Lane Kiffin bashes SEC East after Keidron Smith opens up about intraconference transfer

Prior to this season, Keidron Smith transferred from Ole Miss to Kentucky, where he had a solid season for the Wildcats. But he had some thoughts on the differences between the two programs, and it led to an interesting Twitter exchange with his former coach.

Smith said the biggest difference between Ole Miss and Kentucky is “how [they] practice” during an interview with “BBN Tonight,” and that quote made it onto Twitter. Lane Kiffin saw it and retweeted it and took a shot at the SEC East.

“Wait I’m very confused about putting this out?!?!” Kiffin tweeted. “This is a bad thing for @OleMissFB and playing in the west and a positive for @UKFootball and playing in the East ??? It’s too much of a grind over here???”

Smith then responded in kind with a retweet of his own, defending his comments.

“Aye I ain’t say nothing to you when I left and you ain’t say anything to me,” Smith wrote. “Don’t try to use me for your social media clout, I said what I said and leave it at that. Nothing good or bad about it, just two different ways of doing things.”

In his four years playing for Kiffin, Smith totaled 224 tackles and five interceptions. But he entered the transfer portal following the 2021 season before committing to Kentucky, where he had 44 tackles and two interceptions this year, including a pick-six.

One of his biggest games came against his former program when he had six tackles as Ole Miss defeated Kentucky 22-19 Oct. 1. Now, he and Kentucky are getting ready to take on Iowa in the Music City Bowl Dec. 31 at noon ET in Nashville.

As for Kiffin and Ole Miss, they’re preparing for the Texas Bowl against Texas Tech Dec. 28 at 9 p.m. ET. in Houston.