TRANSCRIPT: Everything Lane Kiffin Said as Ole Miss Football Begins Spring Practices

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss football began spring practices Tuesday, and head coach Lane Kiffin met with media afterward to discuss the new-look Rebels. The 2025 Ole Miss team will be replacing a plethora of starters who have now turned their attention to the upcoming NFL draft and their pro futures.

Here’s everything Coach Kiffin said Tuesday afternoon. 

Coach Kiffin’s Opening Statement

First off, exciting time for athletic department here. You know, for both basketball teams to make the tournament where it’s never been done here before, and making it with 20-plus wins. Really exciting to see some great coaching going on. And I’m really excited. Exciting for our university to be at that place this time of year. So best of luck to those teams and players and coaches. And should be exciting to watch. I thought the first day, a lot of new moving parts out there, probably like most of the country has in this era of college football now. So, a lot of guys to watch, a lot of film to watch on this and a lot of rotations of different players. And so it was good to be out there and good to get some work in. So we’ve got a lot of challenges ahead of us, of, you know, a lot of new starters at different places and continuing to figure out a roster and an evolving schedule that has another free agency coming up. So it’s the system that we’re in and we’re just trying to make the best of it and work through it.

Question: Lane, you’ve been the portal guy for three years now. Have you learned anything new about how to make these guys mesh quicker or more effectively in those three years?

Coach Kiffin: I think we just try to go into it a lot right away of getting them to learn as much as possible from a schematic standpoint, but getting them to spend a lot of time with each other and a lot of team activities, a lot of speakers, a lot of culture talk and a lot just like the meeting yesterday, you basically got to have a meeting like the first spring — even though we had Covid — so I guess the first fall, the first time we actually practiced when we got here five years ago, six years ago or whatever it was, to start with that approach, you know, like it’s a brand new program just because there’s so many not just new pieces, but there’s so many new pieces that already think a certain way because they’re from different schools coming in. You know, it’s not like they’re just all high school kids coming in. So, I think every year now more than ever is brand new approach as if we haven’t had the team before.

Question: How have you seen Austin try to put his imprint on this team and make it his own through the off season?

Coach Kiffin: I think he’s done a really good job spending time with players. He’s always out trying to throw extra with them. He’s got a hard act to follow, and he doesn’t need to be Jaxson. Everybody’s different. But that was a really good one for him to learn from, to see how Jaxson, um, you know, took the whole team in. And so I see him trying to do that. But at the same time, he’s got to be his own person too.

Question: Just kind of where’s your confidence level heading into spring with that secondary that feels like on the defense that was one that lost a lot of experience with not much coming back.

Coach Kiffin: Yeah we did. That’s a work in progress and new pieces, some not fully healthy. And so, you know, the spring will be very valuable for that. And, depending on how those evaluations go, whether we have to look other places also.

Question: I was curious how that works in your mind with the next, like you said, free agency period opening up. Are there spots in mind that you have for that, or is that what these next practices are, is figuring out where you need to add players?

Coach Kiffin: That’s what these practices are for. I mean, they weren’t designed for that a long time ago. That’s what they are now. In my opinion, you know, you got to –it’s like I said to the team — it’s like we’re in the NFL. We’ve got to have these practices like OTA days, and then there’s going to be a free agency, and a lot will have to do with how they perform, you know, whether we bring in other people or whether they’ll even be here. So I don’t like how that sounds, but that’s the way it is, you know, with the benefit that the players wanted, which was well-deserved, that they’re paid and, you know, like, like pros that way that this whole thing has become,there’s nothing really college about it. It’s like the pros. Well, you also get cut there too. And so, you know, every benefit has some cost too.

Question: Lane, as far as leadership, there was there was a lot of returning guys last year. You know, Jaxson and a number of guys that could break in the new and get used to the culture. Who have you seen maybe that has taken on that, not just Austin as far as you know, helping these new guys and bringing that culture along like you’re talking about.

Coach Kiffin: Yeah, I think Cayden Lee has done a really good job. Um, again, you have some older players that have come in new from other places. So, I’ve noticed him do a really good job. Tyler Banks really helping guys in transition coming in. So, that’s been good to see. And they’ll still be a lot of work with that also.

Question: How do you feel about the additions of Lacy and Simmons in the backfield and also bringing Diggs and Thomas back as well.

Coach Kiffin: Yeah I think it’s very competitive there. And that’s good. It’s a position we’ve got to perform better than we did last year. You know as we went through self-scout and off season, that was really an area of concern of how we performed and especially later in the year, and one that we need to get better at.

Question: The wide receivers that you guys brought in, guys like Caleb and Stribling, and just others, you know, what were your initial impressions of them? Finally getting to see them out there and, you know, the different body types that you guys brought in on that group?

Coach Kiffin: Yeah, I think the receivers, as you mentioned, body types, is a really good-looking group and has a lot of length and really good movements. So I think this time of year, you know, when you lose a lot of players, a lot of times you go out there and there’s concerns, you know, um, everybody, you know, you don’t get to just fill up every position the way that you wish it was. And we lost a lot of players and a lot of spots, including receiver. So I’m really excited about the players that came in. So when you go out there and look, you know, you feel like, ‘okay, hey, we got a really good shot out here.’ Now they got to develop and play together with the quarterback. But it’s a really good looking room.

Question: Lane, with the new window fixing to come up soon and revenue sharing about to start, I believe this academic the next academic year. And the school got hit I think with with it’s now third court-storm violation or field storm violation. Do you expect any, uh, I guess, difficulty in recruiting coming up soon with it now being with three storms that’s happened with Ole Miss?

Coach Kiffin: I don’t think that that would have anything to do with recruiting. So it’s a new, an evolving world that, you know, with the schedule and revenue sharing coming up, potentially, everybody thinks it is, but that’s not 100%. So, we’ll just continue to adjust as it goes. But I don’t think that those, those fines, um, have anything to do with recruiting.

Question: Are there any positions that you feel like you’re a little short on now that you’d be looking into portal?

Coach Kiffin: Yeah, but I’m not really going to get into that. I mean, it’s early, it’s one practice. And, you know, I respect the guys out there working hard. We’re just going to continue to work with the guys we have, and we’ll figure it out as we get into the into that window.

Question: You all really liked Kewan Lacy coming out of high school. To have him here now, what did you like about him? And kind of what does he bring to the room with his skill set?

Coach Kiffin: Yeah, really high end player. When I say high end, you know, we like to look at players and there’s some that are kind of can only go so far. Because of his height, speed ratio and the way that he moves, he (Kewan) could be really elite. And so that’s really good to have because sometimes we’ll get guys and they can only go so far and they’ll be really good players, but they can’t really be great. He’s got a chance to do that. Where you can only make you can only make guys, you know, so much faster or bigger. And so, I’m really excited that he got here the second time around.

Question: It’s maybe more of a Pete Golding question, but does the talent in that defensive line room resemble the last year’s talent.

Coach Kiffin: I mean, that would that would be hard to do. That was a really unique group that came together a year ago and played as well as anybody in the country, statistically did play better than anybody in the country, with sacks and tackles for loss. So that would be hard to duplicate. But it is a really good room that has a lot of potential.

Question: I believe you guys added an assistant on the offensive line room coaching. Just how does that addition help develop things there.

Coach Kiffin: James Craig coming was a good addition as he coached in the SEC, coached in the NFL and and his daughter goes to school here too. And so, you know, we kind of have a big family up there, you know, with our staff and all the people involved. And it’s a really cool feeling. And I’ve been saying that for a while now. You know, now that we’re going on our sixth year here and so many connections of things. So, it’s really good to just like Chris Kiffin the year before, Joe Judge, to add these guys that have NFL experience is great.

Question: You mentioned the culture a lot. You know, when you go through the evaluation process and the transfer portal, how difficult is it to look at the character and the culture fits of those guys. And how has that developed away from the field?

Coach Kiffin: Yeah, I think that’s really challenging. It’s part of the eval. Again, you know, like I say, the NFL screws it up and they have a lot of chances to eval and bringing them in for multiple visits and, and combines and all those meetings. So it’s a little more challenging because we just don’t have the ability to spend that much time in the eval with them. But we’re constantly trying to get that information and figure that out as we make the decisions about who to bring here.

Question: On the tight end room, obviously, Dae’Quan comes back. You get Hasz from Arkansas, who seemed like a big pickup. What do you like about that room?

Coach Kiffin: I think that’s a really good combination there of two guys that both played extremely well in this conference. Dae’Quan had a great year last year and really came on, especially when he was healthy late in the year. And Luke has done a really good job for two years over there. So it was good to add him.

Question: Princewill and Da’Shawn, you know going into that defensive end edge room, what did you guys like about them and the process of recruiting them. And then it’s kind of a two parter where you have so much returning guys on the interior of the defensive tackle room, what what stands out about that group in particular?

Coach Kiffin: Well, I think those two guys both have high ceilings coming in, have good length, have the ability to rush and run. So that was really important. Losing so much of the defensive end is, like you said, defensive tackle, even though we lost a couple really elite players, we also signed a number of high school guys now that are in there and have been developing here. So, it’s really good kind of the old school way of developing players that have stayed too, you know, and now so many players when they ain’t starting, you know they don’t make it to year 2 or 3.

Question: Lane, this isn’t really a spring question. This is about the NFL draft. Jaxson’s had a really good pre-draft process. A lot of guys have really, you could have historic NFL draft if things fall right. Just what do you think about this class and what you’ve seen them do so far in the coming months as they progress in their careers, like Jaxson as they move on?

Coach Kiffin: I think it’s a great class of players that are really good kids. I know the season didn’t end the way we wanted, but those guys played really well and played some dominant football. You know, I’m not going to go over this over again like I had before. But you know, they won ten games all by over double digits. And then we went 0-3 in one score games. Somebody said the other day, if like you played that season, you know, in analytics a hundred times, I mean, there’s probably only a couple that you end up with three losses out of the 100. So those guys did a really good job, really good players, and there was a lot of work putting those those guys together to get them to come. And so I think a lot of them are going to get drafted. I don’t know history or numbers. I would guess more than has ever been drafted here before. So excited for all those guys to get that opportunity.

Question: On the coattails of that losing so much experience, are you concerned about replacing that experience, or do you have to double time to get them ready?

Coach Kiffin: Yeah. Very concerned. I mean, that’s a lot of experience,  especially at quarterback. And so, I mean, that’s been a concern since the last game. And so just working with these guys and continuing to try to sign guys to bring in to help that that have started and played other places.

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