Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding continues to win battles on the high school recruiting trail.
Golding, previously the Rebels’ defensive coordinator, was named head coach last November following Lane Kiffin’s departure to LSU. After managing to keep together a 2026 recruiting class that hovered around No. 25 in the national rankings, Golding has taken full advantage of his recruiting chops for 2027.
Ole Miss currently has 13 four-star rated commits in its 2027 recruiting class, according to 247Sports’ Composite ranking and On3’s/Rivals’ Industry ratings, and five players ranked inside the Composite’s and Rivals’ Industry top 200 recruits. The highest rated player in the class is Louisville defensive lineman Mitchell Turner, who is also the top-rated recruit in Mississippi, per the Composite ratings. Turner had 15.5 sacks and 41 tackles-for-loss as a junior last season.
The Rebels have the No. 12 recruiting class per 247Sports’ Composite and the No. 14 class per Rivals.
“I’ve known Pete for about 10 years. He is one of the most personable, friendly, outgoing kind of guy that would love to do a favor for you,” Rivals national recruiting analyst Sam Spiegelman told the Daily Journal. “ … He’s just like that down-to-earth guy that you want to hang out with and watch a game with and … you find out that he’s one of the best defensive minds in the game.
“ … I think everyone is finding out that it’s easy to want to play for Pete.”
The other four-star commits in the class per both the Composite and Rivals’ Industry are defensive lineman Ben’Jarvius Shumaker, offensive lineman Antonio Berry, quarterback Keegan Croucher, wide receiver Alvin Mosley, wide receiver Miguel Whitley, linebacker Jeremiah Culpepper, offensive lineman Antonio Keefer, cornerback Taelyn Mayo, edge rusher Keysan Taylor, defensive lineman Jamarkus Pittman, defensive lineman Marvin Nguetsop and safety Darrell Mattison.
Ole Miss has commitments from three of the four top-rated players in Mississippi – Turner, Shumaker and Berry – and each is ranked in the Composite’s and Rivals Industry top-100 players nationally. Shumaker committed to Ole Miss in March, flipped to Colorado on June 23 before flipping back to Ole Miss the same day.
“It’s important for any program to keep your best talent in-state. It’s become increasingly harder and harder in an NIL landscape,” Spiegelman said. “ … It’s a lifelong mantra of any Blue Blood program that’s going to have success, your roster should be filled with kids who want to be there, kids who have connections to the program, kids that want to leave it on the field until the last minute because they’re representing their state and their home program.
“ … Especially in today’s mindset with the NIL factor and the transfer portal, you want kids who are going to be there, that want to play for your program. And ultimately that tends to show when you have a roster like that, constructed in that capacity, you tend to have more success.”
Spiegelman mentioned Whitley as a player who could get on the field early once he arrives on campus. Nabbing the commitment from the New Orleans native was “a huge victory on the recruiting trail.” The 6-foot, 180-pounder caught 46 passes for 869 yards and 14 touchdowns as a junior at St. Augustine. Having watched him play six or seven times, Spiegelman feels Whitley could be a difference-maker.
“He’s got shades of Odell Beckham to him. Just the catch radius, the athleticism, the all-around balance to his game to do a bunch of different things,” Spiegelman said. “And I think that’s someone who can see the field earlier rather than later. … I think he’s someone who’s going to find his way onto the field early in Oxford. I think that factored into why he picked Ole Miss.”
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