Competing for a blue‑chip tight end is nothing new for Ole Miss. Competing for one against Bill Belichick? That’s a different kind of oxygen.
That’s the reality for Pete Golding and the Rebels as they chase Braxton Rein, the 6‑foot‑6 Swiss‑Army‑knife from Baylor School in Chattanooga.
Rein is the kind of prospect who forces staffs to argue over which position he should play, the kind who makes a state championship team look even bigger than its trophy.
And now he’s the kind of prospect who has Bill Belichick — six time Super Bowl winner as head coach and second most wins in NFL history — in his ear.
Rein said the quiet part out loud when North Carolina offered: the draw isn’t just the logo. It’s the man now wearing Carolina blue, the same man who once turned Rob Gronkowski into a walking mismatch and built an empire on tight ends who could block, bully, and break coverages.
“The coach of one of the greatest tight ends of all time is definitely intriguing to play for,” Rein said to Rivals.
That’s the bar. That’s the competition.
Golding isn’t just recruiting against SEC neighbors anymore. He’s recruiting against the greatest defensive mind of the modern era, a coach whose résumé is so absurd it reads like fiction and really puts into perspective how petty the Pro Football Hall of Fame voters are.
And yet, Ole Miss is very much in this.
Randall Joyner got the Rebels in early with an offer. Cody Woodiel, now running the tight ends room, has kept the door open and the pitch consistent: Rein is a tight end in Oxford’s eyes, a matchup nightmare in the making. Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky are all circling. But Ole Miss may have its own advantage.
They have ambassadors.
Brycen Sanders is the Rebels’ starting center and running back Shekai Mills‑Knight signed with Ole Miss in 2025. Both will be back home in Chattanooga and Nashville during breaks, walking into their old weight rooms, dapping up their old coaches, and talking to kids who grew up watching them.
Kids like Braxton Rein.
That’s the part of recruiting no graphic, no edit, no NIL pitch can replicate. Belichick can sell rings. Golding can sell development. But Sanders and Mills‑Knight can sell something neither of them can: the lived experience of choosing Ole Miss and not regretting it.
Rein is going to hear from everyone. He’s going to hear from Belichick, from SEC powers, from every staff that sees a 6‑foot‑6 athlete and imagines their offense bending around him. But he’s also going to hear from two guys who made the same decision he’s staring at.
That’s the real fight here. Not Ole Miss vs. North Carolina. Not Golding vs. the SEC.
It’s Ole Miss vs. Belichick.
And if the Rebels win that one? That’s not just a recruiting victory. That’s a statement about who they’ve become.
