Lane Kiffin excited about the Rebels’ new defensive ‘pieces,’ now looks to fit them all together
OXFORD, Miss. — When most football teams begin fall camp, their coaches are worried about their teams being physically fit. Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin is more concerned with the fit part. As in, can all these new players fit together into a successful team.
Ole Miss is currently ranked No. 3 in the nation for the 2023 transfer portal class. The Rebels have 16 new transfer portal players on the defensive side of the ball and that doesn’t even include new incoming freshmen.
Understandably, the fourth-year Rebels’ coach is paying attention to how the new players will fit on the defensive side of the ball. At one point Wednesday, the first day the new team was on the practice field this fall, only one player was on the defensive side of the ball that had signed with Ole Miss out of high school.
“Defensively, there are a lot of new pieces, even more than offense,” Kiffin said post practice.
“That probably will take a little more time because of the new coaches and new system on defense, to get all of that practiced, put together and to the level that we want to play at. We’re excited about our new coaches and players over there. We have a lot of work to do.”
Lane Kiffin on the new defensive players and coaches
Among the new faces on that side of the ball is Pete Golding, who takes over as defensive coordinator after serving in the same capacity at Alabama. But Kiffin is impressed with him even on day one.
“Pete is really smart, great recruiter, high energy. I really like being around him. He’s still young, but what he brings to the guys (is) about coaching really great players and coaches the coaches really well. Sometimes young guys struggle to do that, they’re just scheme guys. I’ve been really impressed by him as with everyone who’s worked with him.”
Lane Kiffin on new defensive coordinator Pete Golding
Ole Miss does return a few players who contributed last season including Cedric Johnson, JJ Pegues, Isheem Young and Deantre Prince. Although they are having to learn a new system, Kiffin has little doubt those players will not only pick up the new philosophy, but also lead the newcomers.
Still the Rebels have a lot of new players on defense.
The challenge for Kiffin and Golding is to have those players come together before the season opener Sept. 2 against Mercer.
“There are a lot of good-looking pieces out there, more than there were in the spring. Now, we have a lot of work to do with them. That’s really good because when the pieces don’t look really good, a lot of times it doesn’t matter how many practices you have or how well you coach. You can’t tackle on them when you can’t cover them. I do have some good looking pieces, now I have to put them together.”
Lane Kiffin on the defense
That is the current state of college football with the transfer portal. Although he has taken advantage as well as anyone in the sport of the portal, Kiffin admits the constant roster turnover is a challenge.
“It’s really hard to build a program because every year is so new,” Kiffin said. “I’ve been vocal about it, so don’t get me wrong, just because I say it’s not a very good system that’s in place with the portal and NIL combined and not good regulations around it, we still maximize it. We still utilize it as much as anybody, because those are the rules they have in place.”
Ole Miss continues fall camp Thursday.
Here’s the full video of Coach Kiffin’s press conference.
(Feature image credit: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss)
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
