TRANSCRIPT: Everything Lane Kiffin Said in Monday’s Presser Ahead of Florida Game

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss football travels to Gainesville this weekend to play Florida in a pivotal game for the Rebels in terms of keeping their College Football Playoff hopes going. Head coach Lane Kiffin met with media Monday to discuss the upcoming game and his program.

Here’s everything Coach Kiffin said:

Lane Kiffin’s Opening Statement

Alright. This has been a really good time period here for us at the beginning of this week and last week, coming off of playing really well lately, I think we are peaking at the right time, the last couple of games, obviously the Georgia game, a three-score win and 30-point win at Arkansas. So I do think that we’re playing really well right now, which is exciting to be playing well at the end of the season, in any season, let alone when there’s a new playoff format, so that that’s exciting. And I think we’re getting stronger being out there and (wide receiver) Tre (Harris) now looking like he’s ready to go. You know, knowing that we haven’t had him for, what, three-and-a-half games, and over that time, I think Jaxson’s (Dart) led the country in passing without him. So, really excited to get the best receiver in the country back. And, we had some other things: It’s the first time our O-line, first and second string, has been fully healthy and practicing, and (running back) Logan Diggs is doing the most that he’s done. And then we had a lot of guys playing hurt, Cayden Lee, J.J. Pegues, and really Princely (Umanmielen) is just still coming back, which is exciting to see him back the last couple of weeks after not playing in the LSU game, not playing at the end of the Kentucky game. So it’s really exciting for all these guys…where a lot of times as a team, you’re struggling at the end of the year, health wise (for us now) to be in the best shape, really, we’ve been all year long. And, so now we’ve got to build on that and not just feel good about how we’ve played, but come and play even better. And so that’s our challenge.

Media: I know you worked with (Florida head coach) Billy Napier at Alabama.Can you just talk a little bit about your relationship with him?

Lane Kiffin: Really good relationship with Billy. Really enjoyed the time working together there; he helped me a lot coming into the offensive room that I didn’t know anybody on the staff and I was the only new person, period, on the staff, let alone offense. And so Billy really helped me in that transition, and I have a really good relationship with him. A lot of respect for him, who he is as a person and how he treats people.

Media: Based on (Florida defensive coordinator) Ron Roberts’ defense when he was at Baylor and then last year at Auburn, what are the common challenges of facing the new type of defenses that he has?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah, I think he does a really good job. And I think that they’ve improved off of last year, and they’ve improved from early in the year. I think any time you change play callers, and I think really people didn’t know who it was and it was the other guy and now it’s him, and there’s a transition with players, when you do that at the beginning of a season like that. I think now you’re seeing them play the best they have all year.

Media: Just the way this final two weeks of the season go, how do you kind of manage that quick turnaround, and especially with player health, with State just six days later after playing Florida?

Lane Kiffin: Well, like I said, we’ve been fortunate to have this bye where it was and getting players back like Tre Harris — or even like I said, (other) players (who played, but played hurt) as you see kind of like Cayden Lee is hobbling around, not playing at 100%. J.J. Pegues, Walter Nolen’s not been 100% the last couple of weeks. So it’s really exciting for it to come at this time and as we enter a really challenging game. These guys (Florida) played really well last week. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a team play so different based off of a quarterback (DJ Lagway), where they go from him to the next guy. And usually that affects your offense. But it seems to affect their whole team, like gives their team hope, so they play much different when he’s there. So obviously you know, we coach. That’s what we’ve got to understand going in and try to make him really uncomfortable and try to get to the next quarterback. So that’s our that’s our goal on defense because he’s a really special talent. They have really good talent, really good players. They are as good a looking physically team as you see, and talking to other coaches that have played them over the last few weeks, they will say that they’re going to look great in warm ups. These guys have really good players and for whatever reason, just, you know, didn’t put it together early. And now they have. When the quarterback’s played, they’ve played really well, having beat LSU and playing Georgia really well.

Media: These last few weeks, you’ve obviously done really well offensively without Tre. Getting him back, does it add more diversity to the offense? Or do you have to fight the urge to kind of go back to being kind of dependent on him in the passing game?

Lane Kiffin: Well, it’s exciting. You know, you just feel different out there at practice. Here’s the best receiver in the country coming to add in to a team that’s throwing the ball as well as anybody in the country without him. So, you guys hear me talk about there’s good and bad to everything. So him being hurt has made other people have big games, step up, made us design different schemes, work different parts of the field, and more tight ends and stuff. So, it’s just really it’s exciting to have.

Media: What’s this been like for him (Tre) the last few weeks to try to get back and try to get back and obviously he hasn’t been ready to go.

Lane Kiffin: I think it’s been really challenging because he’s really wanted to play and he’s been close, but then he would try on Saturdays and couldn’t do it. So, he feels different now and he’s really excited to get back in this. So it’s great timing.

Media: With the way the playoff looks like it’s setting up, especially for SEC teams, and the logjam at the top it’s looking like it’s heading that way. What are your thoughts on just what the SEC Championship means or the game means for teams that maybe, like, y’all have two losses already?

Lane Kiffin: Ooh, that’s a challenging question. I don’t know, I guess I would say, it’s changed. The conference championship could could have a big impact both ways for people. So I’ve talked to other coaches, so I’ll just kind of give you the feeling from some other coaches and that’s they don’t want to be in it. The reward to get a bye versus the risk to get knocked out completely, I mean, that’s a really big risk just to get a bye. So, I think it’s ended up being a very unique situation of all postseason sports, the way that that system is set up there and how you could go to that (title game) and get knocked out. And if you don’t go, you’re in. I’m not a big gambler, but that’s the kind of one of those Vegas poker-table things like that. That’s all in. And you’re going all in in the best conference in football, so you’ve got to play somebody great, too. Very different than a lot of these other conferences.

Media: I mean, just to follow up on it. Do you feel like it’s inadvertently maybe diluted the meaning of not just the SEC, but some of these other conference championships that weekend?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah. I mean, I don’t think that’s a secret. I think it definitely has, so this just is what it is. Remember, there’s a cost and benefit to everything. There’s great benefits to this playoff system and so many people being excited and fans and programs and more games. And then there’s a cost too, the conference championships don’t mean as much. And it’s not just do you potentially get knocked out by losing it? Do you go get more injuries? So you’re going to go get more injuries, play another game to get a bye, but then the other people are having a bye while you’re playing. So I think that’s why you can go on the record of saying it, why a lot of coaches or some coaches I’ve talked to don’t want to go to it.

Media: We asked you at the start of the season or maybe during fall camp, but just throughout these first ten games, how much of an impact or influence has (Zach) Arnett been on that defense working with Pete (Golding)?

Lane Kiffin: I think Zach’s been great to have around, very different systems between what he does and what Pete (Golding) does. So, I think it’s been really great for him to have him around, and he does a great job. Really, no job is too small. He helps run different parts of service team and stuff. And, I can see why why he’s been a great coordinator and a great motivator of players.

Media: Kind of on the flip side of that, having Joe Judge on the staff, just in what ways has he made that impact on your staff?

Lane Kiffin: I don’t know if you guys know that our staff does like a few plays to motivate the players at 11-on-11 offense versus defense. And Joe Judge has been a great pickup. He plays left guard for us, actually. So he’s been a really good pickup in that, gives us some size on offense. We’ve got a lot of defensive problems with our d-line on our staff. So, that’s the first thing that comes to mind besides the guy does great with the quarterbacks. He meets extra with them, prepares them. I mean, the guy has really worked for two people, Nick Saban and Bill Belichick. So, talk about somebody raised the right way about how to work the details. He’s been awesome.

Media: Did you see what Nick Saban said on Gameday about about Ole Miss?

Lane Kiffin: Refresh me.

Media: He said, you guys are ‘probably the best team in the SEC.’ Or have you done a good job of staying away from that kind of noise?

Lane Kiffin: He’s (Nick Saban) now become the rat poisoner then. So he’s doing exactly what he complained about. That changes every week based on how you play. Like, we’ve been playing great, but we’ve got to do that again. It’s the same that we did…after the Georgia game, to remind our guys that the success of the past doesn’t mean you’re going to have success in the future. It doesn’t dictate that. You’ve got to do it again. So we’ve got to go play. And I’m telling you, this is a big challenge, man. What were they, 4-5 or something last week? Florida. And the crowd was electric. It looked like the conference championship was on the line. So, you’ve got a place that they play really well at home. Look at their home and road record since Covid, you know very different how these guys play at home and how they play on the road. So you can wipe that Texas game out because people want to say, ‘well this is how they played Texas.’ But they didn’t have the quarterback, and they’re two totally different teams at home and on the road over time. So this is a really big challenge of a team that has really, really good players.

Media: Coach, I want to revisit Austin Simmons a moment. I know after the game, you talked about how important that drive was and you anticipate Jaxson staying healthy as long as you go this particular season. But he came in as a real young player. Where is he? Knowledge-wise, you know, ability wise? How do you measure him? Because you worked with tons of quarterbacks. Where do you think he is right now overall in the program?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah. Austin’s done a great job for somebody that’s so young still. And I mean, we saw what he did on the stage against Georgia coming in like that. And the way that he played and the command that he had. You’ve seen him in baseball go in as a freshman in SEC play and how he’s pitched. So he’s just wired differently. You know that’s not normal. And he is just really calm. I know there’s Tua comparisons because he is left-handed and smooth, but also the same thing, neither of them are guys that get rattled, you know. And both have now gone into big games as a freshman — against Georgia, actually, now that I think about it, and done really well.

Media: You predicted a good weekend in recruiting, and without asking about anyone in specific, it came to fruition. Just how exciting has that momentum been? And do you think there’s more big wins to be had coming up soon?

Lane Kiffin: I do think so. Again, obviously you can’t talk specifics, but just had a really good feeling and so glad –I guess I can’t really say much there — but I think that what’s going on in general is a product of a lot of years of work here and changing the narrative about Ole Miss football. You can come here and get everything that you could possibly want. And, so it’s good to see.

Media: Talked about changing the narrative of Ole Miss football. You know, when you first came here, after that loss to Alabama, you said, ‘we didn’t here come here to cover spreads or play it close with the tough team like Alabama. We came here to win.’ And then, obviously to where the program is right now. Did it take longer or shorter than you’d expect to kind of change that ‘not-get-close-but-win narrative across the board?

Lane: Well, I don’t know because since then there’s been close ones too, you know. We had the ball going down to beat Alabama here, what, two years later than that. So, this is how long it probably takes to truly get a program turned to where you could play the way we did against Georgia. And not just they miss a field goal at the end or we make a field goal type of game. And a lot of times this year we’ve played really well, as well as anybody in the country. You know, look at how good South Carolina plays at home. And we went in there and you saw what happened in that game. We missed a bunch of wide receivers wide open and still won by whatever 20-some points. So you know, winning and played the way we did at Arkansas. And so you know, we played like a top elite program and that’s taken a lot of work to get there between staff, building structure, administration and players.

Media: With this roster, specifically defensively, put together following that Georgia game and that sort of thing during the off season, has the success on defense exceeded your expectations up until this point to this season, from what you thought coming into the season with the roster?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah, and that’s hard to do. I usually have pretty high expectations. I think that what they’ve been able to do creating negative plays, I don’t have the stats in front of me, to be where they are in tackles for losses far and above, I believe, anybody else in the country in the SEC, to do that has really been amazing. But we’re not done yet.