Chase Hughes names a new leader

The Springville (AL) native attended the Ole Miss Sr camp as almost an afterthought late in July as he had Auburn and Stanford at the top of his list. But after receiving an offer at the camp, the interest increased. Hughes came back to the Oxford campus Saturday to get a better look. How did the trip go?

"It went really, really good," said Chase Hughes. "It has gone better than I expected, to tell you the truth."

What did Hughes want to check out the second time around?

"Pretty much everything. I saw the practice fields when I came over to the camp, but I did not get to walk on them. They have some great practice facilities. I had never really seen the town either. I got to see the whole town. It is very down to earth. The square is like stuck in time. It's just unique in a good way. I guess that is the best way to describe it."

Scout.com's #19 rated center also took in the Ole Miss scrimmage.

"Their defense is looking insane. Their starting defense looks great. Their wide receivers had a little trouble, but they are so talented. I think they are going to do some great things this year. I can see why everyone is picking them so high. They are a team on the rise."

The coaches at Ole Miss keyed in on the playing opportunities for Chase if he were to choose to go to Ole Miss.

"That is all we pretty much talked about, really. They have three senior centers and only return one center next year and he is a greyshirt."

The Hughes family wanted to get to the know the Ole Miss staff on a personal basis and left impressed.

"Pretty much all of them are great guys. Every single one of them. And their strength coach, Coach Decker, is just an amazing Godly man. He leads their bible studies and has the most impressive strength program I have seen so far. You know I am a gym rat, and I want to be a strength coach one day. I am also a deeply religious guy, so we just connected. He made the biggest impact with me, and I was also really impressed with Coaches Markuson and Nutt. They are player's coaches. Everyone is having so much fun playing for them. You can really tell by just being around them."

The 2009 Alabama Power Lifting State Champion feels like all of his questions were answered.

"They made a point to stress to us to ask anything that we wanted. I just wanted to know if I was going to be able to have my car on campus as a freshman (laugh). I love my Hummer. I pretty much put all of my money into it. My dad is real into cars too. My mom, she wanted to know about the dorms and the tutors. We went and toured their new dorm that the freshmen are moving into. They were really nice, real nice. They have the same tutor set up as all of them do. Pretty much all of our questions were answered."

So where does this put Ole Miss in the big picture?

"It was just a great trip, and it definitely shot them up my list. I mean, they were already towards the top, but now I have them a little higher than everyone else."

The 6-3, 295-pounder has one more visit on tap.

"I am supposed to visit Georgia Tech for their first home game, but I really do not even know when that is. We have our jamboree on Thursday, and I am just focused on my season now. Things are narrowing down for me in recruiting. It is becoming more clear."

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