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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Lane Kiffin Weekly Press Conference
12/13/2021 | Football
Ole Miss football head coach Lane Kiffin met with the media Monday afternoon as his Rebels returned to the practice field in preparation for the Sugar Bowl. A transcript can be found below.
Opening statement…
"It was really good to be back out there. Our players were excited. As we've said throughout the year, we have a special team and cool players who love practicing, love being around each other. It was pretty good after recruiting, after this break, all the stuff going on, to be back out there. It was awesome today."
On the transfer portal becoming a big part of the recruiting cycle…
"I don't think people really say it this way, but lets not make any mistake. We have free agency in college football. The kids, a lot of time, go where they're going to get paid the most. No one else is saying that, maybe. But kids say, 'This is what I'm getting here for NIL.' It is what it is. Free agency has been created in college football. Except you can't lock people into a contract. They can go at any time. It's a new world that we're in and sometimes they will come to and say, 'Hey, I get this much money if I go there.' This is just a whole new thing to deal with."
On balancing a class between high school prospects and transfers…
"They did give relief this year with the extra ones. Getting out on the road, there is a lot of frustration with junior college coaches, high school coaches have a lot of frustration because they feel like kids who were right on the bottom level of getting offers and going places, and the bottom of the classes now aren't because they're using them up on transfers. So now you have high school kids with nowhere to go where they had places. Like anything, usually when you create something to solve this issue over here, it creates other issues. There are a lot of issues with it. You've got your own guys, and you're dealing with guys who want to go, but you still want them to play in the game and practice. Now we really have guys in the free agency market going around to visits that are still practicing and playing here. At least in the NFL, there are free agent contracts, so they know what it is and they have to sign it versus these places saying, 'Hey, when you come here, you'll get this much money.' Then when they get there, do they really get it? It's not a contract. Very new world."
On how he approaches NIL with recruits…
"You can just talk about what people have gotten, but we can't direct that. We're not going to sit here and make promises that you're going to come here and get this much money. Because once they're signed and locked into going there but they aren't getting the money. So we're kind of staying out of that world that other people are going into."
On Jeff Lebby…
"He'll coach the game. We're happy for him going back to his alma mater. Great opportunity for him. He's done an unbelievable job here. He's going to finish this thing off, which is awesome. It's basically this team, like we've talked about, no matter what it takes. You aren't seeing players opt out. It's a special team and he's a huge part of that. He's doing work there, he'll be back later this week. We respect dual-scheduling with him so he can get that job and do this too. Usually it's a head coach, like being at Alabama when you get a head job or something, but we're doing it with a coordinator."
On replacing Lebby at offensive coordinator…
"We've been busy recruiting. We want to make the right hire. I really don't have any information on that, except for those are big shoes to fill. He's done a great job."
On bowl practice…
"We're going to practice for two days, then have Wednesday off so there aren't too many days in a row after missing a lot of days. This is really more like training camp, getting everyone opportunities and stuff. Then it'll be kind of a middle ground. Then as we get closer to the game, it'll be more game planning."
On having conversations players opting out…
"We've had zero. I would assume you won't have any based off of people practicing today. I think that says a lot about this team and these guys and how serious this is, how important it is. You get to go play in the Sugar Bowl with a chance to win the Sugar Bowl and win more games than has ever been done in the history of this school. That's a pretty cool thing to be a part of."
On if the transfer portal diminishes the significance of Signing Day…
"I think it totally does. There's no transfer signing day. They don't sign an NIL again because they've already signed one. There's not really a system in place there to say, they're all going to sign Wednesday. So they're still going in. They're going to keep going in. I'm sure they're going to be coming in after the bowl games. Every day someone new comes in. I don't think signing day will be as big as it used to be. That's basically your draft class, but then you're going to have your free agent class. It's really different. And there isn't a date. Free agency doesn't end. Our starting center (Orlando Umana) showed up in August or whatever it was. New deal."
On if he's in favor of adding a transfer window…
"There's got to be something. I'm sure there will be. Right now you're practicing for bowl games, we have a player not here today because he's still on his official visit to another place. Just really think about that. Very, very strange, where I leave a recruiting weekend this weekend, fly really quick to go see someone who is at another school but is in the portal. There's a lot of things happening from what was initially a good idea to help the kids. I've said this before, but it happens. This sounds great for the kids. There are going to be thousands of kids in the portal with no scholarship and nowhere to go. They basically gave up their scholarship and they're going to have nothing because they're advised that they're going to have all these things, but they're really not."
Opening statement…
"It was really good to be back out there. Our players were excited. As we've said throughout the year, we have a special team and cool players who love practicing, love being around each other. It was pretty good after recruiting, after this break, all the stuff going on, to be back out there. It was awesome today."
On the transfer portal becoming a big part of the recruiting cycle…
"I don't think people really say it this way, but lets not make any mistake. We have free agency in college football. The kids, a lot of time, go where they're going to get paid the most. No one else is saying that, maybe. But kids say, 'This is what I'm getting here for NIL.' It is what it is. Free agency has been created in college football. Except you can't lock people into a contract. They can go at any time. It's a new world that we're in and sometimes they will come to and say, 'Hey, I get this much money if I go there.' This is just a whole new thing to deal with."
On balancing a class between high school prospects and transfers…
"They did give relief this year with the extra ones. Getting out on the road, there is a lot of frustration with junior college coaches, high school coaches have a lot of frustration because they feel like kids who were right on the bottom level of getting offers and going places, and the bottom of the classes now aren't because they're using them up on transfers. So now you have high school kids with nowhere to go where they had places. Like anything, usually when you create something to solve this issue over here, it creates other issues. There are a lot of issues with it. You've got your own guys, and you're dealing with guys who want to go, but you still want them to play in the game and practice. Now we really have guys in the free agency market going around to visits that are still practicing and playing here. At least in the NFL, there are free agent contracts, so they know what it is and they have to sign it versus these places saying, 'Hey, when you come here, you'll get this much money.' Then when they get there, do they really get it? It's not a contract. Very new world."
On how he approaches NIL with recruits…
"You can just talk about what people have gotten, but we can't direct that. We're not going to sit here and make promises that you're going to come here and get this much money. Because once they're signed and locked into going there but they aren't getting the money. So we're kind of staying out of that world that other people are going into."
On Jeff Lebby…
"He'll coach the game. We're happy for him going back to his alma mater. Great opportunity for him. He's done an unbelievable job here. He's going to finish this thing off, which is awesome. It's basically this team, like we've talked about, no matter what it takes. You aren't seeing players opt out. It's a special team and he's a huge part of that. He's doing work there, he'll be back later this week. We respect dual-scheduling with him so he can get that job and do this too. Usually it's a head coach, like being at Alabama when you get a head job or something, but we're doing it with a coordinator."
On replacing Lebby at offensive coordinator…
"We've been busy recruiting. We want to make the right hire. I really don't have any information on that, except for those are big shoes to fill. He's done a great job."
On bowl practice…
"We're going to practice for two days, then have Wednesday off so there aren't too many days in a row after missing a lot of days. This is really more like training camp, getting everyone opportunities and stuff. Then it'll be kind of a middle ground. Then as we get closer to the game, it'll be more game planning."
On having conversations players opting out…
"We've had zero. I would assume you won't have any based off of people practicing today. I think that says a lot about this team and these guys and how serious this is, how important it is. You get to go play in the Sugar Bowl with a chance to win the Sugar Bowl and win more games than has ever been done in the history of this school. That's a pretty cool thing to be a part of."
On if the transfer portal diminishes the significance of Signing Day…
"I think it totally does. There's no transfer signing day. They don't sign an NIL again because they've already signed one. There's not really a system in place there to say, they're all going to sign Wednesday. So they're still going in. They're going to keep going in. I'm sure they're going to be coming in after the bowl games. Every day someone new comes in. I don't think signing day will be as big as it used to be. That's basically your draft class, but then you're going to have your free agent class. It's really different. And there isn't a date. Free agency doesn't end. Our starting center (Orlando Umana) showed up in August or whatever it was. New deal."
On if he's in favor of adding a transfer window…
"There's got to be something. I'm sure there will be. Right now you're practicing for bowl games, we have a player not here today because he's still on his official visit to another place. Just really think about that. Very, very strange, where I leave a recruiting weekend this weekend, fly really quick to go see someone who is at another school but is in the portal. There's a lot of things happening from what was initially a good idea to help the kids. I've said this before, but it happens. This sounds great for the kids. There are going to be thousands of kids in the portal with no scholarship and nowhere to go. They basically gave up their scholarship and they're going to have nothing because they're advised that they're going to have all these things, but they're really not."
Players Mentioned
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