Of all the nicknames Lane Kiffin’s got, the ‘Portal King’ has been his most formidable one. The LSU Tigers head coach built an illustrious career with it in Mississippi, including a couple of back-to-back top 5 portal classes. However, it came at the cost of overlooking Mississippi high school in-state recruits. As a result, many of the state’s top prospects had to commit elsewhere in search of the natty and NFL dreams. Since Kiffin is no longer at Oxford and Pete Golding is the head coach, that is definitely going to change.

“Being at the University of Mississippi, it should be our time already for getting the best players in Mississippi to stay in Mississippi,” Pete Golding said on the Talk Of Champions podcast. “When I was at another school recruiting this state, I felt like at that point they had to go out of state to compete for an SEC championship, to compete for a national championship, and to be a first-round draft pick. And now we’re doing all that at Ole Miss. So I think that’s something they don’t have to leave to get anymore.”

The disparity between portal players and hometown recruiting was at an all-time high under Lane Kiffin’s reign at Oxford. In fact, 65% of all game starts at Ole Miss came from transfer portal players last season.

Locking down in-state players was the least of his priorities. By the time he peaked, more than 65% of the total production on the entire roster belonged to guys he brought in from other colleges. Kiffin openly admitted that he preferred spending his NIL cash on certified college stars rather than waiting to develop raw high school prospects.

Since his departure to Baton Rouge last season, Golding has taken over the mantle and made hometown recruiting a priority.

In fact, earlier this year when talking about developing players, he said:

“We are not going to push that on someone too early, in my opinion. I think that’s something that naturally happens. I think that’s the best thing for how the summers are set up now from an OTA standpoint, where the players have to run it.”

Golding has also convinced other top in-state players like Ben’Jarvius Shumaker to stay home, believing they can compete for a national title right there in Oxford.

Golding also said the team will decide how many high school players or transfers to add each year based on who stays on the roster. He believes players are more likely to stay if the coaches build a good relationship with them from the start. His goal is to recruit the best local players, develop them for a couple of years, and use the transfer portal only when necessary.