Pete Golding is making it habit of walking Ole Miss into recruiting fights against the biggest programs in the country.
Now he’s doing it again, this time with a 6‑foot‑6 edge rusher from Connecticut who suddenly finds himself at the center of a national tug‑of‑war.
Mekai Brown isn’t just another name on a visit list. He’s one of the crown jewels of the 2027 class, a Top‑10 EDGE whose recruitment has picked up steam over the last few months. Programs like LSU, Notre Dame, UCLA, Penn State are all in pursuit of him. And yet, here comes Ole Miss, jumping right into the middle of things.
Golding saw it early. Ole Miss offered last fall, long before Brown’s rise turned into a full‑blown stampede. That timing matters. It’s the same pattern that has defined Golding’s best wins: identify the elite traits before the rest of the country catches up, build the relationship, and then hold on when the bluebloods arrive with their megaphones.
Now the Rebels get their shot in person.
Brown has stacked his spring with a gauntlet of unofficial visits, a schedule that reads like a college football fan’s dream list of schools to visit, and Ole Miss is right there in the thick of it.
March 19 is circled in Oxford, a chance for Golding and the defensive staff to prove they belong in the same room as the sport’s biggest brands.
Here’s the full slate of unofficial visits, according to Rivals’ Chad Simmons.
- Florida: March 3
- North Carolina: March 9
- Missouri: March 17
- Ole Miss: March 19
- Texas A&M: March 27
- Penn State: April 3
- South Carolina: April 8
- Kentucky: April 17
- Notre Dame: April 24
- UCLA: April 29
Elite EDGE Mekai Brown has a national offer list, and the 4-star will have a busy spring as he works to make his decision.
The latest: https://t.co/6dpWjgYWqT pic.twitter.com/i7DasqWi8V
— ChadSimmons (@ChadSimmons_) February 10, 2026
As previously said, that’s a list of visits fans only dream of having. Brown will also take official visits with some schools after these unofficial visits.
“Official visits will be to places I feel about 80 percent sure I can see myself at,” Brown said to Simmons. “Where I can see myself playing, where I feel like I’ll get developed, and where my relationships with the people are strong will be where I take official visits. That’s why these spring visits are so important.”
And it’s exactly the kind of competition Ole Miss keeps choosing to engage with under Golding.
The Rebels aren’t just recruiting against their neighbors anymore. They’re recruiting against the sport’s aristocracy, and they’re doing it with confidence.
Brown’s rise isn’t slowing down. Neither is the pursuit. But the fact that Ole Miss is getting him to campus, in the middle of a double‑digit visit run, says something about where this program believes it belongs.
Another elite defender. Another national battle. Another chance for Golding to prove Ole Miss can punch at the highest weight class — and land the kind of player who changes what a defense can be.
