Ole Miss had barely finished spring practice when off-field trouble started piling up. In just two weeks, three players were arrested, and the latest case raised even more concern because it involved a freshman quarterback.

According to reports by the Clarion Ledger, the latest arrest came early Sunday, with Ole Miss freshman QB Rees Wise getting arrested by Oxford police on DUI charges. Just 18 and barely settled into campus life, he was also charged with reckless driving and was picked up shortly after midnight. This is his first offense, and no bond details are publicly clarified. But he’s no longer listed in the county system.

Wise arrived in Oxford carrying expectations from his Texas roots, hoping to carve out early reps under center. Instead, his college career is starting with flashing lights at 2 a.m. His on-field potential takes a backseat while he handles the legal fallout, but the bad news for the locker room didn’t end with him.

The same night, freshman RB Damarius Yates also found himself in custody with the same DUI charge. He was also charged with speeding and reckless driving, per Clarion Ledger. Now, this is a 4-star recruit out of Mississippi, who was ranked among the top RBs in his class. He chose Ole Miss over other powerhouses like Alabama and Florida State.

Yates produced on the high school field, too. He rushed for more than 2,000 yards and 30 touchdowns in his final season. He even had an eight-touchdown game in a single week. But again, like his QB teammate, none of that goes well when your name is on the police list before playing a single college game. Both players have since bonded out, and Ole Miss has stayed quiet.

Silence might be the only option right now because these two arrests aren’t even the first. A week before this incident, another Ole Miss transfer player, who was expected to compete for a starting role, got arrested in Arkansas on a list of charges. On April 25, OL Carius Curne was charged with reckless driving, speeding, fleeing on foot, plus possession-related counts. 

Curne moved quickly to resolve it by paying fines. He saw some charges dropped and entered a “no contest” plea on others. The legal drama is largely behind him. But it remains a scar on the football POV because when your potential starter is making headlines for the wrong reasons before the season even begins, it breaks trust. 

What Pete Golding said about the arrest

When asked about Carius Curne’s situation, Pete Golding kept it neutral. 

“Obviously, it’s a legal matter,” he said. “We’re still gathering information. So really can’t speak on that right now. But we’ll let the legal process run its course and see what happens.”

But he also added a general warning to his young players, who could lose more than they know with such misconduct. 

“I think we got a nucleus of guys that have a goal and really know that they want to increase their value,” he said. “Really know they want to try to compete for a championship, and they know they don’t get to do all that. You do all that s—, you’re not going in the first round. You know?”

That’s a realistic warning because two to three years down the road, NFL scouts are going to judge your off-field habits and patterns too. And right now, Ole Miss is the headline of three arrests in two weeks. Nobody wants such a narrative to overshadow their locker room. 

Pete Golding didn’t sign up for this when he took the job. He inherited talent, expectations, and a program fresh off relevance. Maybe it’s just young players making predictably bad choices. But at some point, accountability takes over.