Lane Kiffin: Transition from Wilson Love to Nick Savage part of ‘restart’ off-season for Ole Miss football

Ole Miss has come in just outside the preseason Top 25 rankings of both Athlon and Phil Steele, but little or nothing can temper expectations for the 2022 season and what Lane Kiffin could have in store for the Rebels in his third year leading the program.

Ole Miss was 10-3 last season, including its 10th all-time appearance in the Sugar Bowl. However, the Rebels lost a number of key contributors in the months that followed, led by quarterback Matt Corral.

Kiffin also saw six of his assistants leave, among them Wilson Love, his long-time strength and conditioning coach.

Love had been one of Kiffin’s most loyal coaching companions, and he even followed Kiffin from FAU to Ole Miss. However, he was hired away by Oregon in the off-season.

“We had to restart, really, losing so many players and coaches,” Kiffin said. “We lost our strength coach, who was very critical to our success. That presents a lot of challenges that aren’t just, ‘OK, we’ve already got this thing going, just keep doing what we’re doing.’ We had to restart that way.”

Love was replaced by Nick Savage, formerly of Mississippi State and Florida.

But the challenge has been far more complicated than a simple transition to a new voice in the weight room.

Kiffin signed one of the top transfer classes in the country in response to all the personnel losses, meaning Savage has had his work cut out for him with a roster, and staff, unfamiliar with how Kiffin likes things to be done.

The competition to replace Corral is seemingly down to Jaxson Dart and Luke Altmyer. Dart was brought in from USC, while Altmyer was Corral’s primary backup. The battle is all but assured to stretch into the season. 

Ole Miss lost its top-three players at both running back (Jerrion Ealy, Snoop Conner and Henry Parrish) and wide receiver (Braylon Sanders, Dontario Drummond and Jahcour Pearson), as well as its top pass rusher (Sam Williams) and top-two tacklers (Chance Campbell and Mark Robinson).

We don't think outside the box, we just create a new box. pic.twitter.com/nTklQV7PJO

— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) July 18, 2022

Ole Miss’ preseason rankings are indicative of a team most believe is talented and can contend.

Athlon has the Rebels as No. 28, while Steele has them at No. 30. The question is whether all the new players can’t sufficiently blend with the old.

“I don’t put numbers ever. ‘Win this many games’, because there’s so many different variables that happen throughout a season,” Kiffin said. “Success is just doing the best that we can (and) developing our players on and off the field. 

“Sometimes you can have successful years and the kick goes in versus out or the ref doesn’t see the ball hit the guy’s hand on a kickoff return. As coaches, it’s hard to do, but you look at how well did we really do, not just the record.”

Savage has drawn glowing reviews so far.

Jordan Watkins, an exclusive NIL partner of the Ole Miss Spirit, said in a previous interview he can tell a real difference in the step-up from Louisville to Ole Miss. He transferred in January and participated in spring practices.

“When you go into the weight room, the culture is a lot more uplifting because a lot of the players are bought-in,” he said. “They’re excited about it. It gets hard, but we know it has to be done.”

“The off-season’s hard to evaluate,” Kiffin said. “We’re not really there for everything and not really allowed to coach them as much with the rules. It’s always interesting when camp starts to see where they’re at physically. You never know for sure.”

Kiffin will know for sure in a little over a week.

Ole Miss opens fall camp practices August 2. The Rebels kick off the year against Troy September 3.

“Now you have a whole new world because they’re coming from other places,” Kiffin said. “They don’t even know your off-season workouts. Some guys came in a year ago, some guys came in a semester ago. Some guys come in a half a semester ago. 

“The off-season’s a lot different than it used to be.”