Kiffin: Record-setting Ole Miss WR Jonathan Mingo “just awesome to have around.”

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin on Monday used the opening minutes of his weekly press conference to again throw a few more well-earned words of praise towards Jonathan Mingo, his star Rebel wide receiver.

Mingo, the SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week, set the single-game school record for receiving yards (247) in the Rebels’ blowout of Vanderbilt in Nashville.

The win propelled Ole Miss to just its second 6-0 start to a season since the 60s, and the Rebels are also 2-0 in the SEC. They were ranked No. 4 in the latest batch of league power rankings released by On3.

“I think that’s really cool for a guy that’s been here a long time (and) never really complained about catches (or) playing time,” Kiffin said. “It’s awesome to use those stories with the team this morning, for guys to understand there’s something to just working really hard and doing all the little things like (Mingo) did to spring another touchdown run (against Vanderbilt) by blocking a linebacker.

“I just really like him as a kid. He’s an awesome leader by example. Never says anything but just works and never complains.”

RELATED: Elijah Moore wanted Jonathan Mingo to break his record. Lane Kiffin made sure he did.

Mingo’s is a story of perseverance. 

He arrived at Ole Miss as a four-star in-state signee in the 2019 class. He was ranked as the No. 213 overall prospect in the country at the time, as well as the No. 34 wide receiver and the No. 12 player in Mississippi, according to the industry-generated On3 Consensus.

However, Mingo had to wait years for his breakout. Among his setbacks was a broken foot that required two surgeries. 

His heroics at Vanderbilt included a pair of 70-plus-yard receptions to break two previous-program-best marks set by Elijah Moore in 2020, including the longest Ole Miss passing plays.

“He’s been through adversity,” Kiffin said. “I remember the passion he had when the guy came out and tried to practice for Alabama (last season) when there was no way he was going to be able to go and still tried and the tears in his eyes. 

“It’s just special kids. You take a team meeting at every school and say, ‘Who loves football?’ And they’ll all raise their hand. Well, that’s not true. When you really love football, you practice and prepare like this guy does. 

“He’s just awesome to have around.”

RELATED: Ole Miss TE Michael Trigg likely out for the season with broken collarbone

Kiffin also addressed the most pressing hot-button Ole Miss football topics of the day.

Most consequential is the loss of starting tight end Michael Trigg. Trigg, a first-year transfer from USC, is likely out for the season following a broken collarbone suffered against the Commodores, as first-reported by Chuck Rounsaville of the Ole Miss Spirit.

While Kiffin didn’t comment on the report or status of Trigg directly, he did concede the Rebels, banged up as they are, could certainly use a bye week. But Ole Miss — which plays six straight SEC games to close out the regular season, starting with Auburn — isn’t off until the week of Halloween.

Kickoff against the Tigers is set for Saturday at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN. 

“It is what it is,” Kiffin said. “Whatever the schedule is, don’t worry about it. You never know. Sometimes you wish it was at a certain time and it comes later and you don’t know that you actually like it better then. Everybody has issues this time of year. We have ours. It seems like a lot of them. We’ll do our best and move people around like we have and figure it out.

“They’ve got really good players and have given us problems. We haven’t done really well offensively in either game. We’ve got to worry about what we can control, which is playing really well and playing a full game. Now we’ve shown we can do it backwards. Normally we were this first-half team and don’t play great fourth quarters, and we were the opposite this week. 

“The challenge is to put it all together.”

RELATED: Overreaction Monday! Why isn’t Ole Miss being treated as a CFP contender?

With Trigg down, Ole Miss will almost assuredly turn to veteran Casey Kelly.

Kelly is the younger brother of Chad, the all-time Rebel great quarterback. True freshman Kyririn Heath could factor in, too. 

Heath, a former three-star from Texas, was a standout newcomer in preseason practices in August, but he’s seen very little time so far. He played three total snaps against the Commodores.

“He just hasn’t had a lot of opportunities,” Kiffin said. “Had a couple holds at the end of games when he got in there and some freshman mistakes. He’s going to be really good. Have really high expectations for him.”

Here’s everything else Kiffin said Monday, in a video provided by Ole Miss Sports Production.