In April, Dillon Alfred verbally committed to the Ole Miss Rebels.
Then in June, he attended camp with Clemson Football.
He probably knew a Clemson offer would not come his way while he was committed to another program. Our understanding is that Dabo Swinney and his assistants are upfront about things like that.
The following Monday, Alfred announced that he was decommitting from the Rebels.
BREAKING: Four-Star WR Dillon Alfred has Decommitted from Ole Miss, he tells me for @on3recruits
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) June 24, 2024
The No. 1 WR in Alabama (per On3 Industry) had been Committed to the Rebels since April
Alfred is the 3rd recruit to Decommit from Ole Miss todayhttps://t.co/Q4GGIy2R0h pic.twitter.com/4QXUwa5JLh
Shortly after that, Alfred announced that Clemson had offered him a scholarship.
#AGTG After a great conversation with @Coach_Grisham , I’m blessed to receive an offer from @ClemsonFB!!! @tjkelly17 @LawrencHopkins @ESPN3ALLDAY
— Dillon M Alfred ✟ (@Dalfred006) June 24, 2024
🏡?????? pic.twitter.com/ZdDPRh9UFz
Alfred is a 5’-11” and 175-pound wide receiver from Saraland High School in Alabama. He is rated as a 4-star prospect in the 247Sports Composite. Two 247 analysts had entered Crystal Balls for Alfred to select Clemson following his de-commitment from Ole Miss. Alfred held 20 total scholarship offers from FBS schools.
The guys at Tiger Illustrated say ‘follow the visits’. Jason Priester at The Clemson Insider says ‘read the tea leaves’. This one wasn’t hard to figure out...until it wasn't.
Alfred suddenly received Crystal Balls projecting him back towards Ole Miss last weekend. He was supposed to announce his decision last Monday, but posted this instead.
Over the past weekend and visited two amazing places (Clemson and Ole Miss), both unique and special in their own way. I initially thought about making my commitment decision today. However, after thinking about it more I’m delaying my announcement until August 2nd
— Dillon M Alfred ✟ (@Dalfred006) July 29, 2024
🦈 or 🐅??🏡
You you think this is an awful lot to follow, you are right.
Alfred finally came through with an announcement Friday, and he re-committed to Ole Miss.
Home is Home!!! And there’s no place like home, I’m back and this time it’s for good!!! Hotty Toddy!!!! 🦈 pic.twitter.com/Xz1aHyObJj
— Dillon M Alfred ✟ (@Dalfred006) August 3, 2024
So what happened here? There had been speculation that maybe Alfred wasn't on the same page with everyone in his personal circle of family, trainers, and advisors. Whatever the real reason, Alfred has decided to publicly diss Clemson.
Clemson made a strong run at Dillon Alfred before a return to Oxford changed the pace of his recruitmenthttps://t.co/XVA2G32Grw pic.twitter.com/Kq5OGN2zj5
— Sam Spiegelman (@samspiegs) August 2, 2024
These aren't those fake quotes people create just to stir the pot on social media. Spiegelman is a legit source employed by Rivals.
The most likely explanation is that Clemson was used to get a better NIL deal from Ole Miss. Whether that was Alfred's personal motivation or not seems irrelevant now. He has made it clear he is on board with whatever led to Ole Miss and he has no problem disrespecting Clemson now to fire up the Rebel fans.
This seems harsh to say about a young kid, but as a Clemson fan, I'm glad he isn't going to be joining the Tigers.
Good luck at Ole Miss, Alfred. Good luck with that kid, Ole Miss.