What’s subsequent for Ole Miss? Alternative for Trinidad Chambliss is Pete Golding’s prime precedence

Hats off to Pete Golding, who opened his Ole Miss tenure with back-to-back wins and held a fourth-quarter lead over Miami within the School Soccer Playoff semifinals. He got here up simply shy of a visit to the nationwide championship sport, although, with a heartbreaking 31-27 Fiesta Bowl loss to the Hurricanes.

It was a devastating defeat for a program that was on a mission to show itself following Lane Kiffin’s departure for LSU. Miami quarterback Carson Beck scampered throughout the aim line for a late go-ahead landing run, and though the Rebels had one shot on the finish zone as time expired, Beck’s rating got here with too little time for Ole Miss to beat it.

The Rebels performed with hearth over their remaining two video games of the season, and so they received burned within the Fiesta Bowl. One week after surrendering 34 factors to Georgia, the Ole Miss protection gave up 31 to the Hurricanes and couldn’t ship a essential cease within the remaining minute.

Amongst Golding’s offseason duties might be to bolster a defensive unit that simply final 12 months stood with the nation’s elites. He’s a confirmed former defensive coordinator and might be as much as the duty of rebuilding that group in brief order. In any case, he labored over the past three years for the “Portal King” and should have some switch portal magic up his personal sleeve.

If the faculty soccer world realized one factor about Ole Miss over the previous couple of weeks, it’s that this program, as at present constructed, is constructed to maintain by means of adversity. Extra is on the best way with the inevitable roster upheaval that may happen with gamers following Kiffin to LSU, transferring to different colleges and departing for the NFL Draft. Golding was able to weathering one storm, however can he information the ship by means of one other?

Quarterback room in query

The NCAA denied Ole Miss star quarterback Trinidad Chambliss’ waiver request for a sixth season of eligibility on Friday, lower than 24 hours after the Rebels’ Fiesta Bowl loss to Miami. Nonetheless, that probably will not be the tip of this system’s push to get him in uniform for 2026. Identical to Vanderbilt and Diego Pavia used the courtroom system to get Pavia eligible for 2025, Ole Miss might do the identical with Chambliss.

Chambliss is a Division II switch who performed 4 seasons at Ferris State, and his argument exists on the grounds that Division I redshirt guidelines differ from these of Division II. The eighth-place finisher in Heisman Trophy voting argues that he ought to obtain a retroactive redshirt for the 2022 season as a result of he performed in simply two video games that 12 months. DI permits gamers to redshirt as soon as — as long as they play in not more than 4 regular-season video games.

However it might be unwise for the Rebels to place all their eggs within the Chambliss basket, and all indications are that Golding and Ole Miss have been engaged on contingency plans. With Austin Simmons transferring to Missouri after shedding the beginning job to Chambliss early in 2025, search for the Rebels to make a push for a switch QB. Among the many names to know is Auburn switch Deuce Knight, a Mississippi native and former four-star prospect who seemed good in restricted motion throughout a redshirt season with the Tigers in 2025.

Lane Kiffin reacts to Ole Miss’ loss to Miami, harps on controversial ending in CFP semifinals

Brad Crawford

Pete Golding tasked with offensive adjustments

Kiffin took six assistant coaches with him to LSU, however Golding stored a lot of the defensive employees intact and is anticipated to retain his personal defensive play-calling duties in 2026. As an inside rent himself, he had the good thing about overseeing a minimum of some continuity in his first few days as head coach. He is additionally added former Arizona Cardinals defensive backs coach Patrick Toney as co-defensive coordinator,

That a number of the LSU-bound assistants remained on employees for the CFP run added a novel wrinkle and a component of turmoil, however with that now up to now, Golding’s main focus can flip to constructing out his personal program. With 2025 offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. shifting on to LSU and Chambliss’ waiver denied, the Ole Miss offense will endure important change. John David Baker is coming over from East Carolina to the be the offensive coordinator after beforehand working as an assistant and co-OC beneath Kiffin from 2021-23. Working backs coach Frank Wilson is coming from LSU, and the Rebels have begun rounding out the remainder of their offensive employees.

Golding should decide how concerned he desires to be in these offensive adjustments. Will he flip the keys over to Baker, a promising however comparatively inexperienced 35-year previous play caller? Or will Golding search to exert his affect on that aspect of the soccer as properly? The shift from an offensive-minded head coach in Kiffin to a defensive thoughts in Golding might be important, and it will likely be fascinating to see what stylistic adjustments manifest because of this.

Are the Rebels’ new expectations sustainable?

Ole Miss raised its personal bar in the course of the Kiffin period, whereby 10-win seasons grew to become the norm after being few and much between for the overwhelming majority of this system’s historical past. The Rebels gained 13 video games this season for the primary time ever, made their CFP debut, climbed into the highest 10 of the AP Prime 25 for the fifth straight season and have been simply two wins away from a nationwide championship. That’s an unprecedented quantity of success.

Each time a coach not named John Vaught posted a double-digit win complete at Ole Miss, a interval of mediocrity ensued shortly thereafter. Golding has a longstanding development to buck. He’s off to a powerful begin having overwhelmed a pair of playoff groups and severely threatening one other, however he did so with Kiffin’s gamers and a employees that he, for essentially the most half, didn’t rent. Can he repeat these achievements because the face of this system?

It will be one factor for Golding to stop the ground from falling out from beneath the Rebels. To maintain this program in SEC and nationwide title competition is a very completely different query and one which, frankly, solely time will reply. However issues definitely don’t get any simpler within the SEC because the league strikes to a 9-game schedule beginning in 2026.