Ole Miss’ Pete Golding talks Rebel defense, portal, Penn State and his unit’s mentality: ‘We don’t care if it is practice, the playoffs or the playground, they spot the ball, we’re going to play’
ATLANTA – Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding met with the media on Wednesday as the team prepares to take on No. 10 Penn State in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Saturday, December 30 on ESPN.
“Obviously we’re very excited to be here. Very prestigious bowl,” Golding said. “We appreciate it, and we’re excited to be in the city of Atlanta, and Chick-fil-A and the Peach Bowl Committee making us feel at home. Really exciting opportunity for our kids. I thought they played their butt off all year.”
Ole Miss comes into this game with a 10-2 overall record and 6-2 in SEC play. The Rebels are looking to make program history with another win this season.
“To have the opportunity to compete in a New Year’s Six bowl, more importantly, to have the opportunity to win 11 games for the first time in the history of program, I think shows what they’ve done each year, the legacy they create moving forward and setting a new standard,” Golding said.
“They’ve been working extremely hard. Practices have been going well. The transition from Oxford to Atlanta was very smooth. Coach (Lane) Kiffin has done a great job. We’re excited for the opportunity to play a really elite Penn State team in front of a great crowd and a great bowl.”
Defensive coordinator Pete Golding
On Saturday against Penn State, the Rebels will have the bulk of their defense available, outside of Cedric Johnson who opted out to prepare for the Senior Bowl and the NFL Draft. Coach Golding talked about his unit’s mentality.
“I think, number one, it starts up top. I think it’s the culture that Coach Kiffin created. I think we’ve got a really good group of kids that love football. I think a big part of it now is how much do you love football? I think there’s some guys who play football for what football can do for them, and there’s guys that play football that love football. I think the way you get better at football is to play football. I think these extra 16 practices that they bought into, I think all of them looked at they can increase their value by playing another game and playing well, whether that’s being draft eligible and increasing their value or whether that’s being a younger player and playing at their best when their best is needed in a big bowl game.”
Golding arrived in Oxford back in January from Alabama and has brought a lot of guys in out of the transfer portal to play right away and help the defense build.
“We’ve got a spot-the-ball mindset on defense,” Golding said.
“We don’t care if it is practice, the playoffs or the playground, they spot the ball, we’re going to play. I think, when you have new guys and you’re coming into a new year, it’s about competing and about getting better every day. I don’t think at that point like, ‘hey, our goal wasn’t to win 11 games.’ We weren’t focused on the outcome. It’s, ‘hey, how can we take day by day to learn the system a little better, to learn each other better, to practice harder, to prepare harder on order to play better football?’ I think those start stacking and start adding up. You got guys practicing extremely hard, playing hard. We probably rotate 28 guys on any given game on defense, which shows the depth we have on that side of the football.”
Pete Golding on the defensive mentality
Penn State’s offense has played well this season behind quarterback Drew Allar. Golding talked about the Nittany Lion signal caller and Coach James Franklin’s offense.
“I think they do a great job of being balanced,” Golding said. “I think they stay on course. I think the quarterback does a great job of managing the game. I think that Franklin system of getting in and out of plays, based on the looks that they’re getting, they do a really good job of. Obviously 15, their quarterback, he’s 80 percent on level 1 throws. To throw for whatever it was 2400 yards with one interception is pretty strong. It was very strong and very smart. A big part of that is the system. They’re going to make you show your hand and know what you are in and dictate the run game and the pass game.”
Golding added that Penn State is very solid up front, well-coached and physical with a nice running game, and he specifically talked about Nittany Lion running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen.
“I think both of them run really good balance and body control,” Golding said of the two. “I think they have really good contact balance, constant leg drive. I think they’re hard to break down. I also think they really understand schematically what they’re trying to do. I think they have really good patience and letting blocks set up. I think they do a good job of reading the second level and knowing when to cut back and knowing when to press certain things. You can tell they’re very well coached. They’re very veteran in what they do, and they’re really good players. It’s going to be a very, very big challenge.
Stay tuned to The Rebel Walk for more updates this week around the Peach Bowl in Atlanta.
Adam Brown
Adam Brown joins The Rebel Walk as the Managing Editor after being on the Ole Miss beat as a Sports Editor for over 11 years. He is a lifelong Oxford resident. Brown graduated from the University of Mississippi with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
Prior to The Rebel Walk, Brown was the sports editor of HottyToddy.com covering every Ole Miss sport and local high school sports in the community.
