When five-star defensive end Jeffery Simmons stepped in front of a festively-draped podium in Noxubee County, Miss. in the early afternoon on Wednesday, Ole Miss was having one hell of a National Signing Day. Top-ranked offensive tackle Greg Little had just sent in his LOI; four-star running back D'Vaughn Pennamon had resisted the pull of Nick Saban; and the excitement of four-star wideout (and more significantly, Starkville native) A.J. Brown's shocking Ole Miss commitment was still thick in the air.
Then Simmons reached for a maroon Mississippi State hat and everything went to shit. Over the next few hours, Ole Miss watched key defensive prospects Mique Juarez, Jonathan Kongbo and David Luafatasaga ink elsewhere, bringing a sour finish to an otherwise wildly successful National Signing Day.