These five Ole Miss transfers learned their eligibility status from the NCAA

Five former Ole Miss football players have been ruled immediately eligible at their new schools.

Houston defensive back Deontay Anderson, Nebraska defensive back Breon Dixon, Georgia Tech offensive lineman Jack DeFoor, UCF wide receiver Tre Nixon and UAB running back Jarrion Street will be able to play for their new teams in 2018. The group transferred from Ole Miss after the Rebels were hit with additional NCAA penalties in 2017, which included a bowl ban for 2018.

"The grounds for the waiver applications are based on an NCAA rule that allows transferring players to become immediately eligible if they transferred because of 'egregious behavior' by a staff member at their former school," attorney Thomas Mars told ESPN in February. "That term isn't defined, and there's never been a case like this, so the NCAA will be writing on a clean slate in deciding whether the conduct of certain Ole Miss officials constitutes 'egregious behavior.'"

As a redshirt freshman, Nixon played in 10 games for Ole Miss last season and had one reception for 19 yards. Street played defensive back as a sophomore, appearing in eight games and tallying 10 tackles. Dixon played in six games as a true freshman and ended the year with five tackles to his credit. DeFoor saw action in four games as a reserve lineman during his redshirt freshman year.

Anderson was the No. 1 safety in the Class of 2016 and redshirted at Ole Miss in 2017.

The announcement of the four being cleared means six of the seven Rebels players who transferred from the program will be eligible to play in 2018. After some back and forth, former Ole Miss quarterback Shea Patterson was cleared two weeks ago to play at Michigan.

The only remaining Rebel transfer who has not been cleared yet is Florida wide receiver Van Jefferson. Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin told CBS Sports the Gators have not yet sent Jefferson’s waiver application to the NCAA but plan to do so soon.

Aside from Patterson, Jefferson was the most productive of the transfers during the 2017 season. He had 42 receptions for 456 yards and one touchdown before dislocating his elbow with two games left in the season.

This story was originally published May 11, 2018 at 10:43 AM with the headline "These five Ole Miss transfers learned their eligibility status from the NCAA."