‘Get the ball in his hands’: Ole Miss completes flip, lands in-state playmaking dynamo Noreel White
Noreel White has completed his not-at-all-surprising commitment flip from Arkansas to Ole Miss.
White on Friday became the 21st pledge for the Rebels in the 2024 class and their fifth four-star-or-better prospect. With the addition of White, four of those five are now from within Mississippi’s borders, including Kamarion Franklin, the state’s No. 1 overall player.
The others are four-star defensive linemen Kam Beavers and Jeffery Rush. Beavers is the No. 3 player in the state. Rush is No. 7 and White is No. 9. White is ranked as the nation’s No. 307 overall player by the On3 Industry Ranking — a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He’s the No. 52 wide receiver.
Nearly half (10) of the Rebels’ class is from Mississippi.
Another is wide receiver SanFrisco Magee. Ole Miss signed the top two in-state recruits (five-star-plus linebacker Suntarine Perkins and four-star wide receiver Ayden Williams) last cycle. Williams is already turning heads in preseason camp.
“The thing I love about Noreel is the versatility,” On3 scouting and rankings assistant Cody Bellaire said, in a previous interview with the Ole Miss Spirit. “The film is phenomenal. He’s a dynamic playmaker. When the ball is in his hands, he makes defenders miss in a phone booth consistently.
“Body type says wide receiver, maybe running back, but the skill set screams, ‘Get the ball in this kid’s hands.’”
Ole Miss has been recruiting White exclusively as a wide receiver.
“I want a shot at receiver,” White previously told the Ole Miss Spirit.
But he can play all over.
The 6-foot 1/2, 190-pound White last season had 1,109 all-purpose yards. He had 650 receiving and 255 rushing and scored 13 touchdowns. White also finished with 55 tackles and three interceptions on defense.
He has longed planned on graduating from St. Martin High School in Ocean Springs in December. Should he do so, White would then enroll at Ole Miss in January and participate in spring practices.
The primary Ole Miss recruiters for White have been wide receivers coach Derrick Nix and off-field staffer Kelvin Bolden. White was a headline visitor at ‘Juice Fest’ at the end of last month. Juice Fest is Ole Miss’ annual end-of-summer recruiting blowout.
“They’re just consistent,” in my recruitment, White said of Ole Miss at the time.
He de-committed from Arkansas a few days later and quickly began picking up recruiting-expert projections of a potentially-impending commitment to Ole Miss.
“With modern offenses and the development of backs catching the ball out of the backfield, I see him filling some sort of (role) like (running back) Devon Achane at Texas A&M, where you see him line up in the backfield and slot and run in on sweeps,” Bellaire said.
“The idea is, I don’t care how you get Noreel White the football. As long as he touches it 15 times, minimum, a game, I’m OK. If they’re all screens, if they’re all underneath, if they’re all hand-offs, I don’t care.
“Get the ball in his hands and let him do what he does.”
