Florida ATH talks about offer, visit
While four of his teammates received early offers from Ole Miss, Miami (Gulliver Prep) athlete Darian Mallory had to wait.
His patience paid off as earlier this month; Mallory received an offer from the Rebels and he expects to receive a windfall of offers since Ole Miss has caused other schools to take a look.
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"I'm now hearing a lot from Iowa, Miami, and Kansas State," Mallory said. "They've all said they want to come down and see me in person and I'm sending film to them. I think all of them may offer."
It was the film evaluation of Mallory's senior season that helped him land the Ole Miss offer.
"They had been telling me since last summer that they wanted to see my senior film and I sent them the video of our first two games," he said.
Evidently, after seeing the video, it didn't take Ole Miss long to make a decision about whether the offer the Florida prospect.
"I was surprised that I got the offer so quick," Mallory said. "It was the biggest night of my life when coach (Chris) Vaughn called and extended the offer. He told me he had just seen the film and that he wants me to be a Rebel.
Ole Miss has also offered his teammates - Frankie Telfort, Frank Crawford, Artice Kellam, and Conner Vernon.
Vernon is committed to Duke, but is thinking about taking an official visit to Ole Miss with his friends - Crawford, Kellam and Mallory. Kellam has named Ole Miss his leader while Crawford has Ole Miss in his top five. The Rebels were not named in Telfort's top six early last month.
Meanwhile, Mallory is being looked at as an athlete for the Rebels. He's out of the Dexter McCluster mold - a diminutive 5-foot-8, 175 pound athlete who can play running back, wide receiver, or quarterback and can also play special teams.
"I played quarterback in the tenth grade and threw three touchdown passes," he told RebelSports.net in a previous interview. "I threw for 300 yards last year. They like to use me for deep throws because I have a strong arm."
Mallory said that he along with Crawford and Kellam remain on tap to take an official visit to Ole Miss for the Auburn game on Nov. 1, although he unsure if Vernon will accompany them.
"Ole Miss - that's all Frank and Artice talk about," Mallory said.
Mallory said they had a lot to talk about after the Rebels upset Florida in the Swamp late last month.
"We all talked a lot about that," Mallory said. "That was a very impressive win. It was an unbelievable win for Ole Miss and it just shows that the program is headed in the right direction and that they are going to win at Ole Miss."
Mallory said he watched the game on television and particularly kept an eye on McCluster.
"I watched him the whole game and some of the stuff I saw him do, like that 40-yard touchdown run, I was telling myself - if he can do that against Florida, I could too."
Despite the offer from Ole Miss, Mallory is not quite ready to declare the Rebels the victor in any recruiting battles.
"I don't have any favorites at this time," Mallory said. "I want to weigh my options and see what happens during the season. But you can say that Ole Miss is right there at the top of my list."
Mallory, a 5-foot-8, 175 pound prospect with impressive 4.38 speed rushed for over 800 yards on just 80 carries last year with 11 touchdowns despite playing in only six games.
He is averaging a 100 yards a game and accounting for two touchdowns a game this season according to a recent Florida Varsity report.