Ole Miss' Stars Give Pete Golding Less Room for a Year 1 Excuse

The No. 9 Ole Miss Rebels begin their season in just one week, opening the 2026 campaign at a neutral site in Nashville against the No. 24 Louisville Cardinals.

With a new season comes new expectations, and those are still lofty for the Rebels. Pete Golding took over as head coach during last season's College Football Playoff run and led Ole Miss to two wins and a semifinals appearance, but this will be his first full season at the helm, giving the Rebels a bit of an unknown at the position entering the campaign.

Still, this isn't a typical year-one rebuild for Golding. Ole Miss returns a ton of talent on both sides of the football, and the expectation for the Rebels in the first year of Golding's leadership is another run at the CFP. But can he pull that off?

The Return of Chambliss, Lacy and Defensive Stars Give Golding a Lot to Work With in 2026

Many first-year head coaches have to replace talent that departed off of the previous year's roster, and while Golding has worked to revamp some positions on the field, some of the most important spots are still intact from last season's playoff run.

The Rebels return quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and running back Kewan Lacy, a duo that Ole Miss has marketed as dual Heisman candidates so far this offseason, including taking over "The Sphere" in Las Vegas this weekend.

Putting #H6I5MEN on the world's largest LED screen 🪩

Starting today at 11 AM CST/9AM PST pic.twitter.com/hiI3xbky3W
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) August 30, 2026

The fact that Golding brings back two dynamic playmakers at such important offensive positions gives him a leg up on other first-year coaches in the league and around the country. Last season, Chambliss threw for nearly 4,000 yards and 22 touchdowns while adding eight scores on the ground. Lacy, joining him in the backfield, rushed for over 1,500 yards and 24 scores, cementing him as one of the best returning backs in the country in 2026.

The returning talent doesn't stop on offense, however. Ole Miss also brings back some experienced playmakers up front on the defensive side of the football, and since defense is Golding's specialty, that may be of even greater importance.

Names like linebacker Suntarine Perkins and defensive lineman Will Echoles are expected to anchor Ole Miss' front this season on a unit that has drawn comparisons to the vaunted 2024 defense in Oxford that saw numerous players selected in the NFL Draft. If the defensive side of the football can live up to the early hype, Chambliss and Lacy should have plenty of opportunities on offense to stretch some leads during games this fall.

So what does all of this add up to? In short, Pete Golding is a first-time head coach in the SEC, and with that comes growing pains, even though he successfully piloted a playoff roster last year. This is Golding's first full year at the helm, and he has a unique situation on his hands as fans are still expecting to be in the College Football Playoff conversation in November.

Still, the fact that Golding and the Rebels return so much talent from a team that accomplished just that last season means that the room for excuses is small in 2026. With Chambliss, Lacy, Perkins, Echoles and others coming back to Oxford after one of the best seasons in school history, that just strengthens the pressure that Golding is under in Year 1 to make sure that he performs and meets expectations.

His first step toward trying to realize that goal will come next Sunday when the Rebels face Louisville in Nashville. Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m. CT on ABC.

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