Sting Factor: Demarcus Smith decommits from Ole Miss

When a major program loses a key recruit, Rivals.com takes a look at how big of a blow it is to the respective school, analyzing it from a local and national level. To quantify the “sting” of each decommitment, we assign a score from 1-10, with one being no big deal and 10 being a catastrophic hit.

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In announcing his de-commitment from Ole Miss, Demarcus Smith said he did not feel he made the wrong decision but that he made a decision too early.

Either way, the three-star defensive end from Birmingham (Ala.) Parker is back on the market and Smith said moving forward he will consider Ole Miss, Nebraska, Kansas, Tennessee, South Carolina and Mississippi State in his recruitment.

Even before his pledge to the Rebels, many of the schools he’s now considering again were high on his list. Smith was a big recruiting victory for first-year Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, who’s looking to turn the program around in Oxford but is sitting with the second-to-last recruiting class in the SEC.

Smith said he will still consider Ole Miss moving forward but it’s oftentimes difficult to get a re-commitment especially with other programs pursuing him so heavily over the coming months.

“Demarcus Smith decommitted from the Rebels on Wednesday, seemingly wanting to take a step back and re-evaluate his options after committing to the Rebels in August. This one hurts for the Rebels because they are in the process of trying to rebuild their front seven and defensive line coach Deke Adams seemed to really like Smith's game and he is a long and athletic edge rusher. With that said, I think the sting factor here isn't too bad as the Rebels are still after several front seven prospects and could potentially replace him sooner rather than later.” - Zach Berry, RebelGrove.com

Sting factor: 4

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“A lot depends on where he lands because it will sting much more if he ends up at Mississippi State, but for right now this is a moderate sting. He’s a talented kid out of Alabama and would help recruiting efforts there, but he’s still considering Ole Miss and he’s not a big target for either Auburn or Alabama.” — Mike Farrell, Rivals.com National Recruiting Director

Sting Factor: 5