The NCAA Transfer Portal opened on January 2 just moments after Ole Miss’ historic win in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinals over Georgia.
It looks like Pete Golding and his staff may have pulled
some all-nighters since then as four defensive commitments have surfaced in the 48 hours after the portal opened. On3 is reporting Baylor LB Keaton Thomas, Auburn CB Jay Crawford, Florida DB Sharif Denson and Nevada DE Jonathan Maldonado have all committed this weekend to Ole Miss for the 2026 season.
Golding told his players right after his announcement as the new head coach he would not coach scared and the Rebels would not play scared. It looks like they sure as hell aren’t going to recruit scared either.
Denson (5’11” 195 lbs.) played in all 12 games for the Gators the last three seasons and brings a ton of SEC experience to the Rebels secondary. A former four star recruit out of Jacksonville, Fla. he was ranked as the No. 18 cornerback in the nation out of high school. Against Ole Miss this season, he logged eight total tackles in Florida’s loss in Oxford.
Maldonado (6’6” 233 lbs.) is a rising senior who was a two way star out of high school in Monrovia, Calif. playing both quarterback and defensive end. In the last two seasons at Nevada, he totaled 6.5 sacks, 55 total tackles, one interception and one fumble recovery as a DE/LB. His frame could clearly handle more weight or he could have a higher ceiling in the second level of the defense depending on what the staff wants to do with this dynamic athlete.
Thomas (6’2” 229 lbs.) could very well end up as one of the crown jewels of this portal cycle. The former high school wide receiver went to Booneville, Miss. to play at Northeast Mississippi Community College before enrolling at West Virginia as a defensive back. He then moved on to Baylor for what the school website calls “one of the best defensive seasons in Baylor history” as an All Big 12 first team selection with 114 tackles, 2.5 sacks and an interception returned for touchdown in 2024. He added more than 100 tackles again this past season, and he should be able to plug immediately into the defensive rotation in 2026. There’s still some moving pieces with TJ Dottery and Suntarine Perkins potentially coming back, so Thomas could add a crucial third starter to the LB room.
Crawford (5’11” 179 lbs.) is a rising junior out of Atlanta, Ga. and is regarded as one of the more underrated corners in the SEC this past season. He made the SEC All-Freshman team in 2024 and was a four star recruit out of Parkview High School. In the 2025 campaign, he logged 10 starts for the Tigers defense with 15 total tackles and a pick.
From the first look of it, all four of these players could see time on the field next season with maybe three of the four in the rotation for starting roles. Golding and his defensive staff wasted ZERO time to lock these players down for 2026, and I have a feeling there’s a lot more coming in the coming weeks.
