Ole Miss lands commitment from 4-star in-state RB Damarius Yates

Damarius Yates is staying home. The De Kalb, Mississippi native has committed to play for Ole Miss.

Yates announced his verbal pledge to Lane Kiffin‘s program on Sunday via social media.

After a great official visit and conversation with @Lane_Kiffin and coach @KevinSmithRB I’m proud to say that I’m committing to @OleMissFB @LawrencHopkins @D_Wren5 @Marionashsr @On3sports pic.twitter.com/hX4D9RtO8O

— Damarius Yates (@damarius_yates) May 4, 2025

Out of Kemper County (Mississippi) High School, Yates is listed as measuring over 5-9 and 179 pounds. On the 247Sports Composite, Yates is rated 4-stars, the No. 7 player in the state of Mississippi, No. 11 running back and No. 125 prospect overall in the Class of 2026.

Any recruitment for a top prospect in the Magnolia State is going to involve the Egg Bowl rivalry. Yates, though, attracted notable interest outside the state. In addition to Ole Miss and Mississippi State, he also picked up scholarship offers from Alabama, Florida State, Auburn, Nebraska, Tennessee, Ohio State, Penn State and Texas A&M during his recruitment.

With Yates on board, Ole Miss now has 7 verbal commitments in its 2026 recruiting class, which ranks No. 28 nationally on the Composite. Rebels fans who don’t follow Kemper County football can get a preview of what Yates brings to Oxford by checking out his highlights in the video below, via Hudl:

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.