National Signing Day for college football lasted from Wednesday, Dec. 3 to Friday, Dec. 5. Ole Miss signed 19 high school recruits — eight 4-stars and 11 3-stars. They finished with the No. 22 recruiting class in the nation.
While former Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin took a few highly-touted recruits with him to LSU, the 2026 Rebel signing class was solid. In 2025, they had the No. 16 signing class.
Twelve of the 19 signees were defensive players, no doubt thanks to Pete Golding, the former defensive coordinator.
Seven Rebel signees are on ESPN’s Top 300: Damarius Yates (No. 121, running back), JaMichael Garrett (No. 174, linebacker), Dorian Barney (No. 175, cornerback), Jase Matthews (No. 258, wide receiver), Landon Barnes (No. 266, defensive end), Graig Tutt (No. 286, safety) and Anthony Davis Jr. (No. 298, linebacker).
Matthews is thought to be the top Rebel signee. Sports network Rivals ranked the wide receiver as a 5-star recruit; however, Rivals’ industry ranking, the aggregate ranking from major recruiting media services, pins him as a 4-star. He is the No. 4 recruit in Mississippi.
Also on offense, Yates is the No. 6 recruit in Mississippi. At No. 121, the running back is the highest Rebel signed on the ESPN300.
On the defensive side, Golding recruited great talent to keep the Ole Miss defense stout for the foreseeable future.
Barnes is a consensus 4-star recruit. The edge rusher is 6-foot-3-inches tall and weighs 245 pounds. He is the No. 14 recruit in Texas. Barnes will add to an already-deep edge rusher group at Ole Miss.
The Rebels recruited six defensive backs. Safeties Iverson McCoy and Tutt, along with cornerback Barney, lead the way in this class’ secondary.
Between Suntarine Perkins, TJ Dottery and Andrew Jones, the Rebel linebacker group is a formidable unit. Three-star linebackers Davis and Garrett will keep the Rebel linebacker room steady after the current group departs.
