ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Leo Lewis remains committed to the Ole Miss Rebels, just as he has since mid-September. But his relationship with the Rebels wasn’t always as healthy as it is now.

Lewis, a four-star linebacker from Brookhaven, Miss., admitted he once “frowned upon” Ole Miss due to the program’s tardiness in pursuing him. He explained following last week’s Under Armour All-America game that the Rebels didn’t begin showing serious interest in him until after his junior season in 2013, many months after other schools from outside the Magnolia State had already begun courting the star linebacker.

“It’s my state, it’s where I’m from. … For someone else to find me instead of (Ole Miss), that was kind of frowned upon by me,” he said.

However, the in-state product underwent a change of heart, due in large part to his relationship with Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze. Lewis conceded that Freeze won him over through his sincerity and his deeply rooted Christian faith, something Lewis noted he can relate to in his life.

“We talk on the phone all the time,” Lewis said. “He’s a very genuine, great guy.”

But it was not Freeze alone who won over the once-frustrated linebacker. Lewis added he’s also drawn to Ole Miss by the emergence of the Rebels’ vaunted Landshark defense. The Rebels boasted the nation’s No. 1 scoring defense and led the SEC in takeaways in 2014, and the defense has allowed fewer points per game in each of Freeze and Dave Wommack’s three seasons in Oxford.

Lewis said he knows as a young player that good coaching is vital to his future in the game, and the resurgence the Ole Miss defense has experienced under Wommack’s leadership is something the four-star prospect wants to be a part of in the coming years.

“I want to go somewhere where we’ve got great defensive coaching and smart coaches,” Lewis said. “It’s going to put me in a position to make plays because as a true freshman I need coaching. I want to develop more as a player and as a person and really become more of a student of the game.”

But even after speaking so highly of the Rebels and their coaches and their defense, and even after the nearly four months that have passed since he gave Ole Miss his verbal commitment, Lewis said he’s still not 100 percent certain he’ll end up in Oxford.

“Ole Miss is still my leader. I’m still committed to them. But I’m still looking at other schools,” Lewis said.

He has official visits scheduled to both Ole Miss and Texas A&M later this month when the ongoing recruiting dead period comes to an end, and he made an unofficial visit to Mississippi State just before Thanksgiving.

The high school All-American is keeping his options open, and with national signing day still four weeks away he has every right to do so. But just because Lewis is ensuring he’s making the decision that’s best for he and his family doesn’t mean he’s soured on Ole Miss once again.

The Mississippi native once shunned by his home-state school would love nothing more than to eventually lead it to greatness.