Lane Kiffin really impressed with Pete Golding on Ole Miss staff
Lane Kififn couldn’t have been more impressed with defensive coordinator Pete Golding. Golding came to Ole Miss from Alabama after last season and it seems to have given the Rebels a boost.
You don’t work under Nick Saban for no reason, as Kiffin knows all too well. Golding could improve the Ole Miss defense in a hurry, giving the Rebels a lot of juice in the SEC West.
Basically, everyone around the Ole Miss program is impressed with Golding.
“Pete’s really smart, a great recruiter, (has) high energy,” Kiffin said. “Really like being around him. And what he brings, he’s still young, but what he brings to the guys about coaching really great players and coaches the coaches really well too. Sometimes young guys struggle to do (things) … So I’ve been really impressed by him, as has everybody that’s worked with him.”
Golding’s impact is evident, but Kiffin isn’t ready to crown his defense the next version of the ‘85 Bears.
“Again, it’s one day with helmets, so we haven’t got through the film yet, being able to see both fields of everybody,” Kiffin said. “So I really can’t completely answer that (question about progress). There are a lot of good looking pieces out there and more that there was in the spring. So now we got a lot of work to do with them.
“But that’s really good because when the pieces don’t look really good, doesn’t matter how many practices you have, how well you coach (because you) can’t tackle them and can’t cover them, so we do have some good looking pieces. Now I gotta put it together.”
Pete Golding credited for off-field mentorship of players
Golding has been a key part of Alabama’s defensive success the last five seasons as the Crimson Tide play caller. But Kiffin revealed at SEC Media Days that even off the field Golding has already made a positive impact on his defensive players during his short time in Oxford.
“Yeah, Pete does a great job off the field. He’s always got kids in his office talking to them, helping them out,” Kiffin said. “Really smart guy that does dig into the players because he’d ask about a player, he already knows their whole background and life situation and stuff so he does a great job of that.”
Ole Miss’ defense gave up just 17.2 points per game during the team’s impressive 7-0 start to the season last year. But their disappointing 1-5 finish to the season was highlighted by the Rebels inability to keep teams out of the end zone, giving up 35.1 points per game in their last six matchups.