Ole Miss Rebels and Lane Kiffin pushing hard to keep four star defensive recruit away from SEC rivals ahead of key visits

Lane Kiffin and his staff continue to push hard towards landing another top tier recruiting class this offseason to follow up one of the best in Ole Miss program history. The Rebels are coming off another Top 3 Transfer Portal class and a 16th ranked high school recruiting effort, but they need to speed things up for 2026 if they want to repeat.

Ole Miss got both some good and potentially challenging news this week with one of their most important recruits in defensive lineman JaReylan McCoy, but the Rebels are still firmly in the mix as his decision nears.

JaReylan McCoy, Four Star DL Recruit

For those unfamiliar with JaReylan McCoy he is a potentially elite four star talent from Tupelo, Mississippi who Lane Kiffin has been chasing after for a long time now. The Rebels have met with McCoy physically at least 10 times and continue to prioritize his recruitment any chance they get. This week more evidence surfaced suggesting that all that effort has been worthwhile.

McCoy announced that he is down to his final five schools, and of course Ole Miss is in the mix. Auburn, Florida, LSU, and Texas A&M are also in the mix too, but only two of them are set for official visits early this summer.

McCoy has widely been considered a top tier four star talent since racking up 11 sacks as a sophomore in high school, showcasing elite athleticism and physical dominance at an early age. He was less productive sack-wise this past season, but half of the SEC is still pursuing him hard. The competition isn’t slowing down this spring either.

McCoy just visited with Florida and Miami (FL) this weekend. And despite just announcing his Top 5 schools, McCoy set an official with Texas for this summer as well. If the Longhorns emerge as a late contender for McCoy out of left field then Rebels fans may actually have something to worry about.

However, Lane Kiffin and company aren’t slowing down their efforts either. They’re set to meet McCoy again next week March 22nd and then have him on-site again for his official visit in June. Most of the recent momentum still looks like it’s heading in Ole Miss’ favor with McCoy. Now Kiffin and company just have to finish. And they’ll likely have a huge need to fill by the time McCoy arrives on campus.

The Rebels just lost nearly their entire defensive front with Walter Nolen, Princely Umanmielen, Jared Ivey, and more heading off to the NFL. The replacements this year look strong, but there will even more spots to fill next spring.