TRANSCRIPT: Everything Lane Kiffin said Monday Ahead of Trip to Lexington to face Kentucky

OXFORD, Miss. — On Monday afternoon, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin met with media to discuss the Rebels’ upcoming game against Kentucky in Lexington.

Here’s everything Coach Kiffin had to say:

Lane Kiffin’s Opening Statement

All right, we talked about the game yesterday with you guys. So moving forward you know this is an exciting game to have up front like this early on. And we’re gonna have to prepare really well. This is an extremely well coached team. Somehow, even including the one before we got here, the last four, I believe someone said have gone down to the last play of the game. It’s got to be a record. So, these guys always play really tough, really physical against us. And so we’re going to have to have a really good week of practice like we did last week, and be prepared to go on the road.

Question: Jaylon Braxton didn’t play on Saturday… Is it just an injury thing?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah. That was a medical situation why he didn’t play and hopefully he plays this week. And, I think he’s going to be a really good player here and had practiced throughout the off season at times really well.

Question: Pete had talked about how he could be a move piece for that secondary, both as a safety and as a corner, just kind of what do you think about his ability to move around the versatility he could bring once he does get back on the field?

Lane Kiffin: Yeah, it’s exciting to have somebody that can cover and has played corner that can play safety too. So hopefully he’ll be back out here this week.

Question: You guys have have seen Zach Calzada before at his Texas A&M days. I think it was like four years ago or so. What do you remember about him and how much can you take away from what you’ve seen of him previously?

Lane Kiffin: I don’t know, I think people change within systems for the good, for the bad, and especially at that position. So I don’t take a whole lot from years ago how somebody played. And, um, you know, I think you see all the time. People go into different systems and, um, play differently. So, he’s very talented, seems to be really smart and savvy. And so and he’s won big games. So, we’re gonna have to play really well. We’re gonna have to rush the passer and stop the run and try to go on the road and get a win.

Question: Coach, any thoughts on when we might see Luke Hasz?

Lane: Yeah, I have some thoughts. You know what this answer is going to be? Hopefully he’ll play this week. He’s working his way back.

Question: With with SEC play coming early this year, what’s the hardest part of the game to maybe get up to speed for or the hardest part of SEC play to simulate in fall camp?

Lane Kiffin: Line of scrimmages. You know, we try to do a lot, obviously, against ourselves and look back to last year, trying to do more this year because of that, you know, that that jump from non-conference to SEC play and us, you know, not playing well in the first time out last year. So hopefully it’ll help us this year.

Question: On Saturday TJ spoke about a quote ‘sour taste in his mouth’ after last year. I know it’s only been one day of practice, but is there an extra energy in this week’s preparation for Kentucky?

Lane Kiffin: I mean, it was a walk through. So, you know, I thought our guys did really well last week being prepared not about the opponent who it was just preparing really well at a high level. And so that’s our expectation to do it again this week. I’m sure TJ and a lot of others feel that way. You know, when it comes to this matchup, it’s been a long off season or long season since we played them last. So, need to go up and play better than we did last year.

Question: You mentioned Bill Belichick debuting tonight. The coach also a lot of interesting results in college football this weekend. Just what’s your overall thought about the first week and how things kind of fell?

Lane Kiffin: I don’t think I have a lot, I’m focused on us playing well Saturday. And so I didn’t see very much of anything. But it sounds like there’s a lot of parity in games and stuff, I think that’s going to continue. So I think it showed last year just with NIL and how everybody has a chance to get really good players. You know, they can just any team can go overpay and get somebody. So I think that causes for parity. And I think that causes people to really be able to jump from maybe a really poor season where it might take 2 or 3 years to to turn over a roster, to be able to turn it over really quick and completely changed the roster and be a very different team week one than they were week 12.

Question: Kewan is kind of the player I have in mind for this. But with you guys being on him pretty hard as a recruit in high school, just how beneficial is it to maintain good relationships with recruits that go other directions? 

Lane Kiffin: Yeah, I mean, this age and the setup and the two windows and just how it is, there might be some instances it’s better to be second place coming out and, you know, someone else pays him year one, and they don’t play as much. And then they come to you year two. So it’s just kind of part of the system we live in.