Why Pete Golding Likes the NCAA’s Five-For-Five Rule for Ole Miss

Back in late June, the NCAA approved its ‘Five-for-Five’ eligibility rule.

The freshly implemented rule allows Division I athletes to have five seasons of competition over a five-year period, which begins with their full-time enrollment or the academic year following their 19th birthday, whichever occurs first. In other words, teams will no longer have to track players with redshirts.

Though the ruling created a ripple effect for 2022 collegiate athletes to file lawsuits in order to receive fifth-years they never got, Ole Miss’ first-year head coach Pete Golding is a fan of the rule for a few different reasons.

“A lot of guys were making business decisions between them, their parents and agent to where ‘I’ve got to game four — kickoff and kick return aren’t really exciting to me. If I play in the next game at kickoff and kick return, I’ll burn a year and I’ll waste a year’. You don’t have those issues now at those mid-season meetings, trying to convince guys ‘Hey, this is what’s best for the team to create the right value for us to win the football game.’, Golding said on RebTalk Wednesday evening.

“I think it helps from that standpoint. It also lets you slow it down as a coach knowing that it doesn’t have to be the game before State in a one AA team. You can play them and kind of develop them as you go and get a series here and there and kind of build to it. Instead of being ‘Here are four games’. We’ll definitely have a plan in place, but you’ll definitely see those guys have a key role on special teams early.”

In previous years those instances during mid-season meetings have cost Golding — at multiple different stops — and Ole Miss, some young players to the transfer portal.

Freshmen Updates

Ole Miss Rebels Football: Jase Mathews. — Freshman Ole Miss wide receiver Jase Mathews. | Courtesy of Jase Mathews' X/Twitter: @mathews_jase.

Going into the 2026 season, the Rebels’ freshmen class consists of 25 players, some of which are expected to contribute sooner rather than later.

That said, there’s only a select few true freshmen that will have the opportunity to see meaningful snaps for the 2026 Rebels. On Wednesday, Golding reiterated which two are in play for potential key snaps.

“Dorian Barney — the corner from Carrollton — size, speed guy. He’s really smart (and) tough. I think it’s a different time for all those guys. It is different now with freshmen being the five-for-five. You used to be looking ‘Hey, they can only potentially play in four games’. There’s not that cap anymore. But I think it’s really important for a freshman not to ask them to play before they’re ready. I think confidence (with freshmen in general) is a real issue. We’ve got a lot of guys in place, but I think Dorian could get himself in the mix maybe towards the middle to end of the season. He could be a third down guy for us,” Golding explained.

“Landon Barnes, a guy we’ve talked about before, could be an elite edge rusher. We’ve got really good edge rushers right now, so he’s going to have to continue to develop at and get through. He’s a guy that’s wired the right way that’s got the size you want at that position. We just got some other guys in front of him that are pretty good as well.”

Throughout the offseason, Golding has also pointed out other true freshmen standouts along the defensive line in Carmelow Reed and Jayden Curtis.

As for Ole Miss’ crown-jewel of its 2026 high school recruiting class, wide receiver Jase Mathews appears to be progressing well and is on schedule after tearing his ACL last September during his senior campaign at Greene County High School (Leakesville, Miss.).

“The Jase Mathews kid I’m super excited about. He’s finally just now getting healthy,” Golding shared. “Receiver out of this past class that had a knee injury his senior year that’s gotten cleared in the last couple weeks and has looked really explosive. He’s another guy I think that’s going to be able to create some value for himself. (Don’t) know how soon that actually is right now, but he’ll definitely take some meaningful snaps.”

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