Lane Kiffin breaks down Jonathan Hess' chances on 'The Bachelorette'

Former Ole Miss tight end Jonathan Hess is trading out a football for a rose… or at least he hopes. The former Rebels player and current Ole Miss recruiting assistant is one of 28 potential candidates to appear on Season 21 of The Bachelorette.

He won’t be the only former football player coached by Lane Kiffin on the potential cast, either.

Kiffin, the current Ole Miss head coach, also coached John Mitchell at Florida Atlantic, with Mitchell another of the potential 28 show contestants.

The Ole Miss coach opened up on that somewhat bizarre intersection of sports and reality TV on Tuesday.

“It came out, too, that John Mitchell, (who) was our receiver at FAU, is in the same group, so that’s pretty crazy,” Kiffin said. “I knew for a while but I wasn’t supposed to say anything, I guess. But Hess was really excited about it.

“Actually Landry, my daughter, kind of had something to do with how they wrote it in his thing that they turn in, because she was kind of fired up for him. Her and her friends were like, ‘Yes, you can do this.’ Because they watch the show. Last night there was like 10 of them on my couch, they watched the Bachelor, or the Bachelorette in that case. So it’ll be interesting.”

Hess played at Ole Miss from 2018-22, mostly as a reserve tight end and special teams contributor. He had two career catches for seven yards, while also contributing five tackles defensively.

Mitchell was a touch more productive at the college level, catching 69 passes for 873 yards and 10 touchdowns while suiting up from 2016-21.

As for their chances to win over the heart of Jess Tran, who will be Season 21’s Bachelorette, Lane Kiffin opined it might take a little bit of luck for Hess, who currently works on his staff in the recruiting department.

“I kind of feel like it’s kind of like a basketball tournament or now the playoffs in football,” Kiffin said. “I feel like if he can make it and get some momentum going and get past the beginning, to where people see a lot of him, then I think he’s got a chance because his personality. … It’s kind of Hess-isms. It’s just Hess. But I think they’re going to need enough time to see that come out.”

As for Kiffin himself, it’s unclear whether he’ll tune in to watch Hess try to woo the woman of his dreams. He’s of a mixed mind on the show’s premise.

But it’ll probably be on in his household, at the very least.

“This is going to show my age. I used to (watch) a long time ago, probably when it started,” Kiffin said. “And then I outgrew it. And then life kind of comes back around and so now Landry and her friends, like they come over, all these freshmen come over and they’re on it, they come rolling in last night like five minutes before ready to watch it. So they talk about it, so I see a little bit of it.”

As for him, Lane Kiffin just thinks the whole thing is a bit unrealistic.

“I’ve always kind of been annoyed by it because I feel like the competition makes people act different, because now they’re like, ‘Here’s 25 people and they all fall in love with the same guy,'” he said. “Well that wouldn’t ever happen, but it’s on TV, so they want to win and get to the finals so they become famous. So that part of it kind of bothers me because it’s unrealistic. Somebody had 25 blind dates, 25 people aren’t going to all fall in love with him, but they do on the show.

“Yeah, because they want to be in the next show. ‘I don’t even care if I win necessarily, but let me cry some more here and say I love you after one date.'”

Hess isn’t the only former Ole Miss player interested in appearing on reality TV, either.

Former Ole Miss defensive back Quintavius Burdette recently participated in filming for CBS’ Survivor Season 46. The program is currently airing weekly on Wednesday nights and has aired four episodes so far. Burdette, better known as ‘Q,’ remains on the island currently.