BREAKING | Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss land commitment from highly-coveted 2025 LB/S Jarcoby Hopson
OXFORD, Miss. — Tuesday morning Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding tweeted his famous shark emoji, indicative of an imminent commit. Not much later, the Rebels landed highly-coveted safety/linebacker Jarcoby Hopson.
Time to put on for the ‘Sip 🔴🔵
Home is Home. #HottyToddy 🦈 pic.twitter.com/VjWBJVrp2E— Jarcoby Hopson Jr (@JarcobyJ) April 22, 2024
The 6-foot-3, 205-pounder from Lake Cormorant, Miss., is rated as the nation’s No. 27 linebacker and the No. 7 player in the 2025 class in the state of Mississippi.
While he is ranked as a linebacker, Hopson was pivotal on both sides of the ball in his junior season. Defensively he notched 79 total tackles, 56 of which were solo, 11 pass breakups and allowed zero touchdowns. Offensively, he tallied 162 passing yards, 766 rushing and 928 total yards for 12 touchdowns.
Hopson will join his brother, Jarnorris Hopson, a wide receiver who played at Mississippi State, who will transfer in to Ole Miss this summer, coming in from Northwest Mississippi Community College.
To make the Ole Miss connection even stronger, it’s worth pointing out that Jarcoby played his high school ball with early enrollee Kam Franklin, a premier edge out of the 2024 class who will likely see some playing time as a freshman this fall. Hopson was in Oxford to watch the Rebels play on a couple of occasions this past fall, joining Franklin in town.
Hopson, a highly-rated four-star on every major recruiting platform, caught the eyes of the top programs across the country, and the Rebels have been there from the beginning, having offered him in December, 2021.
He chose Ole Miss over 20-plus programs, including Michigan State, Colorado, Louisville, and Florida State, as well as SEC schools: Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Texas A&M.
Hopson talked with us in February about his relationship with defensive coordinator Pete Golding and recruiting coordinator Kelvin Bolden.
“Coach Pete and KB (Bolden) are some solid guys. I love how they are recruiting me. I think he (Golding) did a really great job in his first year, on the field and off the field with recruiting.”
Jarcoby Hopson
My guy stop by APPRECIATE!!!! @CoachGolding @RebelsFBRec @OleMissFB pic.twitter.com/8eGLcAdaUB
— Jarcoby Hopson Jr (@JarcobyJ) January 29, 2024
Hopson earned first-team honors for the 6A Region and participated in the Class of 2025 Under-Armour All-American Game, and is on pace to become an all-state player in his upcoming senior season.
Hopson is the fifth high school prospect to commit to Ole Miss’ 2025 signing class. He joins running back Akylin Dear; wide receiver Dillon Alfred; linebacker Talib Graham; and linebacker Corey Amos.
Lee Ann Herring-Olvedo
Lee Ann serves as the Director of Recruiting for The Rebel Walk. She sees college football the way championship programs do—from inside the personnel room. Every evaluation, every roster move, every recruiting battle tells a bigger story about identity, culture, and how a program is built to win in December, not just July.
With more than 15 years covering the SEC and the national recruiting landscape, Herring-Olvedo has built a reputation as one of the sport’s most respected personnel-driven voices—blending film evaluation, roster construction, and long-term program vision through a true front-office lens. Her coverage of powerhouse brands like Ole Miss Rebels and Kentucky Wildcatshas consistently gone beyond headlines, focusing instead on the blueprint behind winning programs: development, fit, culture, and recruiting strategy.
That foundation was formed early at Brown University, where she worked in player personnel and recruiting while competing as a student-athlete. Inside those recruiting operations rooms, she learned how elite organizations are truly built—through relentless evaluation, relationship building, projection, and trust in the board. Those experiences shaped the way she studies the game today: part scout, part storyteller, part architect.
Her analysis and reporting have appeared across major platforms including ESPN, NFL coverage spaces, USA Today Sports, and Saturday Down South. She also brought her personnel-minded approach to the airwaves as an on-air analyst for the Wake Up 502 College Football Show on Big X Sports Radio 96.1, where she became known for combining film-room detail with a wider understanding of roster identity and program trajectory.
In 2025, covering the rise of Houston Cougars football under Willie Fritz reignited the part of the sport that first drew her into football—the culture, the edge, the belief that a roster can reshape an entire city. That inspiration led to the launch of Coogs 365 Sports, a platform built to cover Houston athletics through a true scouting and recruiting lens while connecting the emotion of the game to the heartbeat of H-Town.
Now, Herring-Olvedo returns to The Rebel Walk where with an even deeper perspective shaped by years inside recruiting circles, national SEC coverage, and hands-on evaluation experience. Her return brings a familiar voice back to Ole Miss coverage—but with an evolved lens rooted in roster architecture, player development, and the modern realities of building championship-caliber football in the NIL and portal era.
For Herring-Olvedo, recruiting has never been about stars beside a name. It is about identifying competitors, projecting growth, and building a locker room capable of sustaining success. Her philosophy mirrors the best front offices in football: stack traits, trust culture, and never stop building.
