The Lady Rebels (12-13 overall, 2-10 SEC) were led in scoring by Valencia McFarland (12) and Amber Singletary (10).

Jessica Merritt‘s 10 points were a team-high for Alabama (11-14, 1-10).

Next up for Ole Miss is a road trip to rival Mississippi State on Sunday. The game is set for 2:30 p.m. and will be televised on FSN. (February 9, 2012)

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Before Lafayette QB Jeremy Liggins picked LSU on the Square and Memphis RB/CB Sheldon Dawson selected Georgia over Ole Miss, there was the news that long-time quarterback commitment C.J. Beathard had changed his mind.

Earlier tonight the 6-foot-2, 180-pound Battle Ground Academy QB (Franklin, Tenn.) confirmed he indeed flipped from Ole Miss to Iowa.

“I have a bunch of respect for Coach (Hugh) Freeze and all, but I just kind of felt like he was more honoring my scholarship than anything,” Beathard said during a brief phone interview. “I just didn’t feel very wanted, I guess, by him. Iowa seemed like they really wanted me so I just had that gut feeling.”

Beathard said his verbal commitment to Ole Miss had been eating at him for some time.

“I’ve been solid with Ole Miss. Coach Freeze came down to my house after he got hired and we talked and it was good,” Beathard said. “And then I was feeling a little shaky but I didn’t really think about anything and then on my official visit we went to a room with my family and we talked to Coach Freeze and he kind of encouraged me to take other visits if I wanted to take more visits and I kind of felt like if he was wanting me to do that then (maybe I should look at other schools).”

Beathard later added the number of scholarship quarterbacks currently on Ole Miss’ roster (freshman Maikhail Miller, sophomore Bo Wallace, junior Barry Brunetti and seniors Randall Mackey and Zack Stoudt), and the fact the Rebels coaches were still pursuing other signal callers made him uneasy about his commitment.

“I had no problem going in and competing for a job, but throughout the year the coaches just kept looking and kept looking for other quarterbacks and it got me thinking like, ‘well maybe I should look around,’” he said.

Beathard said his high school coach sent film to Iowa following his official visit to Oxford “just in case” and the Hawkeyes staff immediately showed interest in Beathard.

Beathard had originally committed to Ole Miss in May.

According to Rivals.com site HawkeyeReport.com, Iowa signed a junior college QB during the early signing period but has no other signal caller committed.

JUDON SWAPS FROM BASEBALL TO FOOTBALL: Former Ole Miss baseball player and Myrtle standout Jimel Judon is making the switch to the gridiron, his parents confirmed tonight.

Myrtle does not have a football program, so playing football will be new to Judon and as such, there’s expected to be a rather steep learning curve.

The combination of Judon’s size (listed at 6-foot-5, 270 pounds a year ago), athleticism and academic scholarship, however, makes the decision to take the former baseball player as a walkon a no brainer for the football staff.

Judon’s parents were unsure what position Judon would start out at, but considering his size and the fact he met with new Ole Miss offensive line coach Matt Luke over the weekend, it’s likely the staff tries him at offensive line.

When asked about the switch on his Twitter account, Judon replied “it’s official!!!”

Judon would have been a redshirt freshman on the baseball team this season but did not make the initial round of roster cuts prior to winter break. (January 30, 2012)

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Miles attended Lafayette’s regular season game against Shannon to get a better look at Liggins and also made an in-home visit with the signal caller and his family following the season. Liggins visited LSU officially Jan. 20-22 and came away very impressed with what the Tigers had to offer, saying he had a great visit and that he felt a part of the family.

Liggins threw for 1,660 yards and ran for 987 yards this past season. He accounted for 114 touchdowns during his three-year varsity career. Liggins was named to the annual Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic this year and is regarded as one of the Top 150 players in the nation by ESPN.com.

The first day high school football players can sign is Wednesday.

For more on Liggins’ commitment to LSU, see Tuesday’s Sports pages in the Oxford EAGLE. (January 30, 2012)

Ole Miss led 22-19 at the 8:41 mark of the first half, but the Lady Tigers out-scored the home team 19-6 to close out the frame and never let Ole Miss get within seven points of the lead.

Auburn was led in scoring by Camille Glymph‘s 19 points, while Ole Miss was led by Nikki Byrd (11) and Valencia McFarland (15).

Ole Miss returns to the court on Thursday with a road game at Kentucky. The game is set for a 6 p.m. start. (January 29, 2012)

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Ole Miss is the seventh-ranked Southeastern Conference school included in the poll, behind No. 1 Florida, No. 3 South Carolina, No. 4 Arkansas, No. 8 LSU, No. 10 Vanderbilt and No. 11 Georgia.

The Rebels are also one of seven teams included in the preseason poll that were not ranked in the final 2011 poll.

Ole Miss begins full team practices on Friday and will open its regular season on Feb. 17 at No. 15 Texas Christian.

UPDATE: Baseball America also released capsules of all Top 25 teams. The writeups are pretty in-depth, so be sure to check it out.

Below is one part of the Rebels’ preview:

The Rebels’ offense will rely on a number of capable seasoned veterans and breakout candidates. The lineup’s best pure hitter is Yarbrough, who has a balanced swing from both sides and the ability to lace hard line drives all over the field. Mathis is another proven hitter for average, and Allen’s gap-to-gap approach should make him one of the SEC’s top offensive catchers. Mistone brings another talented gap hitter, while the pesky Newalu and the athletic Jamison could make a disruptive duo atop the lineup.

BA grades each team’s “tools” on a 50-80 scale (instead of the typical 20-80 scale scouts use).

Ole Miss grades out as follows: Hitting (60), power (60), speed (60), defense (60), starting pitching (50), bullpen (55), experience/intangibles (50) and “Baseball America OPF” (50).

BA also has a projected 2012 lineup: C Will Allen; 1B Matt Snyder; 2B Alex Yarbrough; 3B Andrew Mistone; SS Blake Newalu; LF Tanner Mathis; CF Will Jamison; RF Preston Overbey; DH Zach Kirksey; SP 1 Bobby Wahl; SP 2 R.J. Hively; SP 3 Mike Mayers; CL Brett Huber.

Their projected lineup looks pretty good for the most part. Heading into spring practice, Ole Miss has some options (which, I’d think is a good thing): Does (Preston) Overbey play 3B or RF? Where’s Austin Anderson factor in? Who gets the bulk of the playing time behind the plate? What about 1B/DH… does Snyder find his way back onto the field or is someone else taking over at first? That’s just a couple of the questions off the top of my head surrounding the team heading into the season. Again, it’s nice to have options.

Ole Miss will scrimmage on Friday at 2:30 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. The Rebs will also practice on Sunday at Noon. (January 24, 2012)

Aided by a 30-2 run to open the game, the Lady Bulldogs cruised to a 61-47 victory at C.M. “Tad” Smith Coliseum.

Georgia (16-4, 5-2 Southeastern Conference) forced 12 turnovers in the first half and took advantage of Ole Miss’ 7 for-27 (25.9 percent) shooting performance from the field to build its insurmountable lead.

Ole Miss (12-8, 2-5) went nearly 12 minutes at one point in the first half without converting a basket.

Georgia was led in scoring by Khaalidah Miller (13), Anne Marie Armstrong (15), Meredith Mitchell (10) and Jasmine Hassell (11).

Valencia McFarland (13) and Tia Faleru (13) led Ole Miss in scoring.

Faleru also had 10 rebounds to record her first career double-double.

Ole Miss’ 15-point first half is tied for the 10th worst start to a game in program history.

The Lady Rebels returned the favor in the second frame, holding Georgia to a season-low 18 points in the second half.

Ole Miss returns to action on Thursday at South Carolina. The game is set for a 6 p.m. tip and will be televised on FSN and ESPN3.com.

As always, check Monday’s print edition of the Oxford EAGLE for more on the game. (January 22, 2012)

Have questions or comments? Don’t hesitate to e-mail us at patrickochs@oxfordeagle.com or johndavis@oxfordeagle.com. You can also tweet us at @patrickochs and @oxfordeaglejd. (January 20, 2012)

Pomeranz, a former Ole Miss baseball player currently pitching for the Colorado Rockies, was arrested at 1:25 a.m. on Oct. 14 and charged with disturbing the peace. He was later released at 4:40 a.m. on a cash bond.

According to someone close to the situation, the charges were dismissed with costs. The amount of the fine was not disclosed.

On Jan. 13, Pomeranz tweeted (see screen grab below) “focused on baseball & looking forward to (spring training)” after his representation (@BHSCouncil) had tweeted the charges were dropped.

The left-handed pitcher made his Major League debut in 2011 with the Colorado Rockies organization after being a centerpiece in the trade that sent ace Ubaldo Jimenez to the Cleveland Indians.

Pomeranz was 2-1 with a 5.40 ERA in four starts for the Rockies. He also struck out 13 and walked five in 18.1 innings.

In 2011 Pomeranz played with three minor league clubs while he ascended the Indians and Rockies farm systems, posting a 4-3 record and a 1.78 ERA. (January 19, 2012)

 Evan Anderson, a 6-foot-4, 200-pound left-handed pitcher from Dale, Okla., recently chose Ole Miss over interest from schools such as Tulane, Nebraska, TCU, Tennessee and Rice.

Asked why he chose Ole Miss over the other schools, Anderson pointed to the coaching staff and Oxford.

“Definitely Coach (Carl) Lafferty was a main reason. Him and the Nebraska coach were the two coolest coaches by far,” Anderson said earlier today during a brief phone interview. “The campus is the prettiest campus I’ve ever been to and The Grove, too. That and the fan base really put them over the top from everybody else.”

As a sophomore last season, Anderson posted a 9-0 record for his high school.

Anderson said his velocity sits at about 88-89 miles-per-hour and topped out at 92 last season.

Anderson is Ole Miss’ fifth verbal commitment for the 2013 signing class, joining Dalton Dulin (IF; Memphis), Cheyne Bickel (RHP; North Palm Beach, Fla.), Carlos Williams (OF; Covington, Tenn.) and Colby Bortles (3B; Oviedo, Fla.).

Checkout Thursday’s print edition of the Oxford EAGLE for the complete story on Anderson’s commitment.

Chase Parham of RebelGrove.com first reported the commitment.

LIGHTS-CAMERA-BASEBALL: It’s been circulating on Twitter today so I thought I’d go ahead and link Ole Miss’ latest promotional video. Per the usual, it’s very good.

Ole Miss opens its season Feb. 17-19 at TCU. (January 18, 2012)

JD also updates Sherquan Herod‘s status.

Tune into the show and let us know what you think.

Have questions or comments? Don’t hesitate to e-mail us at patrickochs@oxfordeagle.com or johndavis@oxfordeagle.com. You can also tweet us at @patrickochs and @oxfordeaglejd. (January 18, 2012)