Ole Miss Football will take on Louisville in Nashville on Sept. 6 for its first game of the season. The Rebels’ offseason activities, including fall camp, are over; now, they will work on getting back into the swing of an in-season schedule.
Head coach Pete Golding talked about how he was grateful that the Rebels are finally back in the swing of things entering the season after finishing up summer training and fall camp.
“(It) feels awesome. July was kind of that for me when we first spoke to get back into the ball piece of it, and then it was good to get through camp,” Golding said in a press conference on Aug. 24. “Today’s the first day of class, and getting our guys ready for that routine and what that looks like for those guys.”
Golding also addressed how the Sunday season opener makes the preparation during the week a little bit different from a normal game day on Saturday.
“This is kind of a hybrid week for us,” Golding said. “It’s not going to be all on game week mode. We’re going to have a mock game this weekend (to) simulate some things and all that.”
Following last season’s historic playoff run, there are high expectations for the Rebels entering the 2026 season. The team has aspirations for playoff success, while quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and Kewan Lacy are hopefuls for the Heisman Trophy. Lacy, depending on his performance this season, could be in contention for the Doak Walker Award, which is presented to the nation’s top running back.
The squad looked encouraging in practice, which created a lot of optimism within the building on how the team will build on the success of last year.
“To me, (practice has) been really flashy,” Golding said. “There’s enough things that you can see on tape, like, ‘Man, that’s it, that’s winning football. You win a lot of football games doing that.’”
However, despite the optimism, there are still areas that need to be fleshed out, especially in terms of consistency. That is what the team is focusing on this week. During practice, coaches are still seeing mistakes on both sides of the ball. The defense has made mistakes that extended drives, while the offense failed to capitalize on several important drives.
“The drive is either extended based on a nonaggressive penalty or a bust, or the drive was stopped based on a nonaggressive penalty or a bust,” Golding said. “That’s not winning football. I think that’s the key to this week: How do we clean those things up?”
The right tackle position has also been a topic of discussion after Jayden Williams, the starter last season, was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals. LSU transfer Carius Curne and Miami transfer Tommy Kinsler IV have been competing for the position throughout the summer.
Golding talked about the evaluating questions that the coaches ask in practices to determine who gets the starting job.
“From that standpoint, how can we rotate a couple of guys for worst-case scenarios, and then what does one do better than the other from a package standpoint?” Golding said. “We have this week to decide that.”
Injury concerns are always at the forefront of offseason discussions. Golding spoke on players who are limited in practice and clarified the difference between being “hurt” and being “injured.”
“I think, obviously, everybody after camp … is kind of banged up within reason, and I think that’s one thing in camp that we try to really focus on: the difference between being hurt and injured,” Golding said. “Camp is about building calluses and learning to fight through things, and very rarely in this sport are you going to be 100%.”
Golding and the coaching staff try to push players through difficulties in practice because there will be games when they are asked to play even when they are not in perfect physical condition.
The secondary has been hit hardest by injuries, forcing the coaching staff to move players around in practice.
“I would say we’re probably banged up the most at corner of the last … 10 days,” Golding said. “Nothing season-ending injury at all and we’ll get all those guys back this week, slowly but surely, so (the injuries are) just soft tissue stuff with them.”
Golding talked about the intentionality of position versatility and how it trains the players to be better teammates.
“When you start moving (players) around and make them play in other spots, they understand how they work together,” Golding said. “That’s been something big for us in the summer and in fall camp. You all got to know the same thing, and so I think it’s really important to be able to move them around so they don’t get comfortable, and it makes them communicate, and they don’t become complacent.”
While the first game of the season will be played at a neutral site, Golding still showed appreciation for the fans and acknowledged how impactful they have been in creating a difficult place to play for opposing teams.
“We’ve talked about it before — since I’ve been here (for) three years, we lost one game in (Vaught-Hemingway Stadium), and a lot of that’s based on support and the environment that they create,” Golding said. “They know there’s an expectation on them, and it’s to continue to do what they’ve done up to this point to create an unbelievable atmosphere in the Vaught, and I think it’s a really tough place to play.”
