Lane Kiffin blasts Hugh Freeze: Will try to steal The Grove NIL staff 'like he's tried all of our coaches'

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Syndication: The Montgomery Advertiser — Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze and Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin shake hands after the game as Auburn Tigers take on Mississippi Rebels at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023. Mississippi Rebels defeated Auburn Tigers 28-21.

Hugh Freeze decided to give a compliment to Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss on Wednesday discussing the job the Rebels have done in the NIL world. On3 ranked The Grove Collective as the No. 6 collective in college football heading into the 2024 season, setting Kiffin up to have a fantastic roster.

“I think in the new world, that’s become harder and harder to do and you’re constantly searching ways with this new way of transferring and NIL to figure out exactly how to do it,” Freeze said during the SEC Coaches Teleconference. “I think there’s some who are doing it well, if you look at like Ole Miss and Missouri, I think they’ve done some really good things it looks like and trying to use NIL to their advantage and they’ve been able to maintain a winning edge.”

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Kiffin was next up on the weekly SEC coaches teleconference, was quickly informed of Freeze’s comments. At first, he sounded appreciative but then flipped the script, calling Freeze out by suggesting the Auburn coach might attempt to steal The Grove Collective’s leader, Walker Jones, away from the program.

“That is nice of Coach Freeze to compliment our management of our collective,” Kiffin said. “I’m sure he’ll try to steal Walker Jones like he’s tried all of our coaches also.”

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Derrick Nix, the current Auburn offensive coordinator, could be the coach Kiffin is referencing. Nix was a long-time member of the Ole Miss staff, dating back to 2008. When Kiffin arrived in 2020, Nix was moved from running backs coach to wide receivers coach before adding the assistant head coach title in 2023.

During an offseason coordinator overhaul his first season at Auburn, Freeze targeted Nix — who served as Freeze’s RBs coach during his time at Ole Miss, to be the Tigers’ new OC. The process took some time but Nix eventually left Ole Miss after nearly a decade and a half. Offensive line coach Jake Thornton also left Oxford for Auburn for the same role, following Nix.

Kiffin now jokes about having to watch over his shoulder in Ole Miss’ NIL space, hoping to not lose the collective’s leader. Jones took The Grove Collective over in September 2022 and has done well enough to earn praise from Freeze.