Ole Miss Defensive Coordinator Pete Golding Looks Forward to 2023 Season

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding met with the media on Friday following practice. Golding is heading into his first season with the Rebels.

“I’m extremely excited about the opportunity,” Golding said. “I’m always excited to see new ways to do things and there are a lot of ways to win a football game.”

Golding came to Ole Miss after serving as the defensive coordinator at Alabama for the past five seasons. He joined coach Lane Kiffin’s staff in January.

“I’ve been really impressed with Coach Kiffin and his leadership,” Golding said. “I’ve learned a lot from him this spring.”

This season, Golding and the Rebels have a lot of new faces on the defensive side of the ball and the staff will have to get the players to mesh.

“I think the biggest thing is having coached Division II, One AA and Mid-major and it’s similar to high school,” Golding said. “Every year, you don’t know what you have. Instead of trying to fit a player into a system, here is who we have and what can they do.

“Let’s put them in those situations so they can excel,” he said. “The hardest piece is when you bring in a lot of new guys, especially after spring ball. Then you don’t have them in the summer going through everything, so this fall camp is really important to them.”

Ole Miss has been in fall camp for two weeks and will have its first fall scrimmage on Saturday.

“We have to take this first scrimmage really big,” Golding said. “Not just from a personal standpoint, but what can they really do. Let’s make sure that we can put them in things they can do, not just situations they are not ready for.”

When Golding first arrived on campus, he didn’t look at what the defense couldn’t do. He evaluated talent from skill sets and football intelligence, how much players comprehend and how simple they need to keep it.

“I tried to take the guys that we have and look at what position we can put them at so we can have success in the SEC West,” Golding said.

Ole Miss opens the season on Sept. 2, playing host to Mercer inside the Vaught. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. and can be seen on the SEC Network+.