407-340-0226
407-340-0226
Central High School
Gulf Shores High School
Jersey Number: 30
Position
Line Backer
Weight
205
Height
6’2″
Class
Freshman
Hometown
Baton Rouge, La.
JaMichael Garrett is a true freshman linebacker at the University of Mississippi, where he wears No. 30 and is majoring in sport management. He signed with the Rebels as part of the 2025-26 class, enrolled early in Oxford, and went through spring practice ahead of his first fall camp.
Garrett arrived in Oxford as one of the more heavily recruited defenders in the class. Ole Miss lists him as a four-star prospect by ESPN and 247Sports, a top-20 recruit in Louisiana across all the major national services and as high as No. 7 in the state per ESPN. ESPN slotted him as the No. 15 linebacker in the country and placed him in its national top-200 recruit leaderboard. When Ole Miss announced its early signing class, he was one of five signees inside the ESPN 300, coming in at No. 174 overall.
His full name is JaMichael Benard Garrett, and he is a multi-sport athlete who also played basketball in high school.
Garrett projects as an off-ball linebacker with an inside-out tackling profile. National evaluators describe a run-and-hit player who finds the football consistently, plays with more physicality than his listed size suggests, and can open his stride to chase plays down from the back side. That evaluation is grounded in production: he averaged roughly 10 tackles per game as a junior.
His stat sheet also shows a defender who converts opportunities into points. He returned interceptions for touchdowns in back-to-back seasons, including a 99-yard return as a junior.
Garrett played his first three varsity seasons at Gulf Shores High School in Alabama before transferring to Central High School in Baton Rouge for his senior year, where he wore No. 7 and lined up at middle and outside linebacker.
2024 (Junior, Gulf Shores) 91 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, 1 interception returned 99 yards for a touchdown
2023 (Sophomore, Gulf Shores) 87 tackles, 26.5 tackles for loss, 9.5 sacks, 1 interception returned 23 yards for a touchdown, 2 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries
2022 (Freshman, Gulf Shores) 40 tackles, 2 sacks
Across his sophomore and junior seasons combined, Garrett recorded 178 tackles, 36 tackles for loss, 11 sacks, 19 quarterback hurries and two interceptions. Adding his freshman year, those three seasons total 218 tackles.
Garrett drew a national offer list that reached 33 schools. He first committed to Auburn on July 27, 2024, then reopened his recruitment on June 12, 2025 following an official visit to Ole Miss.
He committed to the Rebels on September 15, 2025, announcing his decision after taking in the Ole Miss win over Arkansas in Oxford. Ole Miss lists LSU, Clemson, Missouri, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and USC among the programs he chose against. At the time of his commitment, the Rivals Industry Ranking had him at No. 253 nationally, No. 15 among linebackers and No. 9 in Louisiana.
Garrett signed during the early signing period in December 2025 as part of an Ole Miss class that finished No. 22 in the 247Sports team rankings, then enrolled in January.
Garrett enters the 2026 season in a linebacker room led by returning All-SEC caliber player Suntarine Perkins and Baylor transfer Keaton Thomas, with veteran Luke Ferrelli also in the rotation. He and fellow freshman signee Ant Davis Jr. are the newcomers in the group under head coach Pete Golding, who recruited Garrett while serving as the Rebels’ defensive coordinator.
