Lane Kiffin describes impact of losing star quarterback Matt Corral

Ole Miss will have a new quarterback under center in 2022, as former Rebels star Matt Corral has departed the program and is currently gearing up for the upcoming NFL Draft. Projected to be a first-round pick, Corral was highly successful at Ole Miss – but now it’s time for the next man to step up and take over the quarterback duties for Lane Kiffin’s club.

Meeting with reporters on Tuesday, Kiffin was asked how weird it was to be back on the field for spring practices and not having Corral out there with the team.

“There’s a lot of weird things, so it is what it is,” Kiffin said. “It’s been a long time since I haven’t had Wilson out there – so not just here, but going all the way back to FAU, or Kevin Smith, so there’s a lot of new … and Matt’s part of that. There’s a lot of different things, but that comes with success – and change is good.

“You’ve gotta embrace change. New people have new ideas.”

Corral put together a stellar career at Ole Miss, throwing for 8,287 yards, 57 touchdowns and 23 touchdowns over his four seasons in Oxford. It’s not going to be an easy task for Kiffin to replace the quarterback, but the Rebels have no choice but to find their new signal-caller.

Kiffin updates Ole Miss quarterback competition entering spring practice

A quarterback competition is facing Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin in the face, with the program having to move on from Matt Corral. Three players will have the opportunity to be the starter for the 2022 season, with Luke Altmyer, Jaxson Dart, Kinkead Dent competing throughout spring practice.

Kiffin provided an update on the quarterback battle on Monday, talking about his experiences of dealing with them over the past few years. He said going through this process is nothing new for his staff, dating all the way back for the USC Trojans, but overall competition makes everyone on the team better.

“All three guys will have a chance,” Kiffin said. “We’ve been in a lot of these over the years, more than we would like, actually. I think there were six or seven years in a row we had a new starter between the last year at USC, Alabama, and FAU. We’ve been very used to this. We had not had a returning starter really maybe one year of all of that. So we’ve been in this and it can be good because it makes everyone better because there’s competition.”

On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.