Transcript: Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin’s Monday Press Conference

OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss head football coach Lane Kiffin met with the media Monday to preview this Saturday’s home contest against No. 12 LSU. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. CT at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium and on ESPN. A transcript can be found below.

Opening Statement
“We’re excited to play LSU. These guys are extremely talented, phenomenal looking team. Great O-line, great receivers and quarterback. Running back ran great, and great looking defensive players all over. I’ve always said these two games that happen to be back-to-back, for years in this conference have always been, two on this side at least, where they look like you’re playing NFL teams. Lot of great looking players with great length and a lot of stars. Our challenge is to get better this week. I did tell them, we’ve been in this situation. Happened to be in the same situation two years ago. Went 3-0, went into Alabama and actually played a lot worse. I think that game was 35-0 at one point. Ended up coming back from that game and going 10-2. Got a lot of football in front of us, and a huge one this week against I would argue maybe the hottest offense in the country.”

On the issues up front on offense:
“Yeah, we’ve got to get better. Got to coach better, involve different schemes, different things. Sometimes the running game is interesting. You’ll have these games, and then all of a sudden they’ll pop and you’ll have a bunch of explosive runs. We’ve just got to all go to work and figure out a way. It’s not like we’re a program that hasn’t ever ran the ball or hasn’t known how to run the ball. It would be really good to get back to that.”
 
On how the defense is better equipped to handle LSU QB Jayden Daniels:
“I don’t know that right now. This guy is playing great, playing better than he was a year ago at that time. Early on, he actually throws one where our safety is there that I think could’ve changed the game. We don’t find the ball and he throws a touchdown and gets hot. (Daniels), as you see, gets really hot. Completes a lot of passes, hard to bring down. I don’t know that we’re in a better position. Need a really good game plan, and we’re gonna need to play really well.”
 
On how the team’s response to the loss against Alabama has differed from last year:
“I’d like to go back to two years ago, when we were 3-0 and went to Alabama and lost. I think last year was a little bit different where we’re potentially going 9-1 at that point and probably moving into top five in the country if we finish that drive off against Alabama. I think it’s very different, and every year is a different team.”

On Suntarine Perkins and if he’ll be used as a QB spy in the future:
“That was specific for who we were playing. That’s like playing Michael Vick, he’s so dynamic taking off with the ball and running with it. Most of your guys can’t catch him. That was a very specific plan for that quarterback and that offensive play calling, so I wouldn’t think that would be used again.”

On how close the young wide receivers are to being able to make an impact:
“I think that’s a fair question. We’ve had a lot of injuries out there, and Ayden (Williams) was doing great, and he actually got sick and missed some time. We’ve got to get him back and involved. He’s got a chance to be a really special player like we saw in camp, hopefully this will be the week.”

On Zakhari Franklin and Caden Prieskorn’s performance:
“I think that was a really difficult situation for them. Neither had played, both returning from surgeries. Really kind of crazy that you had three players, three significant pieces coming back from surgery trying to play. Two of them hadn’t played all year. I thought those guys pushed through, that’s really challenging to do. The good part is they’ll obviously get better having some game experience under them with their injuries. It’s not like they needed game experience, because they’ve played a lot, they just needed to get in game shape and play through some games. I’ve always known that our best was to come, knowing that we didn’t have those guys yet in our offense, even though things were going well early at times. And then losing Tre (Harris), and him having surgery, He was probably 70 percent, and only ran one type of route. I think the future is really exciting in that way, it’s good to see them back.”

 On if he’s learned anything about how Brian Kelly coaches from last year’s game:
“Not really. He does a good job. Seen him at Notre Dame over the years too, very organized and his teams play really well. They play with good discipline and play tough and physical. He’s a really, really good recruiter. There’s some great players out there.”

On the team responding to adversity after the loss to Alabama:
“Good. I think today, we used the morning to break that down with them, go over it, what we needed to do, what plays were significant and how we could’ve won that game, and then we moved forward. I actually think with kids nowadays, there’s a lot of issues with this new generation and how they deal with things and what they expect. One good thing is I think they move on quickly. I think that we struggle more moving on from a loss or negative things than they do.”

On LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers:
“Yeah like I said, these guys have got NFL players all over the place. Seen him before, unbelievable receiver. This is what LSU looks like. There’s a reason that the last three coaches there have won national championships. They’ve got great receivers, (defensive tackle Maason Smith) looks unbelievable and I’ve already talked about (Harold) Perkins. Lot of challenges.”
 
On what he saw on film of LSU using Perkins the same way they did last year:
“I don’t know if they’ve talked about it, but it looks like they tried to use him as a normal backer in Week 1. Looks like they scratched that after the Florida State game and went back to last year’s plan. Just put him out there, make a few calls with him and let him play. I wish they’d put him back in there.”

On if he’s talked to Jaxson Dart about sliding to avoid big hits:
“I haven’t. I don’t think sliding on a couple of them would’ve mattered, really, when he needs to buckle his chin strap better. He likes his helmet loose, and that’s an issue and it cost us. We had to waste a timeout one time to avoid a 10-second runoff. We didn’t use a timeout because we don’t have confidence in Spencer (Sanders), we used it because if we didn’t there would’ve been a 10-second runoff. If it would’ve happened before, we’ve got confidence in Spencer, but we can’t afford a 10-second runoff. He did slide later without me even telling him. Sometimes that happens naturally, you either learn through shock or repetition, one or the other.”