Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss balancing Peach Bowl preparation with the recruiting trail

Ole Miss officially kicked off its Peach Bowl preparation on Tuesday with a press conference to formally invite the Rebels to play in the game featuring head coach Lane Kiffin, athletics director Keith Carter and Peach Bowl CEO and president Gary Stoken.

Along with the usual pomp and circumstance that comes with a New Year’s Six press conference Kiffin also kept the event grounded by reminding everyone that the next two weeks are not just about practices for a football game for No. 11 Ole Miss.

There is also groundwork being laid for the 2024 season and beyond as Kiffin took time out of flight schedule and recruiting visits to offer up a few words and answer questions regarding the December 30 showdown in Atlanta with No. 10 Penn State.

“This is an awesome opportunity for our players. We’ve already kind of done this where I talked to you guys the day of when we found out about the bowl,” Kiffin said in an opening statement. “Now to be around our players and to have some practices now that we know we’re playing in this, our guys are so excited to be in this big of a bowl against such a historic team to play in Penn State in such a great city of Atlanta, which of none of our kids are from. I know the parents, too, from talking to them are really excited to get there.”

Ole Miss started practices over the weekend but during that time Kiffin was busy with official visits from transfer portal prospects and high school prospects. National Signing Day’s early period begins on December 20.

The balancing act of putting focus on the current team and preparing for a final game in 18 days while also having to worry about roster management at the same time in the new NIL era puts a strain on coaches but Kiffin has managed to find a formula. In the nine days since Ole Miss was announced for the Peach Bowl he has been on the recruiting trail.

When it comes to Penn State preparation that begins now in earnest for Ole Miss but the aforementioned challenges still loom.

Kiffin knew just about as much about the Nittany Lions on Tuesday as he did during the initial Peach Bowl zoom press conference on December 3.

It is not a slight to the opponent but Kiffin has put his focus and efforts elsewhere in the last nine days, with great success. Ole Miss landed three commitments from the transfer portal over the weekend and a fourth one on Tuesday in Southern Miss offensive lineman Gerquan Scott.

“It’s been a challenge with our own practice, preparing for the game, and then the recruiting schedule,” Kiffin said. “It is what it is. I’m a little more familiar, but we’re still not all the way into game planning with our players yet because we’re so far out from the game.”

Kiffin and the Rebels also got good news over the weekend from within its current roster with Jordan Watkins, Tre Harris and Caden Prieskorn announcing their decision to return for a final season. Jared Ivey joined the list with his own announcement on Tuesday.

Last month JJ Pegues was the first to announce his intentions of returning to Oxford next fall.

“To me, this used to be more of a post or after-the-bowl-game decision with guys deciding to come back,” Kiffin added. “Nowadays when you need to figure out your roster faster, I think that’s sped that up. If you wait that long and you have a bunch of guys go off and declare for the draft, you’re going to struggle to replace them because a lot of these portal guys have already signed to other places. I’m very pleased with how many guys came back. …It’s really neat that they feel that way about the program and feel that way about the locker room that they would choose to come back.”