Ole Miss Head Coach Lane Kiffin Looks to Build on Historic Stretch as Rebels Open Camp
OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin met with the media on Tuesday as the football team opened camp before the upcoming 2025 season.
The team took the practice field for the first time without freshman teammate Corey Adams, who tragically passed away a few weeks ago.
“(Adams) was with just with us a short time, but he made a major impact on us by how he worked, who he was, how he led even as a freshman,” Kiffin said.
“I told the story at the service here the other night. Very rarely do we ever have a freshman who in the offseason conditioning and running was challenging seniors to finish in a standard. That’s who he was, and just a tragic, tragic passing. Our thoughts and prayers have been with the family, and having them up here and spending time with them.”
Lane Kiffin on the passing of freshman DL Corey Adams
Kiffin also wanted to thank Ole Miss and the Oxford community following the recent loss of his mom, Robin Kiffin. Her service was held last week.
“Pastor Fish (Robinson) and how he led that (service) and the passion that he had and how he spoke about her,” Kiffin began.
“So many people here, and I would have never guessed that my parents would end up finishing their lives in Oxford, Mississippi. It was an amazing time to have my brother and the grandkids here for both of them over the last few years. It was very special, but the people of Oxford were just amazing again. So, I just want to thank everybody again and especially Pastor Fish.”
Lane Kiffin on the passing of his mother
Creating a standard
Over the past five seasons on the gridiron, Kiffin and his staff have created a standard at Ole Miss.
“Expectations and what we’ve done, and I do take a lot of pride in that with our staff and our former players of what was done,” Kiffin explained Tuesday. “Our staff all coming back for the season is very exciting because there’s so much player turnover nowadays in football, and we have lost a lot of great players, a number of them to the NFL.”
A total of eight Rebels were selected in the 2025 NFL draft, including five called in the first three rounds.
During Kiffin’s tenure at the helm, Ole Miss has been winning games as well as setting attendance records at Vaught-Hemingway.
“Sold out season tickets already, three 10-win seasons in the last four years. There were three Top 12 finishes in the last four years and one the previous 51 years; it really gives me perspective about what our players and staff have been able to do here. That’s the standard that we’ve created. It’s the expectations that we have,” he noted.
“Twenty one wins in the last two years. These players have been talked to a lot about that and that’s hopefully why they came here was understanding that what we’ve been able to achieve and the level that we want to play at and expect to play at. Three winningest programs since COVID in the SEC, including the new programs, are Georgia, Alabama and Ole Miss. That’s our expectation and the standards of how we expect to play.“
Lane Kiffin on Ole Miss setting a standard
Kiffin also said that during camp, there will be a great deal of competition.
“There’ll be a lot of competition in this camp, as always, regardless of what players have done before, they heard that last night,” the Rebels’ head coach remarked. “That reflected in practice today to create a very competitive atmosphere. I think that this team needs to really have a blue-collar mindset to outwork people and to grind people out in games, so we’ve been working on that, and it’s an exciting group of kids coming together.”
Next Up
Ole Miss opens the season on August 30th as the Rebels play host to Georgia State. Kickoff is set for 6:45 p.m. at Vaught-Hemingway.
Adam Brown
Adam Brown joins The Rebel Walk as the Managing Editor after being on the Ole Miss beat as a Sports Editor for over 11 years. He is a lifelong Oxford resident. Brown graduated from the University of Mississippi with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
Prior to The Rebel Walk, Brown was the sports editor of HottyToddy.com covering every Ole Miss sport and local high school sports in the community.
