Ole Miss added its first tight end in the 2027 class on Thursday, landing three-star prospect Colton Johnson and giving Pete Golding another piece for the future.
Johnson chose the Rebels over interest from Alabama, North Carolina, Florida State and Purdue. He arrives as the 21st-ranked player in Tennessee and the 24th-ranked tight end in the class.
At 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds, Johnson brings a frame that already fits the position. He’s also a multi-sport athlete who plays baseball and basketball, and his junior season showed why plenty of programs were involved.
On offense, he caught 36 passes for 615 yards and four touchdowns. On the other side of the ball, he piled up 133 total tackles, added a sack and forced a fumble.
That two-way production gives Ole Miss a player with a broad skill set. Johnson has the size to be a red-zone problem on one-on-one throws, and he’s also described as a capable run-blocker who can climb to multiple levels and help create space for a running back. He’s quick enough to separate and can do damage after the catch, too.
His commitment gives the Rebels more depth in a 2027 class that is already ranked inside the top 15 nationally. That group is headlined by four-star defensive tackles Mitchell Turner and Ben'Jarvius Shumaker, and while Ole Miss doesn’t have a five-star in the mix, the class has plenty of volume behind its top names.
The tight end room for 2026 is already in good shape with senior Luke Hasz and junior Caleb Odom back in the fold. If both move on after the season, Johnson could be looking at an early path to playing time.
For Golding, the broader message is clear: the success Ole Miss showed last season is being backed up by real work on the recruiting trail. The Rebels still have high expectations with quarterback Trinidad Chambliss in place for 2026-27, but the 2027 class is starting to look like the kind of foundation a program can build on once he’s gone.
In Other News...
Pete Golding Sees One Big Ole Miss Edge In NCAA Change
The NCAAs new five-year, age-based eligibility rule is already drawing a strong reaction from Pete Golding, who sees it as a cleaner way to manage a roster and a better fit for how college football actually works now. Instead of the old redshirt setup, players will have five seasons to play over a five-year window from enrollment or age 19, and Golding likes the flexibility that gives a program like Ole Miss when it comes to developing talent and keeping the depth chart moving.
For the Rebels, the biggest upside may be in how freely they can use gifted freshmen without feeling like every snap comes with a long-term cost. It also could help Ole Miss hold onto experienced players a little longer, since the extra eligibility gives coaches more room to think beyond the immediate season and into future roster planning. [Read more 🡒]
Pete Golding Changed What Ole Miss Believes It Can Be
Pete Goldings rise at Ole Miss has already altered the way the program talks about itself. In one run, the Rebels reached territory they had never quite touched before, winning a playoff game at home for the first time and then carrying that momentum into a Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia, a result that helped them stand as the last SEC team left in the bracket. For a program that has spent so much of its modern life chasing the leagues top tier, that kind of January mattered just as much as any recruiting splash.
Now comes the harder part: proving it was not a one-off. Ole Miss enters the 2026 season with a strong transfer portal position, but Goldings first full year also brings a demanding schedule and the kind of road tests that quickly reveal whether a breakthrough has real staying power. The Rebels have already shown they can reach places the program had not visited in decades, and the next step is finding out whether they can stay there. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Has One Unit That Could Decide Everything This Season
Ole Miss has reason to feel good about the front of its offense heading into the new season. Three interior linemen are back in Brycen Sanders, Delano Townsend and Patrick Kutas, a group that helped power a rushing attack that was already a strength a year ago. Add in the fact that John David Baker is taking over as offensive coordinator with plans to lean even more heavily on the run, and the line suddenly looks like one of the clearest tone-setters on the roster.
The Rebels did not stop there, either, bringing in two tackles through the transfer portal in Carius Curne and Terez Davis to help shore up the edges. For a team trying to build around physicality and balance, that combination of continuity and new blood gives this unit a chance to shape the whole season. The only real question now is how quickly the newcomers settle in, because the answer could determine just how far this offense can go. [Read more 🡒]