DC Pete Golding Reveals Most Important Aspect of New Rebels Defense

The Ole Miss defensive coordinator was made available to the media on Friday.

OXFORD, Miss. -- New Ole Miss Rebels defensive coordinator Pete Golding met with the media for the first time at his new position on Friday, analyzing different aspects of the new scheme he is bringing to Oxford in 2023.

Golding believes that Ole Miss is close to "being elite" every season instead of simply serviceable, and he is hoping his new defense can help it reach that mark.

"When you can go somewhere that has already had success, and I think is very close to being elite year-in and year-out, and you can have an impact to help them especially on your side of the ball, while still being somewhere that your wife wants to be and has always wanted to be, and still be able to do what you love to do, I think that's special," Golding said.

Head coach Lane Kiffin and Golding have both worked under Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban in their collegiate coaching careers. The defensive coordinator sees some similarities between the two program CEOs now that he is at Ole Miss.

"They're both super intelligent," Golding said. "They both demand discipline in the program, in different ways, but they still demand it. A lot of the mannerisms are very similar within the room. What I think Coach Kiffin does a really good job of is it's very easy once you've been in a place for a long time to go somewhere else and try to run it exactly the same, and it's not. It's not the same resources, it's not the same people, it's not the same place. 

"I think Coach Kiffin does a really good job of putting his own personality on the program while not getting away from the culture and the foundation and the discipline and the toughness and all those things that you need for a winning program, but still having his own personality to do it. He and I both learned a lot from there."

So, what is Golding's most important emphasis for his Rebels defense? Speed.

"The biggest thing in playing defense is number one, you've got to play fast," Golding said. "Our motto on defense is fast, smart and physical. And it's in that order because I don't care how physical you are, if you're not smart enough to be in the right place, it doesn't matter. I don't care how smart you are, if you're in the right place but not fast enough to tackle the guy with the ball, it doesn't matter. Number one, you've gotta have speed at all positions because this is a game in space now, they're using the horizontal width of the field. You've got to get guys that can run, and guys that can process."

Going against a fast offense like that of Lane Kiffin and Charlie Weis Jr.'s helps Golding's unit prepare for that first emphasis.

"(Practicing against tempo) a beautiful thing, to be honest with you," Golding said. "You don't love doing it Day One, especially when you have a bunch of new guys, but the benefit of it is that we don't have to simulate it. It's very hard when you start playing up-tempo teams in practice to be able to get a scout team that can simulate the speed of that and still be able to execute. It's been awesome going against Coach Kiffin and Coach Weis every day, not only how multiple they are formationally, but the tempo that they play at really allows your guys to focus and beat them to the ball, get their cleats in the turf and actually execute."

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You can follow John Macon on Twitter at @JMakeGillespie.

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