At RebTalk, Coach Kiffin looks ahead to Georgia Tech, offers brief update on Tre Harris: ‘We’re headed in the right direction’
OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin made his weekly appearance Thursday on RebTalk with David Kellum, the Voice of the Rebels. He looked back on the Tulane game, talked about Ole Miss’ wide receivers, the upcoming game against Georgia Tech and a number of other items of interest to fans.
While he does not discuss injuries, Kiffin was asked about wide receiver Tre Harris who went out early against the Green Wave. “We’re headed in the right direction,” the Ole Miss head man said.
Harris, a transfer from Louisiana Tech, has made eight catches this season — and five of them have gone for touchdowns, but he is doubtful for the game against the Yellow Jackets Saturday. Some sources indicate he could be out several weeks, but his injury is not expected to be season-ending.
Although the Rebels are without Harris for the time being, as well as wide receiver Zakhari Franklin and tight end Caden Prieskorn, they still have plenty of talented hands on the team.
Wide receiver Dayton Wade caught a career-high seven passes for 106 yards in the 37-20 win over Tulane, while Jordan Watkins tallied 8 receptions for 60 yards.
“Obviously we lost some firepower with our outside receivers last year. (Jonathan) Mingo and (Malik) Heath are both in the NFL now, and these guys have done a really good job,” Kiffin noted. “Tre (Harris) obviously got banged up. We had scored 80 points in one game and one series with him. That’s pretty good. He had eight catches for five touchdowns. That’s got to be a record.”
Kiffin was asked questions from Rebels in attendance and also those watching online via social media. Here is a sampling of some of those queries and answers.
Kiffin was asked what he said to his team at the half as they trailed Tulane, 17-10, on the road.
“I just said, ‘You guys gotta start listening to me.’ First half, they weren’t listening to me. I said said, ‘Hey, stay the course.’ Really, the game of football, when you’ve watched it long enough, coached it long enough, you just can’t overreact. Everything was kind of going their way. Some plays were there and we were just missing them. So, just stay the course. Don’t overreact. Let our players keep playing. Let’s get some turnovers on defense, and let’s take this thing one possession at a time.”
Lane Kiffin on what he told his team, trailing at halftime
Ole Miss cornerback Deantre Prince tallied an important interception against Green Wave QB Kai Horton, and Coach Kiffin discussed that performance.
“I thought Prince played really well and kind of lived up to how well he had done in the off-season and expectations. He had been a little bit injured before Week 1, so it was great to see,” Coach Kiffin said.
There’s no doubt one huge point in the game that enabled Rebels — and Lane Kiffin — to perhaps breathe a sigh of relief came when defensive lineman Jared Ivey picked up the fumble caused by Khari Coleman and took it in for a touchdown.
“Please score, because we haven’t been doing very well on offense,” Coach Kiffin said he was thinking.
Ole Miss tight end Michael Trigg has had his ups and downs; however, he caught a huge 21-yard touchdown pass from Jaxson Dart Saturday against Tulane. The Rebel head coach was asked if fans can expect to see more of Trigg.
“I hope so,” Kiffin began.
“If he runs the right route and catches the ball, we’ll be good. He did a good job. Had kind of a rocky start to the season, but it was good to see that he got in there and did a really good job. Sky’s the limit for him.”
Lane Kiffin on Michael Trigg
Coach Kiffin turned his attention to the Rebels’ opponent Saturday, Georgia Tech, commenting on the success this season of the Yellow Jackets’ offense.
“They’re leading the ACC in offense, so they’re doing something right. Transfer quarterback (Haynes King), like everybody nowadays, doing a really good job. They’ve got a new offense and they’re doing good running and passing,” Kiffin said.
“They’re a pro-style offense now. Coach Brent Key, who was with us at Alabama, has done a great job. Has them playing really hard. Shoot, these guys had Louisville beat. They were ahead with four minutes left in the game.”
Lane Kiffin on Georgia Tech
“I’m more concerned about ourselves — that we don’t get in a trap game and we come back from playing a lot of snaps in a hot game Saturday and just play really well,” Coach Kiffin added. “Back home, take care of the football and get the running game going. Play really sound football.”
While in the recent past it has been the Rebel defense that has had more question marks than the offense, Coach Kiffin talked about the depth of the defense and their performance last Saturday.
“I think that was probably a little overlooked (against Tulane). In the game, 30-3, (the defense) dominated the second half…If our offense had played good, I think we would have been happy with how the game was. To go into that heat on that turf, it was really hot, and that’s something I’m sure they were thinking was to their advantage, and here we are in the second half shutting them out for the most part, except for the field goal.”
Coach Kiffin on the Ole Miss defense vs. Tulane
Staying with the defensive topic, Coach Kiffin talked about Ivey playing against Georgia Tech, his former team.
“He’s done a great job, really has taken another step here,” Kiffin said. “Rushing really well, playing the run well. We’re excited about him. I hope he’s eating well (Thursday night at Boure where he was a guest for RebTalk), because a big challenge this year was his diet and his body composition. Hopefully y’all are giving him healthy food.”
Game info:
Ole Miss and Georgia Tech kick off at 6:30 p.m. Saturday and the game will be broadcast on SEC Network.
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn’s love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
