With two words on Twitter, Bo Wallace announced where he will play his final three years of college football.
“Hotty totty,” Wallace tweeted Tuesday afternoon.
The junior college first-team All-American from East Mississippi Community College has accepted a scholarship offer from the University of Mississippi. Wallace, who will sign with the 2012 recruiting class and will enroll early to compete in spring practices, chose Ole Miss over scholarship offers from Mississippi State, Baylor University, and Indiana.
OleMissSpirit.com, the Scout.com affiliate for coverage of Ole Miss athletics, reported the news first Tuesday afternoon. NCAA rules prevent universities and coaches to comment on verbal commitments until the student-athlete has signed a National Letter of Intent with the institution.
Multiple phone calls, voice mails, and text messages to Wallace and EMCC coach Buddy Stephens requesting comment and confirmation of the news weren’t returned.
In a phone interview with The Dispatch earlier this month, Wallace confirmed the scholarship offer from MSU saying “If I come to MSU, I’m coming in to compete for the starting QB job.” The 6-foot-4 quarterback visited the Starkville campus Friday amidst trips to the Indiana and Baylor.
Wallace helped EMCC to the national NJCAA championship and set NJCAA single-season records for most passing yards (4,604), total yards offense (4,810), and most touchdowns passes (53).
Wallace will be reunited with Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze. He redshirted at Arkansas State University when Freeze was the leader of that program two years ago.
Wallace completed 336 of 502 (67 percent) passes with 14 interceptions in 12 games. The Pulaski, Tenn., native also rushed for 206 yards and five touchdowns on 61 carries to lead EMCC to a 55-47 victory against previously undefeated Arizona Western College in the El Toro Bowl on Dec. 3 in Yuma, Ariz. The victory helped EMCC secure the school’s first national football title.
Wallace is only the second player in NJCAA history to surpass the 4,000 yards in passing, and he is the first freshman to win the NJCAA Player of the Year offensive award since 2004.
Wallace’s commitment gives Ole Miss four scholarship quarterbacks for spring drills. The Rebels have a fifth quarterback, C.J. Beathard, of Franklin, Tenn., verbally committed. Maikhail Miller, a grayshirt candidate in the class of 2011, also is expected to sign. The program is still pursuing Lafayette High School quarterback Jeremy Liggins.
Since the transfer of redshirt freshman Dylan Favre last month, MSU is left with two scholarship quarterbacks (redshirt sophomore Tyler Russell and freshman Dak Prescott) on the roster entering spring workouts.
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