Ole Miss TE Evan Engram was awarded the Conerly Trophy on Tuesday night, given annually to the best college football player in Mississippi.

However, according to the Clarion-Ledger, Engram may have ended up somewhere else if coach Hugh Freeze didn’t make a quick decision when Engram was in high school.

After Engram performed well at an Ole Miss camp, Engram didn’t immediately receive a scholarship offer from the Rebels:

“I almost messed it up,” Freeze said at the 2016 C Spire Conerly Trophy presentation on Tuesday. “Two days later, I knew what I saw with my eyes and called and offered him a scholarship. Thank God I did.”

Engram finished second in the SEC with 65 catches for 926 yards this season. He also added eight touchdowns. For his career, Engram totaled 162 catches for 2,320 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Freeze said he couldn’t be happier with the way Engram’s Ole Miss career has played out:

“From Day 1, he’s been a leader,” Freeze said. “He’s a guy that believed in earning things. That’s rare in this day and time. People want things given to them. They want to talk about it instead of be about it. He’s always been about it. It’s kind of the off-the-field stuff that he models every day as a student athlete and really you would have to say he set a new standard of what an Ole Miss tight end should be in the modern era. I think Evan set a new standard for us.”

It’s disappointing for Freeze and Engram that the senior’s career won’t end in a bowl appearance, but Engram accomplished a lot in his time in Oxford and will be remembered for years to come.