Auburn is ending the early signing period on a bit of a sour note, with Top247 wide receiver Jase Mathews flipping his commitment to Ole Miss. He announced that at his signing ceremony held on Friday.

Pursued also by LSU and Texas A&M Mathews ended up choosing Ole Miss for his future home. Auburn had held his commitment since August of this year, but the staff changes ended up being too much for the Tigers to overcome. New head coach Alex Golesh arrived on Sunday and got to meet briefly with Mathews while he was on campus still visiting for the Iron Bowl, but it was not enough.

Ole Miss’ recruiting effort was lead by recruiting staffer Donte Moncrief, Mathews’ older cousin. Moncrief is in consideration to be elevated to wide receivers coach at Ole Miss under new head coach Pete Golding.

Originally Mathews was planning to sign on Signing Day, but opted to wait until Friday on the final day of the early signing period as he weighed his options and kept an eye on how Golesh filled out his staff and the status of his primary recruiter, Marcus Davis. 

From Greene County (Miss.), Mathews is listed at 6-foot-1.5 and 193 pounds. He’s ranked by 247Sports as the No. 89 player, No. 11 wide receiver and No. 5 player from Mississippi in the 2026 class.

With the loss of Mathews, Auburn will finish the early signing period with 17 signees in the class. Auburn wide receivers signed DeShawn Spencer and Brian Williams Jr. on Signing Day.

The Tigers dropped from No. 36 in the 247Sports team recruiting rankings to No. 49 after Mathews’ flip.

In four years, Mathews totaled 129 catches for 2,178 yards and 20 touchdowns for his high school team. He missed most of his senior season with a torn ACL.

247Sports scouting report on Mathews:

-Large and athletic receiver with true WR1 potential given how he jumps and runs.
-Tore ACL early on during senior campaign, but exits high school with just over 2,000 receiving yards to his credit as he got varsity snaps right away as a freshman.
-Can float in the air and make contested grabs with his 6-foot-1.5 frame and elite ball skills.
-Has the power to play through contact and secure slants with defenders draped all over him. That same strength makes him dangerous after the catch as he builds momentum and sheds tackles.
-Not a track star, but can find a top gear and has impressive short-area quickness for his size, which is echoed by a 4.1-second effort in the short shuttle.
-Competes as a move blocker (knee injury came when he was driving a defender into the ground) and has even gotten some snaps attached in short-yardage situations.
-Must get healthy and avoid further set backs, but projects as a go-to target and a reliable option on third down that can be aligned across the formation with his tools.