Ole Miss Rebels land major additions who could reshape the program under new head coach Pete Golding
Ole Miss steals away LSU Tigers associate director of player personnel and UCLA director of scouting
The Ole Miss Rebels are still amidst their best season in the history of the program, but that’s not stopping new head coach Pete Golding and his staff from making critical additions to help build an even brighter future.
Despite the departure of Lane Kiffin, it’s clear that Ole Miss is still perceived as the place to be. On Friday Dec. 26 alone, it was announced that both UCLA’s director of scouting and LSU’s associate director of player personnel will be heading to Ole Miss.
Pete Golding adds to young stars to personnel staff
According to On3 Sports and other sources that confirmed on Friday, Jake Sugarman (UCLA’s director of scouting) and Jai Choudhary (LSU’s associate director of player personnel) will be joining the Ole Miss Rebels coaching staff. Choudhary is set to become the new director of player personnel at Ole Miss. Sugarman’s role has yet to be clarified as of this writing.
Jai Choudhary had been with the Ole Miss Rebels program already from the summer of 2022 through the spring of 2025 in a number of player personnel roles (including assistant director of player personnel). He’ll rejoin the staff now as the official director of player personnel, as he continues to quickly climb his way to the highest roles in college football.
Choudhary is still just in his 20s, but he already has three degrees from Northwestern, USC, and Ole Miss (for his master degree). He worked in scouting operations for USC while getting his second bachelor degree, then went to a scouting school with the New York Jets prior to joining the Rebels the first time. It’s clear that he’s an up and coming star in the industry.
Jake Sugarman has spent time with the Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Arizona State, LSU, and UCLA prior to joining Ole Miss now. He is also quickly becoming a big name in personnel circles as well.
Ole Miss has already proven that it can quickly turn around its roster year over year and build competitive teams. It seems as though both of these hires were made to help ensure that continues. Ole Miss has seen incredible impacts from transfer talents like quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, running back Kewan Lacy, defensive back Sage Ryan, and edge defender Princewill Umanmielen. Choudhary and Sugarman should help the team identify more players like that.
The Rebels are also currently on pace for a top 20 high school recruiting class again. With big time acquisitions like this, Ole Miss might find themselves winning a few more critical battles, ranking even higher here soon.
We’ll be back with more Ole Miss Rebels coverage here at A to Z Sports soon! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!
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