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Ole Miss

Lane Kiffin takes subtle shot at Texas A&M after being 'outbid' for DJ Durkin

IMG_0985by:Griffin McVeigh•10/26/22•

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Lane Kiffin
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin

Lane Kiffin will be going up against a familiar face on Saturday, as Texas A&M defensive coordinator DJ Durkin will be on the opposing sideline. Durkin was wearing Ole Miss colors last season, leading the Rebels to a top-25 scoring defense and playing in the program’s first 10-win regular season.

When Mike Elko left Texas A&M in favor of the Duke head coach spot, Jimbo Fisher targeted Durkin as his new defensive coordinator. Ole Miss attempted to keep Durkin on staff but according to Kiffin, they “were outbid” from a contract standpoint. Durkin signed a three-year contract with the Aggies.

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Kiffin then went on to take a shot at Texas A&M as a whole, saying outbidding people seems to be a “common theme” down in College Station.

“DJ really turned our defense around here and played pretty good,” Kiffin said. “Especially the second half of last year. We tried to keep him. He did a great job with the players. We got outbid which is kind of a common theme with that program. And he’s doing a really good job there. Very multiple and doing a lot of and doing a lot of different things.”

This is not the first time Kiffin has called out Texas A&M. He backed the comment up of Nick Saban during the offseason, where the Alabama head coach said Fisher bought his entire recruiting class. Kiffin took to Twitter, as he usually does, to subtly agree with Saban.

Kiffin and Saban are of course referring to Texas A&M’s 2022 recruiting class, which was ranked No. 1 in the country. In what was the story of the offseason in not just the SEC but all of college football, it appears to still be on the mind of the Ole Miss head coach heading into Saturday’s matchup.

Those freshmen Kiffin is referring to will now be lining up against his own player at Kyle Field. Durkin will be hoping to get one over his old boss, while there still seems to be some feelings over his departure from Oxford.