Mr. Smith (Finally) Goes to Ole Miss: LSU transfer wide receiver reportedly set to practice
Deion Smith officially reported, and physically stepped foot on campus, at Ole Miss on June 1.
He’s finally suiting up for the Rebels nearly two months later.
The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman is reporting Smith is expected to be able to start practicing with the Rebels tomorrow. Smith is a transfer wide receiver from LSU. Ole Miss is in its third week of fall camp. He reported to preseason camp July 31. However, he’s been attending in street clothes.
The 6-foot-3, 203-pound Smith joins, inarguably, one of college football’s very best wide receiver rooms. He’s also seemingly been on the verge of landing in Oxford since he left LSU two years ago. Academic hurdles sent him to Holmes (Mississippi) Community College for a year.
Even more coursework kept Smith from enrolling at Ole Miss in December and participating in spring practices.
“It was a rough process,’ Smith previously told the Ole Miss Spirit. “It took grinding and took patience, but we got it done, and now it’s time to roll. It’s been a rough road to overcome, and (Ole Miss has) been trying to get me for a couple years now.”
Smith is a former four-star in-state recruit.
He was ranked by On3 as the No. 1 JUCO prospect in the country.
The Rebels last season were the only team in the sport to produce three 700-yard receivers. Ole Miss won a program-record 11 games and appeared in its second New Year’s Six bowl in three years.
Two are back in Tre Harris and Jordan Watkins. Harris is the highest-graded returning wideout in the SEC, according to Pro Football Focus.
“We have the best receiver room in the country,” Smith said. “Single coverage, nobody can guard us. That receiving room is going to be the room that takes us all the way.”
Smith caught 11 passes for 186 yards and two touchdowns in six games as an LSU freshman. He signed in 2021 as the No. 54 player in his class. Smith was the No. 8 wide receiver and Mississippi’s top recruit.
“JUCO helped me get back to myself,” Smith said.
Smith is originally from Jackson and led JUCO in receiving (1,063) and yards per game last season. Twelve of his 48 catches went for touchdowns, and he pulled all of it off in just eight games.
“My kid is my main drive and what keeps me going,” Smith said. He’ll wear No. 6 as a Rebel, just as he did with the SEC-rival Tigers. “I’m trying to do everything I can to help my family out.”
