Before head coach Hugh Freeze took over Ole Miss, the thought of the Rebels bringing home the national championship to Oxford would have brought a laugh. Now entering his fifth season with the school, the players committed to joining the Rebels are now expecting to win it all.

According to linebacker commit Josh Clarke, that’s simply the expectation of the players heading into the program.

“We want the national championship at Ole Miss,” Clarke said according to David Johnson of Rebels247. “(Fellow Ole Miss commit) Willie (Gay) and I plan to lead the defense in getting that.”

Of course to win at that extremely high level, Clarke understands he will need other elite players around him. One player he’d like to see join him in Oxford is four-star linebacker Jacob Phillips. Clarke indicated that both he and Gay were working hard to convince Phillips to join the Landshark defense.

“I’m really trying hard to get Jacob to join us at Ole Miss,” Clarke said. “I’m getting in real tight with him. He knows me and Willie have his back no matter what. We’ve all become like family. We hope he comes with us to Ole Miss.”

Clarke has made no qualms on his desire to play with both Phillips and Gay, as he not so subtly tweeted out this image Saturday:

https://twitter.com/kxng__josh/status/749327527160606720

If all three players do eventually sign with Ole Miss, the future linebacker corp in Oxford would appear to be strong enough to make good on Clarke’s promise. Then it would be on the rest of the team to come together around them and make good on the expectations set by the 2017 linebacker recruit.