Ole Miss football announces hiring of Wes Neighbors III as safeties coach
Three days after announcing the first major shakeup to the Ole Miss football coaching staff, Lane Kiffin announced a second change with the addition of Wes Neighbors III
On Tuesday the fourth year Rebel head coach named Neighbors as his newest addition to the coaching staff. Neighbors will serve as the safeties coach at Ole Miss.
The move does not officially mean Chris Partridge is no longer a part of Kiffin’s staff but the hiring of Neighbors means he will no longer be coaching the safety position group.
On Saturday Kiffin officially announced the hiring of Pete Golding as Ole Miss’ newest defensive coordinator, a position Partridge shared with Maurice Crum last season.
“This is another step in taking our staff to a championship level here at Ole Miss,” Kiffin said in a statement. “I saw firsthand working with Coach Neighbors at Alabama how special he is at developing players on and off the field. His secondaries have experienced tremendous success at each of his stops, and we look forward to seeing him take our safeties to new heights.”
Neighbors and Kiffin worked together at Florida Atlantic during the 2018 and 2019 seasons prior to Kiffin taking the Ole Miss head coaching position.
The Huntsville, Alabama, native spent the 2022 season as the safeties coach at Maryland. With the Terps, Neighbors mentored Maryland’s top two tacklers in Beau Brade and Dante Trader Jr. Brade and Trader tied for the most interceptions on the team with two.
Neighbors also coached safeties at Louisiana in 2021, helping lead the Ragin’ Cajuns to a historic 13-1 season and a Sun Belt championship. The season culminated with a win in the R+L New Orleans Bowl against Marshall where he served as the interim defensive coordinator, holding Marshall to just 21 points.
Other previous coaching stops include South Florida and Alabama, where Neighbors also played from 2008 to 2011. He was a part of five national championship teams at Alabama as a coach and a staff member.
