Rival Views: How should reeling Ole Miss handle its 2017 signees?

Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney don’t always see eye to eye. In this edition of Rival Views, the two debate whether Ole Miss' 2017 signees should be let out of their letters of intent following the Rebels’ self-imposed sanctions, which include a postseason ban, amid the NCAA investigation.

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While I understand the timing of the sanctions for Ole Miss are tough just a couple of weeks removed from National Signing Day, I don’t think they are harsh enough to consider allowing 2017 prospects out of their signed letters. I believe that’s reserved for massive scandals and sanctions like we’ve seen at Penn State and Baylor in recent years. Every kid who signed with Ole Miss knew something was coming down the road from the NCAA unless they were living in a cave.

The Ole Miss recruiting class was a dropoff from previous years as far as quality, as it ranked 39th nationally. Even so, there are some very good players signed and much needed depth moving forward to recover from the issues that have been created by the administration. While I understand the sentiment to allow them a “do over” so to speak, I don’t think it’s warranted here.

I have no idea what Ole Miss’ signees were told or were not told about any NCAA investigation, how serious it could become and exactly what was going on in Oxford. But I’m sure none of them had a complete understanding of the potential seriousness of the problems.

Even if they did, with eight new allegations into the football program (21 total) and with the school being charged with a lack of institutional control, of course there should be some serious consideration – without penalty – for players to sign with other schools.

This game is supposed to be about what’s best for the players. And dealing with a postseason ban after what happened prior to them stepping on campus serves none of those signees well.

Did the Ole Miss signees know how serious this could be? I’m not saying it should absolutely happen but at the very least it should be considered whether to let these kids sign elsewhere without penalty. They shouldn’t have to pay for the actions of others.