Kiffin and the craziness that ensued, Golding has remained steadfast in Oxford. His recruiting efforts haven’t stopped and that’s played a big role in these early commitments. The Rebels have been after recruits like Bedford for some time.
“Really Coach Pete Golding, Coach (Wes) Neighbors and they’ve been recruiting me since the eighth grade,” Bedford told Rivals upon pledging. “It’s been like a family. It’s great. Coach (Donte) Moncrief has been recruiting me hard too.”
McComb (Miss.) three-star wide receiver Latedrick Mallard is the other member of the Rebels’ 2028 class thus far. More commitments are likely on the way. Rivals’ Chad Simmons logged multiple picks in the Rivals Recruiting Prediction Machine in favor of Ole Miss on Tuesday.
“Few programs had more recruiting momentum coming out of Saturday than Ole Miss. Pete Golding and the Rebels knocked off LSU in front of a loaded visitor list, and the impact started showing almost immediately,” Simmons wrote.
Looking at the 2027 cycle, Ole Miss has the No. 15 class nationally. That would be its best finish in the Rivals Industry Team Recruiting Rankings since the 2016 cycle, when it signed the No. 6 class. National Signing Day is still 15 months away for the 2028 cycle, but early indications suggest that the Rebels could land their first top-10 haul in more than a decade.
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