OXFORD — Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding’s defense takes time to get comfortable with. Even Ole Miss senior edge rusher Princely Umanmielen still has questions, and he’s been on campus since the spring. But it’s nothing a quick, late-night text message to Golding can’t take care of.
Umanmielen, listed at 6-foot-4, 255 pounds, was one of Ole Miss’ biggest hauls in its top-ranked transfer portal class, listed as the No. 18 overall player in the portal by 247Sports. Umanmielen logged 15 sacks in his Gators career, including a career-best seven in 2023. His sack total and 11.5 tackles for loss both led the Gators last season.
Umanmielen, along with fellow highly-touted transfer defensive lineman Walter Nolen, were key parts of Ole Miss’ offseason effort to increase its size and athleticism in the trenches on both sides of the ball.
Umanmielen says he is somewhere around 70 to 75% comfortable with Golding’s defense at this point. He is currently sporting a non-contact jersey during fall practice but says he is feeling “really good” and doesn’t “think anything is going to refrain me from playing in any games, but it’s a day-by-day thing.”
In Golding’s first season as defensive coordinator in 2023, Ole Miss jumped from 56th nationally in scoring defense in 2022 to a tie for 34th. Prior to his time with the Rebels, Golding was the defensive coordinator at Alabama under head coach Nick Saban.
“Golding does have one of the toughest defenses I’ve had to learn … I’ve had to put in extra work. Like, I just texted him last night at like 10:30 p.m., asking him about a play,” Umanmielen said. “ … I meet with coach a little extra and things like that so I can get his system down pat.”
Umanmielen said he dropped into coverage during his time at Florida, but at Ole Miss there is “more detail when I do drop.” According to Pro Football Focus, Umanmielen had a pass rush grade of 89.4 last season — which ranked 25th nationally among all edge rushers — and had a coverage grade of 52.4 on 77 coverage snaps.
“I can actually feel myself making plays when I do drop into coverage. I’m able to go in seven-on-seven — today I had a pass breakup in seven-on-seven,” Umanmielen said. “Coach Lou (Spanos) does a great job of going through the drop progressions with me, reading the receivers and things like that.”
While he said he isn’t focused on how his final college season could impact his professional career, Umanmielen said he understands the stakes and the opportunity at hand in 2024. Umanmielen is ranked as the No. 3 edge player in the 2025 NFL Draft rankings by Draft Countdown and was a projected first-round pick in a USA Today mock draft in April.
“It’s in my head, for sure, but I don’t think I think about it on the daily. But it is a really, really big year for me,” Umanmielen said. “I just come every day and just show up and go to work and just try to be consistent and be a pro every single day, just to make sure that I’m not taking any days for granted and making every day count so that it can be one of the best — if not the best — season I’ve had so far in college.”
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