How Lane Kiffin leaving impacted Ole Miss on signing day, including rankings drop
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OXFORD — At least on defense, it looks like Ole Miss football promoting defensive coordinator Pete Golding to coach is already paying off.
Golding, who was hired on Nov. 30 after coach Lane Kiffin departed for LSU, has been the Rebels’ defensive coordinator since 2023.
Dec. 3 was early signing day. Ole Miss announced 17 signings and its class ranking dropped to No. 32 nationally, according to the 247Sports Composite. It is No. 12 in the SEC.
It’s the Rebels lowest ranking since the 2020 class was No. 35. That was Kiffin’s first class after he was hired in December 2019.
The class ranked No. 21 nationally at the start of the week. Ole Miss was No. 16 in 2025 and has generally ranked in the mid-20s in the Kiffin era. Ole Miss built a reputation for emphasizing the transfer portal over high school signings under Kiffin.
Golding did not hold a press conference, but he emphasized the day’s importance on Dec. 2 when addressing Ole Miss fans for the first time during a men’s basketball game against Miami.
“Obviously we’re getting to work,” Golding said. “We have signing day tomorrow, so I’m not going to be able to watch the game. I told (basketball) coach (Chris) Beard good luck earlier. We’re going back out to bang the phones a little bit.”
The recruiting fallout from Kiffin’s departure to an SEC rival points to Golding’s value. Simply put, his guys stayed. Some of Kiffin’s didn’t.
Five of the top six players in Ole Miss’ football’s 2026 early signing day class play defense. It’s where Golding was doing the recruiting.
Four-star edge rusher Landon Barnes is the top player who signed with Ole Miss. He is a 6-foot-3 player from Duncanville, Texas, ranked No. 111 in the 247Sports Composite.
Four of the other five top highest-graded players — all four-star recruits — are DL Emanuel Tucker, safety Craig Tutt, cornerback Dorian Barney and safety Iverson McCoy.
The only offensive four-star recruit Ole Miss signed is running back Damarius Yates. That’s where Kiffin’s impact comes in. He’s known as an offensive mastermind. Offensive players have acted accordingly.
Five players have decommitted since Kiffin left. None of them were dedicated defenders. Kiffin took four-star receiver Corey Barber, four-star tight end JC Anderson and three-star offensive lineman Ryan Miret with him to LSU.
Quarterback/defensive back Jett Goldsberry flipped to Purdue and three-star receiver Jameson Powell decommitted but remains unsigned.
Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter said Dec. 3 that he had stability day on his mind when hiring Golding. With signing day looming, promoting an established coach such as Golding who had already worked to build the recruiting class on defense made sense.
“That was an option, to name an interim, but the more myself and the Chancellor thought about it, why do that when we have the guy we know is the guy right in front of us? We decided to go ahead and make the move, make Pete the permanent coach,” Carter said in the interview.
Sam Hutchens covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at Shutchens@gannett.com or reach him on X at @Sam_Hutchens_
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: How Ole Miss, Pete Golding did on signing day after Lane Kiffin left
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