Lane Kiffin gives injury update on Logan Diggs, addresses timeline to return

Former LSU running back Logan Diggs was one of many of transfer portal additions Ole Miss landed this offseason. But his impact on the Rebels’ offense will unfortunately be delayed this upcoming season, with head coach Lane Kiffin revealing Tuesday that Diggs underwent surgery this offseason and will miss out on spring practice.

Kiffin was asked what Diggs’ timetable will look like moving forward and when he should be expected to return to action following the team’s first spring practice of the year.

“He had knee surgery, our hope is that he helps at some point during the season. How fast? I don’t know. That will be a lot to do with how fast he comes back, obviously,” Kiffin said. “But that can be anywhere from the beginning to the end of the season.”

Ole Miss represents the third stop of Diggs’ college career, spending two seasons at Notre Dame before transferring to LSU last offseason for a lone year in Baton Rouge. Rated a three-star prospect out of Archbishop Rummel in Metairie, Louisiana and ranked the No. 33 running back in the nation for the 2021 recruiting class according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

In his two seasons with the Fighting Irish Diggs rushed for 1,050 yards and seven touchdowns along with 267 receiving yards and three touchdowns through the air. Which he followed by being LSU’s leading rusher at running back last season with 653 yards and seven scores. Production that Kiffin is hoping to eventually see this season for the Rebels.

“That can be a blessing too. Maybe it’s later and when somebody comes back from an injury later in the year, they got fresh legs. Sometimes, it can be a really good thing. So we’ll see,” Kiffin added.

One of Ole Miss’ major losses this offseason through the transfer portal was Quinshon Judkins, the All-SEC First Team running back who transferred to Ohio State after posting back-to-back 1,000+ yard rushing seasons for the Rebels.

Diggs was looked upon as one of the team’s rushers that could replace some of Judkins production in 2024, but Kiffin is still not ruling out bringing in more players at the position in the spring transfer portal window. Which he was of course also being critical of when discussing.

“You’re going to have another free agency window coming up,” Kiffin said. “If you guys look out there and look at our running back position, just like you would in the NFL, you’re going to attack free agency at that spot. It is what it is.”

“There’s good and bad to everything. The good thing about this really poor system is that you can go fix issues twice a year, but also you may have your own issues, because your own players may be leaving, too, at some other spots that seem to be good right now.”

The spring transfer portal window opens on April 15, and it will be interesting to see what further moves Kiffin and the Rebels make ahead of the season along with monitoring the progression of Diggs’ rehab throughout the year.