Ole Miss is wasting no time putting Pete Golding’s stamp on the program.
With Golding now running the show in Oxford, the Rebels are aiming to get back to the College Football Playoff after a successful 2025 season. The roster will look different, especially on defense, but Ole Miss does bring back important pieces like Trinidad Chambliss, Kewan Lacy, Will Echoles, and others.
That balance says a lot about the kind of coach Ole Miss is getting. Golding has already done a strong job building out the current roster, and the early shape of the 2027 recruiting class suggests he has a clear blueprint he wants to keep following.
That blueprint starts up front.
Golding is a defensive-minded coach, and the 2027 class reflects that. Two of the top defensive tackles in the country, Ben'Jarvius Shumaker and Mitchell Turner, are already in the fold.
Before them, Golding also landed four-star defensive linemen Jamarkus Pittman and Marvin Nguetsop. Pittman checks in at 6'4", 320 pounds, while Nguetsop is 6'7" and 268 pounds, giving the Rebels more size and length in the trenches.
The edge group is just as loaded. Ole Miss has four edge rushers committed in the class: Antwan Jackson, Juelz Batiste, Keysan Taylor, and Elijah Cox. That kind of volume points to a staff that is serious about building depth on the defensive line, not just chasing headline names.
And the current defense already gives that approach some real teeth.
Ole Miss finished last season with 33 sacks, and even with sack leader Princewill Umanmielen gone, the 2026 group still looks strong. Echoles leads the way after being named a preseason first-team All-SEC selection by the media. He posted 4.5 sacks last season and gives the Rebels a proven anchor.
Suntarine Perkins is back too, and he looks primed for a huge season. Add in Kam Franklin and Michai Boireau, and Ole Miss has the kind of front that can make life miserable for opposing offensive lines.
That’s the bigger picture here: if Golding keeps landing top defensive line talent every cycle, Ole Miss should stay in a very good place. The offense may still be driven by players like Chambliss and Lacy, but the long-term identity of the program could be shifting toward the defense.
Between the 2027 class and the work done through the transfer portal, Golding is making it clear where the priority lies. Defense is getting the emphasis in Oxford.
In Other News...
Ole Miss Staff Is Suddenly All In On Landon Barnes
Landon Barnes has already started to draw attention inside the Ole Miss program, and it is not hard to see why. The four-star defensive end arrives with the kind of frame and upside that coaches like to talk about early, and the staff has been quick to point to his physical development as a reason he could help right away on the defensive line.
Defensive coordinator Bryan Brown has been especially bullish on Barnes, signaling that the freshman is more than just a long-term project. Ole Miss expects him to factor into the rotation this fall, and with his first camp set to begin Aug. 6, the next step is seeing how quickly that promise turns into production against SEC competition. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Suddenly Has A Player In College Footballs Biggest Money Talk
The NIL economy in college football keeps rewriting the financial map, and Ole Miss has a player right in the middle of it. Trinidad Chambliss, a former Division II standout from Ferris State who helped lead the Rebels to a 13-1 finish and a College Football Playoff semifinal in his first season in Oxford, is now being mentioned among the sports biggest earners, with a valuation that puts him in rare company.
What makes the number stand out is the company it keeps. Chambliss is projected to out-earn LeBron James this season, a striking reminder of how quickly college football money has surged past what used to be unthinkable comparisons, and it leaves one of the more interesting questions in the sport hanging in the air: just how much higher can this market go? [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Camp Just Put Pete Golding's Biggest Early Test Here
Ole Miss has opened fall camp with Pete Golding getting his first real chance to shape the program the way he wants it, and the early days are already offering a glimpse of how he plans to run things. The focus is on the basics that matter most in August: position battles, player development, and building a culture that can hold up in the SEC when the games start to count.
A few spots are already settling in, including the offensive line, where Terez Davis, Brycen Sanders and Patrick Kutas appear set in their roles even as the full combination remains in flux. The quarterback work will be watched just as closely, with Trinidad Chambliss and Kewan Lacy among the names to track as Ole Miss tries to find the right mix of command, chemistry and consistency before the season gets here. [Read more 🡒]