Yesterday it was announced that, following his weekend visit to Ole Miss, Sean Rawlings would make his decision between Mississippi State and Ole Miss known sometime in the midweek. It turns out that it didn't even take that long as Rawlings announced his change in commitment late Sunday night.
Three-star offensive lineman Sean Rawlings has committed to #OleMiss, he told me via text message. More in a bit.
— Ben Garrett (@SpiritBen) January 27, 2014
Rawlings' departure from MSU's class was expected, and with it now official, MSU can move on to pursuing replacements for his spot in their class of 2014.
One interesting tidbit I noticed last night was a confirmation on something we've heard about Mullen and company and how they like to recruit. Dan Mullen has been fairly vocal in his dislike of committed recruits taking additional visits after giving a commitment, and we saw several situations involving that scenario come up this weekend. One had to do with MSU commit Brandon Bryant, who seemingly told everyone he would not make anymore visits, and then did just that, traveling to Hattiesburg for the weekend. The other was Rawlings, who made his intentions known publicly that he would visit Ole Miss. According to John Talty of the Clarion-Ledger, MSU saw the writing on the wall of what Rawlings' visit would mean, and they reportedly told Sean that if he visited, his spot would no longer be held.
@guy_odom Not sure about pulled offer but he was told if he visited Ole miss he wouldn't be considered part of its class
— John Talty (@JTalty) January 27, 2014
I imagine Dan knew full well that Sean's visit meant a definite switch in commitment, so he made one last effort to keep him in the MSU class. It does not matter now, as Rawlings joins Ole Miss' class expected to sign just over a week from now. Best of luck to Sean in Oxford.