Tupelo’s own 4-Star DE JaReylan McCoy is playing it cool, keeping Lincoln Riley, and a few other CFB giants, on their toes. After carefully considering his choices and selecting prestigious universities such as USC, LSU, and Oklahoma, McCoy made a bold statement regarding the coaching staff at USC, particularly mentioning Riley. “Even Lincoln Riley texts me every chance he gets,” he said, and now the whole recruiting game’s buzzing. Because of many impressive offers, McCoy’s next destination remains uncertain. It’s like watching a recruitment saga unfold, and we’re here for it!

With all new NIL getting in the way of recruitment and the transfer portal adding fuel to the fire, there are also players like JaReylan McCoy who love to make it an exciting process. Now we all know the hustle teams face to get in their favorite players, and in between this, if you make it a close-margin game among teams, it gives them another level of chills. The same is happening with Lincoln Riley, Brian Kelly, and Josh Heupel. As recruiting analyst Sam Spiegelman hits IG, he says, “DE JaReylan McCoy will reveal his college commitment on January 2 from the @uanextfootball All-America Game. He’s choosing from Tennessee, LSU, and USC—after a wave of transfer portal moves to consider.”

That’s the kind of hustle every team needs to land on their favorite top recruits. Moreover, missing out on a player like JaReylan McCoy? That’s the risk no team can afford to take. Why? Well, his stats speak for themselves. As a sophomore, McCoy racked up 44 tackles, 23 tackles for loss, and 11 sacks. Talk about an absolute beast on the field. And don’t think it’s just the teams mentioned that are after him—McCoy’s already received 17 offers from powerhouse programs like the Auburn Tigers, Florida Gators, and a bunch more.

This guy’s a game-changer! Apart from these programs, JayReylan McCoy also made an unofficial visit to Alabama in March. After that, he even received an offer from them. That’s really a big thing for a player to bang something like that at such an early stage of the process. Plus, as per 247 sports rankings, McCoy is the 5th player in Mississippi and the 98th in the nation. That’s huge; it looks like that’s the reason behind his sudden shifts of thoughts.

JaReylan McCoy’s series of dropping hints

JaReylan McCoy is that dude who keeps everyone on the edge of their seat, never knowing what he’s going to do next, but leaving them scratching their heads. Classic McCoy move. But the interesting part? He’s still got a whole year to decide which team he will roll with, but nah, that’s not how he plays it. Since the season started, JaReylan has been casually dropping the list of his top programs, keeping fans and programs guessing.

Back in September, JaReylan McCoy’s list narrowed down to six teams: Kentucky, LSU, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Oregon, and USC. You talk about keeping it interesting, right? It’s like watching a mystery unfold in real-time. However, this list again got upgraded, knocking out Kentucky from the mix and adding Ole Miss. After JaReylan McCoy visited Oxford for back-to-back home games, things started looking pretty promising for the Rebels. But the real turning point came after their game against Furman when McCoy went on record, saying the Rebels were his leader in the recruiting race. That was a big statement, which puts Rebels on the top.

Moreover, even after McCoy visited Tennessee, the opinion was still intact, plus the Rebels’ insider David Johnson was still confident that Lane Kiffin’s squad was the one. But why? Because of Joyner, who’s been a key recruiter for Kiffin’s defense. Yet, here we are, and now Ole Miss isn’t even in McCoy’s top programs. What went wrong? Who knows? Now it’s just LSU, Vols, and USC, so let’s just wait and see who pulls off the win and lands JaReylan in their roster unless there’s a change of mind.