Robert Nkemdiche's impact on Ole Miss will be felt long after he leaves

ByADAM RITTENBERG
November 27, 2015, 1:36 PM

— -- Robert Nkemdiche wants to leave a legacy at Ole Miss, but he's not obsessing over it. The Egg Bowl looms Saturday at Mississippi State. It's an opportunity for the Rebels to finish a season of extremes on a solid note.

Unless Nkemdiche returns to school in 2016, which is considered an extremely slim possibility because of his prodigious pro potential, his legacy likely won't include an SEC championship or a national title. The defensive lineman's on-field accomplishments are worth noting -- first-team All-SEC in 2014, second-team All-America, 17.5 tackles for loss, 33 starts in 34 games -- and he has had moments of breathtaking brilliance, like his Sept. 19 performance against Alabama that earned him national defensive player of the week honors. He anchored a defense that last fall propelled Ole Miss to its highest national ranking (3) since 1964. He's also moonlighted on offense, scoring three touchdowns this season.

It is likelier that Nkemdiche's impact on the program's future ends up eclipsing what he'll ever do in a Rebels uniform. The significance of Nkemdiche's decision as the nation's consensus No. 1 recruit to "do something special, out of the ordinary" continues to this day at Ole Miss.

"Him being the No. 1 guy, and that he wasn't scared to come in and start something new and fresh, and help lead the way to hopefully change the face of the program, it's been tremendous," said Barney Farrar, Ole Miss' assistant athletic director for high school and junior college relations. "Kids follow these recruiting services. They see these [recruits] going to the things at Oregon, they see all the Rivals camps. They keep up with it.

"Robert being No. 1, I can't say how much good it's done to help us get other guys to be interested."

It's rare for a date outside the football season calendar to secure a place in program lore, but Feb. 6, 2013, will always be celebrated at Ole Miss. Then considered a bonsai in a forest of sequoias (SECquoias?), Ole Miss experienced a historic growth spurt on national signing day. Coach Hugh Freeze, who had just completed his first season, signed a class ranked fifth by ESPN and in the Top 10 by every other recruiting service.

Ole Miss secured several prize recruits that day -- offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil, wide receiver Laquon Treadwell and safety Tony Conner, among them -- but none more significant than a defensive end from Loganville, Georgia. Nkemdiche was a kid in a grown man's body with grown man's line skills. He could have gone anywhere, but he picked Ole Miss, a team that last won the SEC in 1963 and had just one 10-win season since 1971.

"When you're able to sign kids that are that highly sought after and then to play at a high level for the three years that he's been here, there's no question that it gives us some validity in other homes with recruits who are similar in nature," Freeze said. "I don't know that I can overstate the gratitude I have, or the impact that people like he, Laremy, Laquon, choosing to believe that we can do something anew here, fresh, make this a new normal, recruiting at a high level."

Nkemdiche's was among the first names Chris Kiffin heard after joining Ole Miss' staff as defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator for defense in December 2011. The coaches made Nkemdiche their top priority after they wrapped up the 2012 class. It wouldn't be easy process for a program coming off of a 2-10 season to beat the SEC blue bloods and others like Clemson.

Ole Miss had a chance, mainly because Nkemdiche's older brother, Denzel, was a freshman linebacker for the Rebels. Denzel, now a senior, remains under medical supervision after being hospitalized last week. He's expected to miss the Egg Bowl.

"Without Denzel, where the Ole Miss football program was, I don't think anybody thought it'd be realistic that we could be in it with Robert," Kiffin said. "We knew if we could sign him what a big deal it would be for us for the future in recruiting, to draw more big names."

During the next year, Kiffin would get the same question from other prospects: "Coach, are you going to be able to get Robert Nkemdiche?" He would always respond optimistically, but recruiting includes no guarantees.

Denzel Nkemdiche boosted the coaches' confidence, repeatedly saying he couldn't envision his brother playing anywhere else but Ole Miss. There were doubts when Robert Nkemdiche verbally committed to Clemson in June 2012 -- "We didn't understand it, didn't know why," Kiffin said -- but his brother kept saying things would work out.

Robert Nkemdiche decommitted from Clemson in November 2012. His high school coach, Mickey Conn, started seeing the effects of the high-profile process take a toll. "Everybody wanted a piece of Robert," Conn said. "Making an early commitment and then backing out was really hard on him."

Ole Miss had the inside track, thanks to Denzel Nkemdiche and the boys' mother, Beverly, who opposed the Clemson decision. Beverly visited only one school during the process, Ole Miss, where she voiced her desire for her sons to play together.

Shreds of doubt lingered. Robert Nkemdiche visited LSU the weekend before signing day. "It was either, 'This dude's going to going to Ole Miss and is there a reason why he went there? Or is he going to go to Alabama and be another No. 1 recruit,'" Nkemdiche said. "I feel like my story is broader than football. That had a lot to do with my decision because I wanted to build a legacy. I wanted to be something special, out of the ordinary.

"That was a moment where I could take a step forward with people understanding in life there's more than one way to do things."

Relief finally came to the Ole Miss coaches on Feb. 5, the day before signing day. Denzel Nkemdiche sent Kiffin a text-message informing him Robert Nkemdiche had bought red-and-blue suspenders -- Ole Miss colors -- for the announcement.

The next morning, it became official.

"It was probably one of the happier moments in Ole Miss football [history]," Farrar said. "People had followed the program for so many years, and it'd been so hard to get a top guy."

Ole Miss landed several top guys that Wednesday: four Top 25 prospects and 10 players rated in the ESPN 300. Alabama, LSU, Florida and Ohio State had their standard recruiting hauls, but Ole Miss won the day.

"It really made us a national name, a national brand," Kiffin said. "That whole day is emotions, caught up in the whole class. But for ESPN to start off with Robert's announcement, everyone remembers that celebration in the room. It all kicked off with Robert.

"It obviously sent us in the right direction."

Farrar credits Nkemdiche and others for a spike in NFL scouts to Ole Miss this season, as several general managers, assistant GMs and scouting directors have visited Oxford. Recruits who visit always want to meet Nkemdiche, who accommodates them.

Ole Miss has followed the 2013 haul with two top 20 recruiting classes. Its 2016 class, which includes 16 commits, including another five-star defensive lineman in Benito Jones, is No. 6 according to ESPN Recruiting.

"We'll always have to work hard, but your name will be out there because of some of the things he pioneered for us," Farrar said. "People like to meet him when they come through. It probably fits in their head, 'If the No. 1 guy can come, so can I.'

"He's left a mark."

Nkemdiche said he and his teammates in the 2013 class didn't fully realize their impact at the time, but now "it's very clear." He takes pride in a decision that deviated from the standard script for top recruits. He hopes others realize, "It's not scary to take a different route. You don't always have to go to Alabama or LSU."

"It's not your cliché football player, I'm not your stereotype," he said. "I want a different light. It's not for the ego, it's not for anything. It's just to show people that it's OK to be yourself. You don't have to do things a certain way. You don't have to be a robot." Freeze is convinced it takes four, five or six elite recruiting cycles to truly elevate a program like Ole Miss. The Rebels aren't quite there, but they have consecutive wins against Alabama and Nkemdiche's class is 2-1 against LSU.

The wait for a championship continues at Ole Miss, but thanks to Nkemdiche and others, it might not be much longer.

"To have kids like him," Freeze said, "certainly it validates in the minds of other recruits that it can be done."