When Tyler Siskey received a call from Coach Matt Luke back in February, he thought it was just his old buddy checking in on him. Siskey was ecstatic to hear that Coach Luke wanted him back recruiting at Ole Miss as the assistant athletic director of player personnel.
The new man behind the leg work of Ole Miss recruiting did not waste time implementing a new system. Building a recruiting force based around efficiency and organization, “The Shark Tank” staffers are now sinking their teeth into the 2019 Ole Miss recruiting class.
Luke’s emphasis on bringing aboard in-state talent and an organizational drive to prove itself in the face of adversity (in the form of NCAA sanctions and a few departed key players) likely spawned this new era of Ole Miss recruiting. There’s a need for extra hands on deck, and Luke seems to have found a solution in “The Shark Tank.”
In late May, Matt Luke and Ole Miss Athletics hired 12 new positions to the recruiting office.
A physical office for these sharks is currently under construction. The term “war room,” coined by Ross Bjork to describe Ole Miss recruiting, where the “Sharks” will be hunting for recruits will be located on the second floor of the Manning Center. The construction is scheduled to be finished in the coming weeks.
Football Head Coach Matt Luke discusses 2018 recruiting success at Wednesday’s press conference. Photo by Wilson Benton
These are the “sharks” and every one of them is assigned to a certain Ole Miss football coach. The shark’s job is to assist in any recruiting task, whether it is cutting tape, watching film or finding the small details about the recruit to give the position coach an edge when speaking to one of the nation’s top high school football players.
Even though Siskey has a track record of bringing in the most highly ranked and sought-after recruits, he does not base his recruiting efforts strictly to numbers. He believes that apart from 5-stars who can be identified by an eye-test, recruiting services get it mostly wrong about recruiting grades.
“I don’t pay too much attention to the number of stars,” Siskey said. “I just get the guys we want.”
Siskey spent the past three seasons as the wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator of UAB, and before that, he spent two seasons at the University of Alabama as the head of recruiting operations on Nick Saban’s staff. Siskey helped efforts to bring in Ole Miss’ 2013 recruiting class which ended up with four NFL Draft first rounders.
He was once a high school coach in Mobile, Alabama, and understands the recruiting process from the inside out. Siskey told The Daily Mississippian that the “Shark Tank is a model based around NFL organizations for breaking down and evaluating talent.” “The Shark Tank” gives Ole Miss recruiting more man-power, efficiency and organization.
Ole Miss recruits around 280 high school prospects at one time and there are only 10 position coaches, which means every coach would have to juggle around 28 recruits. “The Shark Tank” gives the Ole Miss coaching staff a breath of fresh air by taking away the nitty-gritty part of recruiting.
When asked how the 2019 Ole Miss recruiting class is lining up Coach Siskey said, “It is going really, really well.” According to 247sports.com, Ole Miss has the No.15 nationally ranked recruiting class for 2019. Comprised of three 4-stars and fifteen 3-stars, Ole Miss has a solid foundation for a very talented class. The highest ranked commits, Jerrion Ealy and Diwun Black, are both huge in-state recruits to win the state of Mississippi, one of Coach Luke’s goals in the recruiting battle.
#MississippiMade has been an unofficial tagline added onto Ole Miss football this upcoming season. Siskey told The DM that this does not mean everyone must be from the state of Mississippi but it means that if someone come to Ole Miss, then the tools will present themselves to create lifelong lessons and to be able to grow up as a Rebel.
A lot of change will happen to this 2019 class, but the Sisky and the newly appointed “Sharks” seem to have more control than ever under Coach Matt Luke in the recruiting office.
