LSU, Ole Miss recruits forgo MLB Draft to play college football

Top college football recruits Jerrion Ealy and Maurice Hampton will forgo the MLB Draft to play college football at Ole Miss and LSU, respectively.

Ole Miss running back Jerrion Ealy and LSU defensive back Maurice Hampton pulled out of the MLB Draft after neither was taken in the first round on Monday night. Ealy and Hampton are both outfielders who could have opted to sign with their MLB teams had they gone in the first as they were projected.

However, they will instead head to campus where Ealy will join the Rebels running back rotation and Hampton hopes to develop into the next great defensive back out of LSU.

Ealy, a 5-9, 200-pound running back was a five-star recruit out of Jackson Prep and hails from Flowood, Miss. He was the nation’s No. 29 overall recruit, No. 3 running back and the No. 3 recruit in Mississippi, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings. This is a huge win for Ole Miss to get him where he’ll also play football in the spring. Ole Miss is used to handling football-baseball stars, including A.J. Brown and Anthony Alford.

Hampton will also pull off double-duty at LSU and play both sports. Hampton was a four-star recruit who ranked as the No. 114 overall recruit, No. 14 cornerback and top recruit in the state of Tennessee. The Memphis University School product might shift to safety with the Tigers but his addition to the LSU secondary gives the Tigers even more depth and potential star power to a position group that is traditionally loaded with future pros.

In the case of Hampton, he could be a future pro at two sports.

It’ll be interesting to see how the football and baseball careers go for both over the next three years before they’ll be eligible for the MLB and NFL Drafts. Could they be the next Kyler Murray and get drafted in the first rounds of both drafts?