OXFORD, Miss. -- A little more than two years ago, Ole Miss' football program made history with a jaw-droppingly incredible recruiting class. The 2013 class changed the direction and perception of a program that had spent decades mostly treading water in a cruddy pool of mediocrity.

Thanks to a deafening call for a national title from No. 1 recruit Robert Nkemdiche, a group of five-star phenoms came together on national signing day to turn Ole Miss into a national power. With their third fall in Oxford looming, their message is stronger than ever.

“We’re just focused on one thing, and that’s like Robert said: Winning the national championship," 2013 classmate and starting left tackle Laremy Tunsil said. "That’s the main priority right there, winning the national championship.”

It's the main priority for any college football team, no matter how big or small the national image or resources. But for this rising junior class, which will likely be gutted by the 2016 NFL draft, not winning the SEC or playing for a national championship run would be a major disappointment to these players. Forget the impressive stats they've generated in two years or the suffocating attention they've brought themselves and the program, these players want rings.

“It’s your college legacy. It’s something every college athlete wants," star wide receiver Laquon Treadwell said of winning a national championship. "When we signed, we told ourselves let’s go win a national championship; why not us? Every other program has won one, let’s go be different and start something at Ole Miss that nobody can take from us.”

Since their arrival, the Rebels have gone 17-9 in the past two seasons, the best two-year run since Ole Miss went 18-8 from 2008-09. The moment Nkemdiche, Tunsil and Treadwell -- all ranked No. 1 at their respective positions -- signed, the narrative at Ole Miss began to shift. Add the immediate production from fellow ESPN 300 member Tony Conner (No. 2 safety) and vastly underrated tight end Evan Engram (three-star prospect), and the Rebels were on the cusp of an SEC Western Division title and a spot in the inaugural College Football Playoff in 2014.

All five could face preseason All-SEC and All-America honors, and each could be a first-round draft pick next spring.

“Man, they’re just so athletically gifted that it makes whatever they’re doing so much easier," senior linebacker/defensive end C.J. Johnson said. "I don’t really know any other way to put it.

“The way they carry themselves, it’s unbelievable how hard they want to work.”

So far, coach Hugh Freeze, who corralled all this talent, has been pleased with just about everything this class has done, both on and off the field. They've embraced the leadership role, which will be a little different for them, but they're hungry to make this team theirs.

Freeze isn't surprised at the people they are away from the field or how humble they have been, considering all the hype and talent, but he is admittedly surprised at how well each of them, especially the core of this class, has taken to coaching.

"You’re never quite sure how they will handle coaching when they’re that highly recruited," Freeze said. "That was a bit surprising to me, how easy they were to coach. I don’t know if it should have been or not, but you always have the concern.”

But what does Freeze worry about? That would be all the outside voices and talk about the NFL. With the soul of this group eligible for the NFL draft -- and equipped with insurance policies -- Freeze does worry about the positivity and the negativity seeping too deep into their ears.

As much as Freeze and his coaches try to educate and get them to be humble, they understand it's up to the players to keep the correct focus.

“They’re hearing all the right things now that they like hearing, but that can go away in a hurry with a bad decision here or a poor performance here," Freeze said. "All those things can change. I’m very proud of how they’ve handled it to this point, but as you know, man, it’s like a game. You’ve got to finish the fourth quarter, whatever their fourth quarter ends up being.”

“That draft doesn’t happen until next April, a year [away]. Really, what happens then is going to be based on their résumé they put on film and how the manage their affairs between now and then."

Treadwell, who along with Tunsil hope to be 100 percent this fall after suffering horrific leg injuries last season, doesn't believe that will be an issue. While there have been more challenging times for some of his classmates when it comes to staying focused with football, school and the future, Treadwell insists the focus hasn't shifted with this group.

To curb any wandering minds, Treadwell said players have had intimate pow-wows to hash out issues. The results are usually positive, Treadwell said, because no matter how distant guys can get or how much an ego can rise, the goal of this group is too big.

"We’re all holding each other accountable," Treadwell said.

“I think we put more pressure on ourselves than we let anybody else do because we aren’t in the media a lot, but we know our fans want a [positive] end [to the 2015 season]. That’s our main focus. We know our identity, we know what we’re good at.”