Week 7 recruiting winners and losers: Way Ole Miss won in Knoxville resonates with recruits

On3 imageby:Jeremy Crabtree10/18/21

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Recruits normally don’t make decisions based on a one-game performance. But make no mistake, Saturday’s games – especially Ole Missvictory over SEC foe and recruiting rival Tennessee – will have an impact on the recruiting trail.

It’s why the Rebels join Baylor, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and others as the recruiting winners for Week 7 of the college football season. It’s also why the Vols – along with Iowa and LSU – are the biggest losers of the week.

WINNERS

Ole Miss
Winning a tough road game in the SEC was enough to send a message to recruits that Ole Miss continues on the upswing. But with the way that it happened also sends a resounding message to prospects that the Rebels are moving in the right trajectory.

Late in the game, fans did what nobody likes to see by throwing trash and other objects, including a golf ball, toward the field. After Tennessee failed to convert a fourth-and-24 late in the game, fans in Neyland Stadium reacted poorly.

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin was struck with a golf ball during the chaos. Kiffin later caught a water bottle before launching his visor into the stands on his way out of the stadium.

The way the Rebels handled the adversity generated a lot of goodwill from prospects. Both recruits that are being heavily targeted by Ole Miss – and even others that aren’t – took to social media to say they loved the mojo from Kiffin.

“It’s the ultimate win on and off the field,” a rival SEC recruiting staffer said. “Lane oozes charisma and confidence, and they’ll be able to sell that coolness and swagger factor even more now.”

That’s the type of thing you want to hear. Especially when you’re trying to close strong with a recruiting class that borders on the top 25 and has plenty of room to grow before the start of the signing period.

Oklahoma

True freshman quarterback Caleb Williams made his first start Saturday and accounted for five touchdowns as No. 4 Oklahoma downed visiting TCU 52-31.

Recruits want to play early, especially the ones that are needed to win in the national championship.

It’s one of the biggest recruiting lures out there. Every school talks to the five stars and On300 type of prospects and tells them they can play as true freshmen. But few schools can back it up like Oklahoma.

It’s also a huge recruiting enticement to uncommitted offensive prospects that they can now come in and play with a young, emerging quarterback that was also the No. 1 player in the country when he was coming out of high school.

Oklahoma State

The Cowboys are undefeated after going into Austin and beating the Longhorns 32-24 to move to 6-0.

Let’s be honest. Oklahoma State isn’t going to come into Texas and beat out the Longhorns for too many top prospects head-to-head. But Saturday’s win is the type of thing they can use to help win over prospects that aren’t entirely into the Longhorns.

The momentum from the game can also help Oklahoma State secure a spot as next in line with top prospects in Texas and Oklahoma. And there are plenty of good ones to go around.

Baylor

Much like Oklahoma State, Baylor’s win over No. 19 BYU will help them with local prospects that aren’t going to be heavily targeted by Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma. The momentum Dave Aranda’s program has now at 6-1 is starting to catch the attention of some top uncommitted recruits in Texas and also with some quality 2023 names.

LOSERS

Tennessee

While Ole Miss is going to get a bounce from the way they beat the Vols, it’ll be interesting to see how top recruits Tennessee is targeting will respond to the negative press that’s been generated after fans threw a golf ball at Kiffin.

It’s never a good sign when Paul Finebaum is on Sportscenter eviscerating the Tennessee fanbase’s behavior.

“I thought it was classless and unconscionable behavior,” stated Finebaum. “It was an absolute disgrace. And I realize this – as everyone does, in a stadium of 100,000-plus – this was not just a handful. It was maybe a couple hundred. But that’s one too many.

“The idea that somebody would throw a golf ball and nearly hit Lane Kiffin. … It’s hard to wrap your arms around what a bad and ugly look that was for the University of Tennessee.”

It was a perfect storm of chaos. First, Kiffin’s return and the hunger to defeat him ran wild throughout the university. Additionally, a nail-biter of a game featuring multiple momentum shifts had everyone on edge.

However, as Finebaum mentions, there’s no excuse for the behavior we witnessed last night. While the thrill of a big-time SEC matchup was on display, so was the ugly side of intense fandom.

That’s something Tennessee will have to address with recruits and especially their moms and dads moving forward. It might not make a true impact long term, but it’s still not a good look. And anytime you’re talking about that instead of the positives of your program with recruits, it’s not a good thing.

LSU

LSU was a winner on the field Saturday, upsetting the Florida Gators. But it’s what happened after the game that puts the Tigers in the losing category.

LSU is now searching for a new head coach after Ed Orgeron and LSU reached a separation agreement that will have him move on after the season.

Despite agreeing to part ways with the school following the 2021 season, Orgeron remains committed to his post. The Louisiana native promised to continue promoting LSU, no matter who is coaching.

“I’m gonna tell them to come to LSU,” Orgeron said matter-of-factly. “I’m gonna still recruit players, tell them to come to LSU. This is a great place and I recruited them to come to LSU. Why would I tell them any different now?”

That’s good news for the Tigers. But in the cut-throat world of SEC recruiting, it’s essentially open season on LSU’s commitment list and other top remaining targets.

The good news is that LSU is an attractive job for a number of reasons – especially its quality recruiting base and the fact that players want to stay home and play for the Tigers.

Iowa

Iowa might not have completely lost momentum with recruits after getting upset by Purdue, but it certainly wasn’t a good look for the Hawkeyes.

That’s especially true with offensive targets.

Iowa still is the favorite to win the Big Ten West. But its poor offensive showing against the Boilermakers does create a question about what the Hawkeyes will do against defense-minded Minnesota and, especially, Wisconsin.

The counter to the offensive struggles on the recruiting trail is that Iowa could pitch offensive prospects on how they could come in and make a difference. But still, some of the shine and recruiting bounce that Iowa got after beating Penn State at home last week is probably lost.