Emerging TE Recruit Hipp Recaps 'Amazing' Ole Miss Visit

Arizona native spend nearly 12 hours on unofficial visit with Ole Miss football

The first impression of Oxford can improve perception for those in and around the sport of football even without a marquee event taking place. 

On Sunday, Scottsdale (Ariz.) Desert Mountain tight end recruit Dillon Hipp made his way to town for the first time as a relatively recent target of Lane Kiffin's recruiting class of 2024 and there wasn't an element of the Ole Miss experience that disappointed, apparently.

"Literally everything," Hipp told The Grove Report of the trip's highlights. "I love Oxford, it's such a great city. All the people around are incredible. They were really appreciative of me making it down. They spent their whole day with me, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. I spent the day with the OC (Charlie Weis Jr.) and tight ends coach (John David Baker), also one of the former players (Jonathan Hess). He used to play there, so it was great to relate to him since he's closer to my age.

"The effort was there for sure."

Kiffin and assistant coaches were able to showcase select usage of tight ends to suit up for the program of late, and the sample was enough for Hipp to want to learn more. 

"The scheme is just perfect for a tight end," he said. "The way Lane Kiffin always has a history of tight ends, putting them in the NFL, it's amazing. Running 11 and 12 personnel is the thing I want to hear when I'm looking at a college's scheme."

Beyond ball, the setting for the Rebel program lived up to some preconceived hype Hipp learned of the area shortly after earning the Ole Miss offer at the end of January. 

"I had heard rumors that Oxford was one of the best college towns in the nation," he said. "All the people were really friendly and I got to see for myself that it was a true statement. You could just tell how invested the people are in Ole Miss. Everyone I saw, nearly, was wearing an Ole Miss shirt or something like that. 

"The city, the town in general, was just amazing."

Hipp took in Oxford as part of a busy visit swing this week, including stops at Auburn on Monday and Miami on Tuesday. Louisville and Tennessee also recently had him on campus in March. 

With more than 30 scholarship offers in hand, the next step is to figure out which programs have enough staying power for a return visit -- an official visit. Only one, to Baylor, is already locked in. 

"Ole Miss is a big contender for one of those," Hipp said. "I'm pretty sure I'm going to take one there." 

As a junior in 2022, Hipp hauled in 28 passes for 328 yards and four touchdowns over 12 games, per Maxpreps.

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