Lane Kiffin emotional talking about toughness of Matt Corral

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin got emotional during his postgame media session while discussing the toughness of quarterback Matt Corral. After suffering a potentially serious ankle injury the week before, Corral still led Ole Miss to a win against Liberty on Saturday.

Kiffin on Matt Corral’s toughness

After their 27-14 win on Saturday, Lane Kiffin was asked what it meant to him that his team was continuing to produce on offense and win games despite being hobbled by injuries.

“Well it says we have a very elite quarterback that did not practice the entire week — until yesterday [he] did a few things,” praised Kiffin in his answer. “That’s not easy to do and still be accurate like he was with the ball.

“I kinda talked to him late in the week because a lot of quarterbacks wouldn’t play, especially nowadays,” Kiffin continued. “With everybody in their ear saying ‘You’re already a first-round pick, don’t get injured worse. You don’t need to play in this game.’ That’s kind of the age we’re in, most of these kids don’t play nowadays. So the fact that he didn’t even question that — ‘I’m not letting this team down, I’m playing no matter what,’ — [that] says a lot about him.”

Corral threw for 327 yards and a touchdown on Saturday after receiving what Ole Miss was originally concerned could be a season-ending ankle injury. Corral was carted off the field against Auburn last week in the loss, but eventually returned to the game.

Ole Miss was uncertain he would play

Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin provided an update to the ankle injury of quarterback Matt Corral on Monday ahead of their game against Liberty.

“He did not do anything today,” Kiffin said. “I was surprised he came back (on Saturday). It looked really bad, obviously. Like season-ending. That’s how he felt it was. Obviously, it wasn’t so he came back in.”

Although it’s clear the injury was bothering him, Corral has not been making excuses for himself. With news yet to come on his status for a Week 10 game against Liberty, the Heisman candidate has been preparing just like he would any other week.

“He has been very hard on himself over the last day-and-a-half,” Kiffin said. “The first down interception is just totally unlike him this season. …It just shows you everyone’s human no matter who you are or how good you are at a position. If you try to force things and get out of doing what the plan is, that can happen. He felt like he had to make a play. He’s at that point playing without five starters on offense. He was just trying too hard. He’s very competitive and that can backfire.”

On3’s Chandler Vessels contributed to this article.