The Ole Miss defense is undergoing a complete overhaul as the Pete Golding era begins
Ole Miss opened up its spring football practices on Tuesday and with it officially began the renovation project that is the defense under Pete Golding.
Head coach Lane Kiffin hired Golding away from Alabama to become the newest defensive coordinator at Ole Miss. Golding is replacing former co-defensive coordinators Chris Partridge and Maurice Crum. Partridge returned to Michigan to coach the linebackers and Crum went to SMU coach the Mustangs linebackers.
With Golding now at the helm it comes with a complete re-packaging and re-tooling of the Ole Miss defense, something that was in need after how last season ended.
The expectation of a 4-2-5 scheme is a major shift from what Ole Miss has used in recent years, but Kiffin wanted a to make a big swing at getting the defense fixed and Golding was his guy.
Golding has four weeks to do a completely new install with his defense and is also having to work to mesh new players at the same time.
The to-do list is a hefty one this spring for Ole Miss.
“It’s a little different scheme than what we played before and we have some new pieces here,” Kiffin said after Tuesday’s practice. “We also have new coaches, including Pete, so we have a lot of work to do there. We’ve seen this system work at a lot of places and now we’ve just got to get our guys to learn it.”
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Only a couple days into spring practices but Ole Miss players have responded well to Golding and his new scheme.
Returners like defensive lineman Jared Ivey are still still in the adjusting phase of transitioning from one defensive scheme to something completely new.
But with all new the things, including the arrival of a new coach, the excitement levels are still high withing the Ole Miss defense.
“I was very excited and the first time I talked with (Golding) it was great,” Ivey said. “Obviously he’s a big time guy. He’s had success everywhere he’s been. So, getting a coach like that is always great.”
Spring is still in its infancy stages and the first week underway, so it will take a bit of time for the defense to start getting a good feel for the new scheme. But the early returns are positive ones.
“Golding, he’s more a calm, cool, collected coach,” said safety Isheem Young. “It seem like he’s got a good scheme going on for our defense.”
Watch Kiffin’s full post-practice interview below. Video courtesy of Ole Miss Sports Productions.
