TRANSCRIPT: Everything Lane Kiffin Said Monday Before Rebels’ Season-Opener vs. Georgia State

OXFORD, Miss. — Lane Kiffin met with the media on Monday, August 25, as the Rebels prepare for their 2025 season opener.

The Ole Miss head coach touched on a wide range of topics, from urging fans to bring the energy at Vaught-Hemingway to his confidence in first-year starter Austin Simmons, the progress of transfer quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, and the challenge presented by a well-coached Georgia State opponent.

Kiffin also shared updates on injuries, the offensive line, the running game, and special teams as Ole Miss gears up for Saturday night under the lights.

Lane Kiffin’s opening statement

Obviously a lot of new players with this team, so it’ll be exciting to come out and play in front of a home crowd that, you know, we really urge to to be electric like it has been here at times. And, you know, some of these early games have been early kickoffs. So it was good to get a later kickoff for our fans. And so we’re excited with that. Really urge them to stay show up early and stay and create a great home environment like we’ve had it a lot of times here. So, I know the players are excited to play someone else. This is a really good, really well-coached team that has really good players, a number of returning and a number of transfers from really big places that have come in. Coach has done a really good job building this team. And, I mean, look no further than, you know, with only a few months to prepare, he went and beat Vanderbilt last year, you know, that says a lot about their staff and Hue Jackson is offensive coordinator, so these guys are going to have really good schematic stuff and really good players. And so, we need to perform really well. And that’s why I’m saying to the fans too, we all need to perform well. So let’s have an exciting Saturday night.

Question: Lane, how did you see Austin kind of evolve or develop from that first scrimmage to this past Saturday night?

Lane: I think Austin’s doing a really good job. He had a really good Saturday night and performed really well. We continue to emphasize, you know, one of the things why we’ve had a really good record here and performed really well is not just the offensive stats and the most passing yards and all that. It’s been taking care of the football at that position and doing a really good job of that. So that’s of course a big emphasis and especially with a first time starter to make sure that that’s the number one emphasis for him. So we’re excited. He’s got a lot of weapons that have done really good things in practice. So we got to put it together in game.

Question: With Trinidad (Chambliss) and the role y’all may have for him, are you seeing what you were hoping to see out of him this month?

Lane: Yeah, I think he’s done a great job and really come in and learned the offense really well. Throwing really well, has been really good in scrimmages and so that’s why we brought him here. You know that’s what he had shown on film. And so we’re glad. You know our goal is always to make each room the best that we can and obviously the entire roster regardless of what’s in a room. So that was really, really big getting him and to put him in, put him in the spot.

Question: Lane, I know it’s been talked about for a while, but now that the SEC is officially going to nine games, what was your reaction to that news?

Lane: I mean, I’m trying to really focus on this game and this year. And so, you know, that’s a year from now and and again that’s completely out of our control as coaches, in my opinion. So, you know, it really doesn’t matter. They’re going to do what they want to do, and it’s totally understandable. And we’ve got teams, you know, past years that have changed historic conferences across the country and realigned college football for money. So, I wouldn’t expect scheduling to be any less from the conference.

Question: Lane you mentioned, Austin’s first start. How is he handling everything that comes with being a starting quarterback? Not even just on the field, but in terms of leadership and things like that?

Lane: Yeah, he studies really hard. He spends a lot of time up here. He had a really good mentor, an example in Jaxson. And it’s been great to see and he spends a ton of time obviously with Coach Weis, but Coach Judge and Fisher Ray and Dane. And so we got a lot of people up there to help this position because it’s really important. That position has a lot to do with how you win more than any other position. So, again, we pour a lot of resources in that position to get them to play really well. And Austin’s been doing that so far.

Question: Do you feel like you guys are in a better spot health wise going into this year than in years past?

Lane: Not necessarily. I think we’ve had a number of a number of issues, especially with the offensive line and tight end. But, you know, we’re working to get better for this opener. And again, I’m not just saying that. This is a a challenging team that has good players and really good coaches.

Question: Have you been able to talk to former Ole Miss player and analyst Enrique (Davis) about the matchup over the off season? (Note: Davis is now the running backs coach at Georgia State)

Lane: Yeah, I don’t really work like that. You know, he did a great job here. He’s a really good running back coach. And he’s going to be really successful, I’m sure, there and other places after that. And he’s put together a really good room too, really deep and really good players.

Question: In spring, you said that one of your goals was to shore up the run game. Do you see progress to this point?

Lane: I think the O-line, injuries and tight ends slowed that a little bit. But hopefully we’re getting back to that because that’s a been a really big emphasis. Really don’t like how we ran the ball last year and our ineffectiveness at times. And it cost us, you know, cost us some games when we were headed in and we could just, you know, run the ball to win the game and lose two of those, so much different than it had been in previous years.

Question: So it looks like two of their running backs have Mississippi ties, one, was here, Amos, and then Branson Robinson, a guy we recruited a few years ago, transfer from Georgia. You’d have to think that one or both of those guys would be the starters for them. I’m sure our defense is zeroed in on that.

Lane: Yeah. They have it’s a really good room. They got a couple of kids that have played here, Branson and some others. And so, big physical runners and we’re gonna have to tackle really well.

Question: Coach, defensive front last year was, you know, really impressive. Maybe the most quality depth we’ve had here in a long, long time. Really good pieces there this year too. Can you get back to that level?

Lane: Yeah. That’s not easy. Like you said a long time, and I think historians like yourself, some have said that was probably the deepest the D-line has ever been here, the amount of players, I mean, it was the most in an all star game, you know. So that’s that’s challenging to do. I think that we have guys that have done a really good job. I don’t know, it’ll be to that level. That said, that was the number one tackles for loss and sack defense in the country last year. But we got a chance.

Question: Coach, on that note, a lot of new faces seeing playing time on the defensive line. How have they come together as a unit like last year?

Lane: Yeah, Coach Joyner does a great job, and he’s had to retool that like, a year ago with some new guys like Princely and Walter as well. So they’ve done a really good job and really present a lot of problems to our offense. I think they make our offense better because how multiple they are.

Question: Coach, we didn’t get to see much of the placekicker or the punter in what we got to view. How are they in your mind right now?

Lane: Yeah, they’ve done a good job, made a long field goal Saturday, and we only had one punt at the end, but I think it was 54 yards, so they’ve done a good job. And, those were big, big add ons in the off season.

(Feature image credit: Karis Chambliss, Rebel Walk)