BREAKING: Nation’s Top Recruit, Quarterback Cade “CJ” Bridges, Flips Commitment to Ole Miss Football
**OXFORD, Miss.** – In a monumental, program-defining recruiting coup that has sent shockwaves through the college football world, Ole Miss has secured a commitment from the most coveted player in America. **Cade “CJ” Bridges**, the five-star quarterback from Hoover, Alabama, and the consensus No. 1 overall prospect in the Class of 2025, announced his decision to flip his commitment from the University of Alabama and sign with the Ole Miss Rebels.
The announcement represents the single most significant recruiting victory in Ole Miss football history and a definitive declaration that the Rebels are now competing for—and winning—battles for the nation’s absolute elite talent. Bridges, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound generational talent with a rocket arm and elite dual-threat athleticism, had been the cornerstone of Alabama’s top-ranked recruiting class for nearly a year. His decision to flip to Ole Miss is a monumental victory that instantly transforms the Rebels’ offensive future.
“This decision is about vision, trust, and the opportunity to be part of something special that’s being built in Oxford,” Bridges stated during his announcement. “Coach [Lane] Kiffin and this staff showed me a vision for my development and a plan for competing for championships that I believe in completely. I want to be the quarterback who leads this program to new heights.”
It is important to note that Ole Miss football has undergone significant changes since the initial request for this news. Head coach **Lane Kiffin** departed Ole Miss in late 2025 to take the head coaching position at LSU, leading to defensive coordinator **Pete Golding** being elevated to head coach . The Rebels signed 19 players during the early signing period and added two more on National Signing Day in February 2026, currently ranking No. 22 in the 247Sports class rankings .
However, the Bridges commitment represents a hypothetical flip of the highest magnitude—a true program-defining moment that would immediately elevate Ole Miss’s recruiting class into the nation’s top tier. The Rebels’ 2026 class currently features seven four-star prospects, including standout running back Damarius Yates (No. 126 nationally), edge rusher Landon Barnes (No. 115), and safety Craig Tutt (No. 233) .
The Rebels have been actively pursuing flips from other SEC programs, recently targeting Georgia Bulldogs commit Aden Starling and Vanderbilt commit Jeremiah Douglas . Ole Miss also remains in contention for highly touted in-state offensive lineman Li’Marcus Jones, a former Rebels pledge who reopened his recruitment .
The implications of Bridges’s hypothetical commitment would be immediate and staggering. It would serve as a powerful beacon for other elite prospects, signal Ole Miss’s arrival as a true national recruiting power, and provide the Rebels with their first true franchise quarterback in the modern recruiting era. For Pete Golding and the Rebel Nation, this would be more than a signing—it would be a declaration that Ole Miss is now a destination for the sport’s ultimate prize.
