Modern high school football recruiting is chaotic, mainly because a player’s commitment to a university is not always seen through, with flips to other programs becoming more common each year. But it is rare to see a player commit to a school, shut down his recruitment, then flip to another program less than 24 hours later.
Well, Ole Miss experienced just that.
Choctaw County’s Ben’Jarvius Shumaker took social media by storm with one of the most peculiar moves seen in recruiting. The four-star defensive lineman committed to Ole Miss on March 6, shut down his recruitment on June 22, his decision to play for Pete Golding’s Rebels. This decision was amplified by Rebel defensive line coach Randall Joyner posting the signature shark emoji attributed to Ole Miss football right before the announcement.
Shumaker, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, is the No. 2 high school prospect out of Mississippi, the No. 70 prospect nationally, and the No. 7 player at his position in the country.
After shutting down his recruitment, Shumaker tagged a pair of prominent Mississippi recruits — Jackson Academy offensive tackle Caden Moss and Louisville defensive lineman Mitchell Turner — in a post that read, “What we doing?” A shark emoji was attached following the question. Both Moss and Turner are projected by industry leaders to commit to Ole Miss.
Things then took a wild, and unexpected, turn a mere 16 hours later when Shumaker announced that he had flipped his commitment from Ole Miss to Colorado, a program led by former Jackson State frontman and NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders.
Take that risk!! Be different!! #FLIP!!! @coachpun99 @CUBuffsFootball @DeionSanders @Coach_Gunnar @CoachBox6 @Coach_Gunnar pic.twitter.com/cXEOqs4CR9
— 𝙱𝚎𝚗’𝙹𝚊𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚞𝚜 𝙹. 𝚂𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚛”4🌟” (@BenJarviuxx) June 23, 2026
It’s worth noting that, along with Coach Prime, Shumaker tagged Gunnar White in his Colorado commitment post. White is a Terry native who played at Hinds Community College and Texas Tech before graduating from Jackson State. As a coach, he has spent time as an assistant at Belhaven and Jackson State. He was part of Sanders’ staff with the Tigers and followed the head coach to Colorado, where he is useful in recruiting Mississippi players.
It’s also worth noting that there is a lot of time between now and early signing day in December, when most student-athletes ink letters of intent to play for programs across the U.S. While Shumaker is committed to Colorado for now, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities for him to rethink his future destination.
