Notes from Lane Kiffin's 2023 Ole Miss Media Day press conference
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin begins his fourth year in Oxford with preseason practice starting on Wednesday followed by the local Media Day.
Kiffin held his first press conference of the 2023 season and touched on a lot of topics. Here are some highlights:
- Kiffin noted the team is working to mesh and build chemistry with a lot of new players and pieces with half a new roster. “Excited to be out there with a lot of pieces to work with”
- There are more new faces on defense as compared to the offense. That side of the ball is going to be a major focus during camp.
- All four quarterbacks were out at practice and taking reps throughout the two-hour workout. Kiffin noted once again “it’s the deepest we’ve been.”
- Zahkari Franklin was in a black non-contact jersey and came out to the field at the end of practice. Kiffin said he is not available now but hopes to be available soon. Caleb Warren was also in a black jersey at practice.
Related: PRACTICE INSIDER: Suntarine Perkins is hard to miss as Ole Miss kicks off preseason camp
- Kiffin does not want to go deep into the regular season with a quarterback competition but said, “You don’t want to pick the wrong one.” That is the first interesting comment he has made about the position battle up to this point.
- When asked what he would view a successful 2023 season in his eyes Kiffin said he does not really spend a lot of time thinking that way at the start but acknowledges wins and losses matter to the success of a year. Noted too many variables in games such as calls made by a ref / penalties that can affect the outcome of a game out of his control
- Kiffin touched on the NIL and transfer portal again, addressing his comments made during his SEC Media Days press conference. Having the recent success and surge in high school commitments he commented that “Ideally you don’t want to reset your roster every year.’ Felt he and his staff are doing better with the high school recruiting than his first three years here.
- Kiffin is, “excited about the pieces and the players” on defense but is also worried about all the newness. He noted he has not seen them do anything yet as a total unit in a game. Day one of practice is not a sample size. There were 11 guys lined up on defense at one point today during practice and only one of them were signed out of high school; Cedric Johnson.
Related: WATCH: Ole Miss brought football back and opened preseason camp. We’ve got the highlights.
