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Ole Miss Makes Offer to Highly Touted Recruit

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Levi Dombro | Last updated Mar 9, 2025 5:40 PM ET

The Ole Miss men's basketball program has enjoyed a resurgence in 2025 under second-year head coach Chris Beard. The Rebels are poised to make their first NCAA Tournament since 2019, which was all the way back in the first year of Kermit Davis' tenure.

Beard will have plenty of work to do over the next few years as he attempts to replace the team's nine seniors from this season, but he is already parlaying the team's recent success into better future recruiting classes. On Friday, the program offered star 2026 recruit Jaxon Richardson, a 6-foot-5, 185-pound small forward from Miami, Florida.

Richardson is the son of former NBA superstar Jason Richardson, who played 16 years for five different franchises. He is also the younger brother of Michigan State guard Jase Richardson, who was a highly touted recruit last year and has put together a solid freshman campaign for coach Tom Izzo and the Spartans.

Jaxon is a consensus five-star recruit and already has offers from some of the country's best programs, including Louisville, Michigan and Southern California, as well as SEC foes like Alabama and Florida. ESPN has him ranked as the 13th-best overall player in the 2026 class, and the third-best player at his position.

If Jaxon Richardson committed to play in Oxford for the Rebels, he would be the program's first-ever five-star recruit and the highest-rated player since Matthew Murrell joined the team in 2020. Ole Miss will have some competition for his talents, but Beard and his program have shown an increased ability to develop their players and win at a high level.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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