Lane Kiffin on the SEC Teleconference: Kentucky’s defense ‘absolutely loaded’; happy for Altmyer
Trolling Hugh Freeze wasn’t the only topic Lane Kiffin had time for Wednesday on the SEC Teleconference call.
Kiffin’s sixth-ranked Ole Miss Rebels (4-0) are welcoming Kentucky (2-2, 0-2 SEC) for their SEC opener on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT on ABC.
“Huge challenge,” Kiffin said. He’s in his fifth season leading the Rebels. Ole Miss has the third-most wins in the SEC behind only Georgia and Alabama during his tenure.
“I think Kentucky’s absolutely loaded on defense with NFL players. (Defensive tackle Deone Walker) has been unblockable a lot of times this year, and they’ve always had great scheme and great coaching over there. Basically all these guys return, and then they have (former Georgia All-American linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson) as a great leader and player.
“People want to point to the South Carolina game being lopsided, but look at the Georgia game and how they played. Very easily could have beaten Georgia and have held everybody under 300 yards all year long.”
Kentucky is led offensively by Georgia transfer quarterback Brock Vandagriff. Demie Sumo-Karngbaye is 11th in the SEC in rushing. Dane Key is 11th in receiving yards per game (66.0). The Rebels will also have to contend with former Ole Miss recruiting target Barion Brown, the star Kentucky wideout.
“He’s ultra-competitive and tough,” Kiffin said of Vandagriff. “Really rebounded from some marginal games to play really well as of late. We’re going to have to do a really good job against him.”
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A few other notable Kiffin quotes from the call:
On if he worries about style points in wins: I have not. Maybe we should. I just haven’t. But we kind of actually play that way anyway — a lot of times if a game’s going in our favor, ‘cause we want to get a lot of players an opportunity to play and be able to evaluate them.
On the success of former Ole Miss QB Luke Altmyer at Illinois this season: I haven’t seen the games, but it’s awesome. We’ve talked about it a few times in the quarterback room — how great that is that he’s doing great. Him and Zakhari (Franklin, former Ole Miss wide receiver) are having a great season, sounds like.
On the ugly NIL situation with UNLV QB Matt Sluka and potential safeguards for schools: I don’t know the safeguard part; that’s above me. They have contracts, I guess, now. They’re not like professional sports where the contracts are public or as detailed because they’re not employees technically. It’s just a flawed system, so we just try to work our way through it the best we can.
On the frequency of two-minute scoring drives for the Ole Miss offense: I don’t have the data in front of me, but four lower-ranked defenses in a row. We’re obviously not going to slow down. You want to score.
