Chris Vaughn’s importance to the Ole Miss football program and coach Houston Nutt was highlighted again over the weekend with three verbal commitments from the state of Florida for the 2011 signing class.
Vaughn, the Rebels’ recruiting coordinator and a native of Tallahassee, Fla., has been able to secure the commitments from a bevy of Florida standouts since he arrived from Arkansas in Nov. 2007. Many of those players are defensive backs, the position Vaughn coaches alongside Kim Dameron, and that trend continued Sunday with two commitments from defensive backs.
Ole Miss’ verbal commitment list increased to seven on Sunday when Gerrod Holliman, Andrew Johnson and Serderius Bryant all picked the Rebels. Holliman and Johnson are teammates at Miami’s Southridge High School, while Bryant attends Sanford’s Seminole High.
Holliman (6-foot, 190-pounds, 4.55 seconds in 40-yard dash) and Johnson (5-10, 170) are both defensive backs while Bryant (5-10, 215, 4.52) is an outside linebacker.
Holliman and Johnson are both ranked on the Rivals.com preseason Top 100 list in the state of Florida, while Holliman is considered a four-star recruit by both Rivals and Scout.com.
Holliman chose the Rebels over several offers including Florida State, Tennessee and Louisville. Johnson, meanwhile, is rated as the 40th best corner prospect in the nation by Scout.com and had offers from the likes of Nebraska, West Virginia, Louisville, Texas Tech, Kentucky and South Florida.
Bryant may be short in stature, but his ability to make plays sideline to sideline led to a number of tackles and offers from Florida State, Miami, Central Florida and Wake Forest. Bryant, nicknamed “Bird,” made 154 tackles last season as a junior and 121 as a sophomore when the Seminoles won the Class 6A state title. He is rated as a three-star prospect by Rivals, and while he didn’t make the site’s top 100 rankings, he is No. 13 on the Orlando Sentinel’s Central Florida Super 60 list.
Joining Bryant, Holliman and Johnson on Ole Miss’ verbal commitment list are Bay Springs athlete Cody Prewitt (6-3, 200), Winona all-purpose running back Chelarvez “Chief” Brown (6-2, 188, 4.5), Destrahan, La., center Ethan Hutson (6-4, 295) and Russellville, Ark., tackle Mitch Hall (6-6, 330).
Hall is the brother of current Ole Miss offensive lineman Matt Hall, while Hutson is a four-star recruit who is rated as the top center prospect in the nation by Rivals. Brown chose Ole Miss over Mississippi State, while Prewitt chose Ole Miss over an offer from Southern Miss. (July 6, 2010, Page 6A)
