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How Florida Gators commitment helped Matt Corral become Ole Miss’ starter

UF lost the blue-chip quarterback prospect during the Jim McElwain-to-Dan Mullen coaching change.
 
Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral talks with reporters during the 2019 SEC media days. (MATT BAKER | Times)
Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral talks with reporters during the 2019 SEC media days. (MATT BAKER | Times)
Published July 16, 2019

HOOVER, Ala. — Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral isn’t shying away from expectations.

Not only is he the presumptive starter for an SEC program as a redshirt freshman, but he’s also a necessary leader and one of only three Rebels representing the team at SEC media days.

“I wanted it,” Corral said Tuesday. “It’s part of the reason why I came here.”

Related: MORE SEC MEDIA DAYS: Dan Mullen is not worried about Florida Gators’ attrition

Another reason why Corral wanted to come to Ole Miss? His commitment to Florida.

Follow along.

Corral was a top-100 recruit and one of the nation’s top five pro-style quarterback prospects in the 2018 class. The California native committed to USC after his sophomore season and flipped to the Gators in July 2017.

That’s where he saw the passion of the SEC.

“It just means more to the people there,” Corral said. “I could just tell, just by visiting Florida.”

When Corral committed to UF, he looked like Jim McElwain’s quarterback of the future … until McElwain’s future in Gainesville flamed out.

The coaching change from McElwain to Dan Mullen lost Corral.

“Just didn’t mesh right with me and others,” Corral said. “We had a top-three class going there. But none of that stuff matters. We’ve moved on from that.”

Related: MORE SEC MEDIA DAYS: Florida Gators’ Feleipe Franks is already an MLB draftee. What about NFL?

For Corral, that meant committing and signing with Ole Miss, where he had a clear path to the starting job once Shea Patterson transferred and Jordan Ta’amu moved onto the NFL.