TRANSCRIPT: Everything Lane Kiffin said after win over Georgia State; Rebels’ coach talks Austin Simmons, explosive run game, and defensive growth

OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss opened the 2025 season in emphatic fashion Saturday night, rolling past Georgia State 63–7 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

After the game, head coach Lane Kiffin met with media to break down the performance, praise key players, and look ahead to what’s next. Here’s everything Coach Kiffin had to say.

Lane Kiffin’s opening statement:

Alright. I thought our guys did a really good job today. I don’t take for granted these type of games. You know, maybe sometimes some people do, and fans especially, and I understand that team (Georgia State), which is much improved player wise from what they had in the portal, beat Vanderbilt last year. So you know to play 63-7. So what is that, 46-0 run after they scored. So you know you play 46-0 football, you’re doing a lot of things really well on offense and defense, special teams. So really pleased by the offensive balance, you know, 695 yards and 295 on the ground in a game that, you know, only two returning starters on offense and two on defense. I thought our defense did really well outside of one play. But we got a lot of work on, too. You know, we had the two turnovers and and we’ve got to tackle better. So obviously we got a huge challenge next week, so excited to go back to work with these guys. And, I think you saw a team that’s got a chance to be good. You know, you look around the country a lot of times, these games, you know, 1 or 2 score games and stuff. So I was really pleased with that. Pleased how I thought our team played pretty clean today. So, good start, 1-0.

Question: Obviously you haven’t had a chance to watch film or anything, but how would you evaluate Austin’s first start?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah, he had one really bad play, you know, the second interception, the first one’s not his fault. The right guard gets beat. You know, they’re in a blown coverage, we’re going to score a 75 yard touchdown walk in the end zone. And the guy that blows the coverage picks it off. So that’s not his fault. The other one is. And we’ve seen that before with young quarterbacks, kind of almost the same interception we saw Jaxson throw at home onto his right his first year, so. But I thought he did some really good things scrambled the way that we would want, you know, slid and took care of himself, but also showed that he can move around and make some plays with his feet. I thought Trinidad did a really good job coming in, and so really glad that both those guys did well outside of really one really poor play.

Question: Lane, you talked in fall camp about Kewan Lacey and how explosive he’d been. Just what do you think about his explosiveness tonight and really carrying the offense and doing some great things for y’all?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah it was awesome. I mean, I just tell you how it is. We didn’t have that a year ago. And so it’s really good to have it back. I was looking forward to that, you know, kind of thinking he was going to play like that because that’s how he practices and he’s got a unique skill set of speed and power. So it’s great to see that a ball can break and go score and not get caught. Makes it a lot easier not to call more plays afterwards. So that was great to see.

Question: Just kind of initial eye test assessment of how you felt the O-line did, especially in that first half.

Lane Kiffin: Yeah, I thought you would think with the output, you know, it would have been cleaner. We got beat a couple of times at guard, both sides. And so I thought it was pretty inconsistent, but some good things, some good things on Kewan’s longer run and some good finish with some things. I’d say actually better in the run game than the pass game at times.

Question: Caleb (Odom) transitioned from wide receiver to tight and this is his first you know, game doing it. And looked like he’s been kind of banged up the last couple of weeks. What did you kind of think of his debut in that and becoming kind of a favorite target for Austin there, especially as he was trying to get going in the second and third quarter?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah. Caleb was doing great in camp. Had an injury I think missed like last week and a half before this week. So we just got him back and you know, that was tough to miss those times in a transition to another position playing tight end. But he did some good things in there and I think he’s a really good weapon to have. And so he did good. Dae’Quan, we pulled because, he was just playing a lot of plays and didn’t feel like like we should keep playing him. But Dae’Quan played great prior to that.

Question: Coach, Harrison Wallace looks like he’s going to be a weapon in the return game. How you see that?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah. He looked great and very aggressive in the punt return game. He’s been awesome. He’s been great for us and a great transition. I think he loves the offense. You know, eight targets today, so really good. They played like, I would hope, you know, Deuce had the one drop, but the receivers played really good and the tight ends in that played really well, especially in the passing game. I was kind of thinking that’s what we had, it was really a good skill set, really good deep receivers and tight end. They showed up today.

Question: I think the first seven play calls were passes to open the season. I was just curious, was that built around Austin having him settle in or what was kind of the idea there?

Lane Kiffin: You know, some of our stuff is run pass option. A lot of that’s scripted and just wanted him to start really fast, and got really good skill guys out there and thought that that was a place of attacking. You know, we approached this game like we would an SEC game. Like, ‘hey, this is where we’d attack people. This is how we’d play against the opponent that we were playing’ and that’s really what it kind of dictated to and where our strengths vs, in my opinion, were their weaknesses were.

Question: One of your leader guys, Zxavian Harris got an interception tonight. What was it like to see that moment for him? Just what have you expected out of him in terms of now being one of the veteran guys on the club? And and how has he kind of exceeded the expectations you set for him throughout fall camp going to this point?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah, it’s kind of crazy for him to be a senior, which I think there’s only like three guys that have been here the whole time like that. It’s the world we live in now, today, unfortunately. So he’s a force and had a great camp and really presents a lot of problems to defense. And that was exciting to see him today and he created a lot of havoc.

Question: Lane, you guys ran some different people in that Wildcat quarterback or formation. What did you think of that? And is that some of that experimental or is that something you might do with multiple guys all year?

Lane Kiffin: I mean, we just try to get guys in the best position and we’re very creative I think in, in that. And so yeah, there’s some experiment in there and some different things to look at and present things for other people to have to practice to.

Question: Coach, what was your first impressions of the new look defensive line?

Lane Kiffin: Really good. I thought they created a lot of problems up front. The quarterback didn’t have a lot of time to throw over there. And so, I thought it was really good and did a really good job. Two of 15 on third downs has a lot to do with the D line rush.

Question: It looked to me like TJ Dottery stepped his game up quite a bit from last year. Can you tell the difference?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah, I think he’s fully healthy, too, you know. These SEC seasons take a toll on linebackers. And so, you know a lot of them are beat up at the end of the year. And so I think he was fully healthy today and he was able to run better than he did at the end of last year, you know, with some injuries and stuff. So he’s really our leader over there. And, he’s awesome. Awesome to be around.

Question: Coach, I got to ask. I’ve been out there and I’ve seen Landry out there as well. I gotta ask how the pickleball run is going and how fast are you getting ready to talk some smack to some of your kids on the pickleball courts this season?

Lane Kiffin: I don’t know. We’re kind of in season mode here, so we don’t get a lot of time. We actually run over on game day right before the walk, surprisingly, to play.  I just try to, like, set up a win, you know? So then I get my mind, like, in the right place that we’re going to win. So we get a kind of a bad opponent and go over there and play really quick. But, um, it was a good week. We had we had one break where Deuce and Trey came over and they wanted to play me and Sawyer, so they called us out in a meeting. So we went over and beat them 11-0 and then came back, told him to stick to playing receiver. All right, guys, have a good one.