TRANSCRIPT: Everything Lane Kiffin said after Ole Miss football practice Thursday as spring camp winds down

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin met with media Thursday, ahead of the team’s final spring practice on Saturday. Here’s everything Coach Kiffin had to say as the team wraps up camp.

Lane Kiffin Opening Statement

Alright, kind of wrapping up spring here, second to last practice. One more Saturday. Um, I really like the guys’ competitiveness, how hard they’re working out there, a lot of battles for positions. And, it’s been really good. So, um, excited for Saturday. And, you know, just obviously unusual timing with the portal and we’re still in spring practice, kind of like the season what happens. But, so a lot of stuff going on there with visitors here, you know, while we’re still practicing and, um, our own guys, obviously, in conversations about that stuff. So just is what it is.

Question: This is a little bit off topic, but there was obviously a big story coming from Tennessee this last week in terms of alleged NIL contract negotiations and a holdout, maybe not specifically speaking on that situation itself, but just the situation in general, what does this sort of thing mean for college sports?

Lane Kiffin: Well, I think that could be a lot of things within that answer. You know, I’m not really going to comment much on that because I don’t know all the details. And I think that, you know, that happens a lot with media, with fans, obviously nowadays with how quickly things are put out or somebody says something from an unnamed source and all those things and all these comments are made, in this instance about a kid, and we don’t even have the facts to know if the stuff and the narrative out there is even true. So, I don’t think it’s really fair to take shots at him when all the facts and details of the situation aren’t out there and seem to just be more in favor of the program side, which we’re able to have a big voice as a program when a kid leaves or something, because we get much more access to the media and controlling the message than the kid does. So I don’t know the details in that. So I think it’s a little bit unfair what’s going on, especially because I hear the other side that those details that are out there are not accurate.

Question: You mentioned balancing the portal while spring football practice is going on. The quarterback room got an addition with Trinidad Chambliss, y’all signed him. Kind of the evaluation with AJ (Maddox) kind of down with the sling right now, that quarterback room a little thin. But you’ve added somebody, kind of what do you think about that room now with him brought in and what kind of was the evaluation for him.

Lane Kiffin: Yeah. We’re always trying to make our roster more competitive, every individual position group more competitive. We’ve done that in the past, especially with quarterback. It’s worked out really well for us. It makes the other players better. And so we were able to do that, kind of in a strange circumstance where someone, because of Division II, was already in the portal, and in my opinion, got a head start on that versus waiting for this portal and then everybody else on it. And um, what, that market’s probably going to drive at that position I think will be extremely high. So, I’m glad that we’re able to get that done because it makes the room better. And AJ was doing a really good job until the injury. So we’re very pleased with him.

Question: I don’t know how much you’ve had time to pay attention to this because it’s pretty fresh. I guess you saw the NCAA kind of, you know, implemented kind of the tweak to the rule as far as, you know, injuries and the timeouts that kind of come along with it. Um, I wonder if you had any comment on that?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah, I actually I didn’t even get information from that from SEC or NCAA yet. I actually saw that this morning on social media. So, I don’t know enough to comment on that.

Question: I think we’re finally getting to talk to De’Zhaun Stribling. Just I know you’re very high on the wide receiver room as a whole, but he was one of the early ones y’all landed. What did you see in him?

Lane Kiffin: Very competitive. Really tough, kind of Mingo-ish. That way. Strong, physical. So, I’m really glad that that was a huge concern. You know, going into the off season, losing so much in that room. And, I thought we did a really good job in that. And turned the room over really well and added some really good players in there. So really pleased with that room and how those guys are working really hard and the culture of the room too.

Question: Sort of about the Tennessee thing. But is that something you have to have conversations with your staff or even with your team about how Ole Miss would treat a holdout? Like, how would you treat that situation if it were to happen?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah. Again, I’m not going to get into that too much because I think that’s the narrative that’s out there of what happened. And I’ll just say I’ve talked to the other side of that, and Nico’s side is a very different story of what happened. So I don’t think it’s fair to to comment on that or to say that that’s exactly what took place.

Question: Has there been as far as young players like AJ’s brother Andrew Maddox, defensive tackle, that has come in and played and he’s kind of showed out. Any other guys like that that maybe mid-year enrollees that yeah, you’re giving them evaluation, but they’ve really jumped off and, and shown you something so far for the last four weeks.

Lane Kiffin: I don’t know specifically on that. I think there’s just been a number of guys and we just moved guys around so much trying to find things, and some guys are hurt and, you know, just really trying to focus on the getting the players individually better. So, not a very good answer for you on that. Sorry.

Question: Secondary, kind of where you’re honing in this last half of the portal window and looking is at the position of most need for y’all you feel like coming out of spring?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah, I think that’s kind of strange to comment on, but it’s a very fair question. Like, portal needs as we’re, you know, got still another scrimmage coming up Saturday. So fair question, but I don’t know that that’s beneficial for me to answer.

Question: As far as the scrimmage on Saturday, what what are you looking for out of that, kind of what’s the just general focus for the coach? What do y’all want to see from the team?

Lane Kiffin: Just seeing how individual players finish, you know, knowing that this is their last kind of shot for a while to put the resume on film. So see how they react to that.

Question: This is kind of off topic too, but there’s some conflicting information out there just about whether Jaxson is or is not going to attend the NFL draft next week. I was just wondering if those plans have been made to your attention. I know you’ve been pretty busy, but I guess do anything about that.

Lane Kiffin: Yeah, he’s informed me what he’s doing. I don’t know that that’s really my position to say that. And I don’t know what’s out there. So, he’s made a decision what he’s doing, and, you know, there’s a lot of different reasons why people do and why they don’t. So it’s probably a better question for him.