When Pete Golding hired John David Baker in January, he wasn’t trying to find someone to reinvent Ole Miss’ offense. He was trying to protect it.
He wanted stability, familiarity and someone who could walk into the building and start coaching without slowing the program down. That’s exactly what he’s gotten.
After the first day of preseason practices, players talked about Baker like someone who had been here for much longer than eight months. Quarterback Trinidad Chambliss said it outright. Stability was the point.
“(Golding’s) main thing was having stability within our scheme and our offense,” Chambliss said after Thursday’s practice. “He hired someone who was familiar with our offense and what we do. He had been here before.”
That’s the foundation of this offense. It’s the same language, the same spacing principles, the same tempo. But it’s also not a carbon copy of what Ole Miss ran under Lane Kiffin and Charlie Weis Jr.
Baker didn’t come in to preserve the past. He came in to build on it. And the players can already feel the difference.
A familiar offense that moves even faster
Chambliss said the transition was “easy.” Running back Kewan Lacy, the centerpiece of the offense, echoed the same thing. He said the scheme is still the scheme.
“For the most part, we’ve kept everything similar from a scheme standpoint,” Lacy said. “Not too much has changed.”
That’s exactly what Golding wanted. A plug‑and‑play coordinator who could keep the offense moving without forcing the roster to relearn everything.
But Baker didn’t just keep things the same. He added wrinkles that fit the personnel.
Golding put it this way: “He has added a couple of new wrinkles that are good based on the personnel we have.”
The tight ends finally get their spotlight
If you want to see where Baker’s tweaks show up, start with the tight ends.
Luke Hasz didn’t hesitate when asked if this offense is tight end‑friendly.
“Definitely,” he said. “We’re using all the guys in the room. We’ve had two tight ends on the field at the same time a lot.”
That’s a shift. Ole Miss hasn’t consistently featured tight ends as primary weapons in recent years. In fact, last season saw tight end Caleb Odom used more as a wide receiver. That isn’t the case this year.
Baker’s offense does feature tight ends more. It’s built to stress defenses horizontally and vertically, and tight ends who can run, block and flex out create mismatches that weren’t always part of the old structure.
“He expects a lot out of us,” Hasz said. “We know as a room that we have to put it on tape during practice for the results to come”
A new role for Deuce Alexander
If tight ends are getting more shine, wide receiver Deuce Alexander is getting a full reintroduction.
Last season, he felt boxed in.
“I was either running a hitch or a go route,” Alexander said. “I got stuck with the stereotype of being only a contested‑catch guy.”
Baker doesn’t see him that way. He plans to use Alexander “all over the field,” letting him show his speed, stretch defenses and get the ball in space.
“The way [Baker] plans to use me will allow me to show my speed, stretch the field and do different things with the ball in my hands,” Alexander said.
That’s the kind of tweak that changes an offense. Not a new playbook. Not a new philosophy. Just a better understanding of what certain players can do and how to unlock it.
Further along than usual
Golding said something that should catch attention: Ole Miss is further along in installation than it has been at this point in past camps.
“Looking at the first day of camp, I think we’re further along in terms of guys knowing what to do and having more things installed than we’ve been before,” he said.
That’s the benefit of continuity. When you don’t have to teach a new system, you can spend more time refining it. You can coach details instead of vocabulary. You can build chemistry instead of starting from scratch.
The offense that looks the same but won’t play the same
Ole Miss will still play fast. It will still spread the field. It will still look like the offense fans have watched for the last few years. But the pieces inside it are different, and Baker is using them differently.
Chambliss feels comfortable. Lacy feels confident. Hasz feels featured. Alexander feels unlocked.
Golding feels like he hired the right guy.
“I trust JDB,” he said. “He’s done it, and he’s done it well. It has been a really good fit.”
That’s the story. Ole Miss didn’t overhaul its offense. It upgraded it. It kept the bones, kept the tempo, kept the identity and added the kind of tweaks that make a familiar system feel new again.
If camp is any indication, the Rebels aren’t just trying to avoid a step back. They’re trying to take a step forward.
And with Baker running the offense, they might be built to do exactly that.
