Comfortably Committed

Woodrow Hamilton committed to Ole Miss in July and throughout his recruitment, has never wavered. The Raleigh, Miss., product is set to visit the Rebels a week from today with his cousin, teammate and good buddy, Donte Moncrief.

Raleigh had high expectations this season, but finished with a second round exit in the playoffs, leaving a sour taste in the mouth of its star defensive lineman, Woodrow Hamilton.

"I was a little disappointed because we did not go as far as we were supposed to," Hamilton said. "We could have worked harder, but it is over now, and there is nothing I can do to change it. I put my best effort into it. Maybe they can do better next year."

The Magee transfer finished the his first and only season at Raleigh with 65 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, six sacks, three pass deflections, and two blocked punts in an injury riddled season.

"I missed a couple of games with a strained MCL so that was hard. One of my personal goals was to not miss any playing time, so I did not achieve that goal. But another one was to get better and prepare myself for when I get to Ole Miss. I think I did that. I'm a lot stronger now because Coach Anderson did a great job with me in the weight room and on the field. He's a great coach. He doesn't allow his players to slack, that's for sure. He pushed me hard every day in practice, and I feel like my conditioning and strength is a lot better than when I got here. I still need to work a little more on my attitude, but I achieved what I did my senior year because of him."

This season he moved from defensive tackle to defensive end for the first time in his playing career.

"I played tackle at Magee my freshman, sophomore and junior seasons, so it was all new to me. I did the best I could and put in the best effort I could for us to win a state championship, but it just didn't work out. I thought I got better and better with my pass rush, though."

Hamilton participated in the Mississippi North/South game and led all defensive linemen in tackles with eight.

"I had a pretty good game. It was fun playing against all the top guys from Mississippi. I played well and so did our whole defense, for that matter."

Woodrow committed to Ole Miss in July and took in a couple of unofficial visits this fall.

"I went to a couple of games. Fantastic is about how I'd describe it. The only thing I hated about it was the long drive, but it was worth my time because you meet so many great people up there. I got closer with the coaches and players. It was great. I loved every second of it, but the thing I liked most is how they have a family environment on that team. They work together to achieve a lot. They did not have a great season, but I know they will coach me the way I'm supposed to be coached. There's no "I" on their team. No matter how bad they got beat, they always stood together. That's what caught my eye the most. That's the tradition up there. They always stick together."

The Ole Miss coaches came by last week.

"Coach (Tyrone) Nix and and (Terry) Price came by to go over my schedule for my official visit up there next weekend. I didn't have some important paper filled out to get me into college, and they took their time to come down here to make sure everything was filled out properly. It's just the little things they do to take care of you that makes you feel like you are going to be taken care of up there. We got everything taken care of and I've got my ACT score now, so that was a relief. A lot of people in our community are keeping me on the straight and narrow to make sure I'm doing what I need to do to qualify. The whole community has just taken me under their wing, and now Ole Miss is going to take me under theirs."

This weekend, Hamilton is staying home but a couple more schools tried to change his mind.

"USM and MSU wanted me to come in for a visit this weekend, but I just couldn't do that to Ole Miss. They've taken care of me the whole way through the recruitment process, so I'm going to be loyal back to them. I'm a Rebel through and through."

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Yancy Porter is the Mississippi Scout for Scout.com and he can be reached at [e-mail]