Oxford's Grace Freeman signs with Ole Miss soccer, to early enroll in January
Ole Miss head soccer head coach Matt Mott is no stranger to recruiting out of his own backyard.
Wednesday was just another example.
Oxford High School standout Grace Freeman signed her National Letter of Intent to join the Rebels. Wednesday was the first day of the fall signing period for multiple sports besides football.
Freeman intends to graduate high school in December, forgoing her senior season with the Chargers and enroll at Ole Miss in January.
Mott has known Freeman for nearly seven years.
Suffice to say, he’s familiar with Oxford’s soccer program. More importantly, he knows the kind of player, in Freeman, he’s adding to his program.
“I’ve really watched (Freeman’s) maturation as a player and as a person,” Mott said. “She has a real determination. To me, the the thing I like the most about her is she’s tough. She’s not afraid of anything, will run through a brick wall, coachable.
“All those things, but, to me, I just kind of watched her mature as a player and the extra work that she put in is the things that we want as players who are going to succeed here.”
Freeman was a four-year starter at Oxford, dating back to her eighth grade season.
She recorded 55 goals and 38 career assists as a Charger. In her junior campaign, Freeman scored 30 goals, which put her in the Top 100 nationally in goals scored in a season.
Freeman is following the same path as another former Oxford Charger, current Rebel Mo O’Connor. Freeman, like O’Connor, will be joining the Ole Miss program early.
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Freeman, who chose Ole Miss over four other schools, talked with O’Connor about making the same decision she did — staying at home to go to college.
“I just didn’t want it to be like high school over again,” Freeman said “(O’Connor) told me, ‘Once you’re on campus, it’s a whole different world.'”
Mott will have more than just Freeman arriving early.
Two other signees plan to early enroll as well. Sarah Margaret Seabrook, a goalkeeper out of Madison, Miss., and Alex Schoendstadt, a forward from Sammamish, Wash., will also get settled in at Oxford in January.
“It’s invaluable,” Mott said of players enrolling early. “The idea that they get to come and she’ll get to play in five games this spring and train with the team and get her feet wet on the college side of it … just that idea of getting that extra six months is absolutely massive.”
The current Ole Miss roster is preparing for a first-round match of the NCAA Tournament against Saint Louis. The Rebels host the Bilikins on Friday at 7 p.m. CT.
