The University of Mississippi Athletics
100 PERCENT OLE MISS: MLB Draftees Pick Rebels Over Pros
8/16/2011 | Baseball
Aug. 16, 2011
OXFORD, Miss. - The dream of playing professional sports may be a common one for young athletes, but the dream of being an Ole Miss Rebel has shown to be pretty popular too.
As Monday night's deadline struck for Major League Baseball teams to sign their 2011 draftees, players passed on pro contracts - with offers reaching reportedly seven figures - to suit up for the Red and Blue.
Prominent in the group is Pascagoula High School two-sport stud Senquez Golson. An eighth-round pick of Boston, Golson had been on the Ole Miss campus since enrolling for second summer term in early July and was in the midst of preseason football drills when the Red Sox heated up their pursuit.
On Sunday, the Sox flew Golson to Boston to negotiate an offer. However, as hours ticked by and with the Ole Miss Family in a frenzied wait, the young Mississippian stood by his desire to be a Rebel and eventually opted for Oxford.
"The father called me late last night and said 'I believe he is a Rebel. He loves Ole Miss. He wants to get better at football and baseball,'" recounted Rebel head football coach Houston Nutt. "I really respect his parents, because they could have been very, very persuasive to push Senquez into signing the contact, and they didn't. I slept really good last night."
Golson plans to spend his falls in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium and his springs at Swayze Field with Mike Bianco's baseball club.
He was among 11 Rebel incoming student-athletes to be selected in the MLB Draft over the summer. Of those players, nine reaffirmed their commitment to Ole Miss, including Golson, Hawtin Buchanan, Dylan Chavez, Chris Ellis, Will Jamison, Josh Laxer, Sikes Orvis, Jake Overbey and Austin Knight.
And while the drama of the signing deadline provides for an exciting finish to the draft process, the watchful eyes of the coaching staff and concern for getting a recruiting class to campus begins on the day of the draft and continues throughout the summer.
"It's a long process with a lot of nail biting going on at a lot of different levels," Bianco said. "It all starts on the day of the draft when you're wondering if a player like Hawtin Buchanan is going to be selected in the second round and how that might impact things. You're wondering about a guy like Matt Snyder who gets drafted and now has the opportunity to leave school for the professional ranks or can choose to come back to play his senior season.
"We're certainly very excited about this class and the players who will be coming to campus to compete for the Rebels. There aren't too many teams in the country who will have nine guys who were drafted and come to campus to play baseball."
The almost two-month process keeps both sides - college coaching staffs and MLB organizations - on their toes debating different things from issues of signability of a player, the commitment to go to college and get an education and watchful eyes on reports of negotiations between drafted players and the respective MLB franchises.
One thing Bianco doesn't feel is up for debate is the desire of this group of signees to be a part of the Rebel family, and what that desire says about Ole Miss.
"It shows the consistency and the level of the program and the entire University," Bianco said. "When kids come here and visit, they want this experience. They want to play in this program and want to play in front of the greatest college baseball fans in the country. They want to be on this campus and experience what it's all about."
Nutt agreed that the commitment of Golson and others further illustrates the exciting direction Ole Miss is headed and the passion of young student-athletes, particularly those within the state, to be a Rebel.
"For a guy to be drafted that high, be offered that much money and say 'I want to be at Ole Miss,' I think it says a lot," said Nutt. "I told him from day one that he is in a very unique situation. Very few people get offered that kind of money. You have to go with your heart. I don't want you coming back if you're not feeling 100 percent about Ole Miss. So I know one thing about Senquez, he is 100 percent Ole Miss."
