Ole Miss has 'restructured' its tight ends room to where depth is no longer a worry for Lane Kiffin
Lane Kiffin is offensive-minded and his first three seasons at Ole Miss has not seen an offense that is deep across the board. Heading into his fourth year in Oxford and Kiffin finally has the tight end position to his liking.
Throughout all the skill positions on offense the tight ends room is one area that Kiffin has never been completely happy with. There has not been total depth throughout the group as a whole in his time at Ole Miss.
All that changed this offseason when Kiffin and tight ends coach / co-offensive coordinator John David Baker went to work and bolstered the room with portal additions and the high school recruiting trail.
Some good news out of the trainers room as well as development from returning players has aided in the Ole Miss tight ends group being the strongest, on paper, it has been in recent seasons.
Caden Prieskorn, Michael Trigg, Kyirin Heath and Hudson Wolfe lead a room that has Kiffin full of confidence entering a season for the first time at Ole Miss.
Kiffin also credits Baker for how he has managed to build the room up from bare bones a few years back.
“I think (Baker’s) really restructured this room really well,” Kiffin said last week. “This has been an issue since we’ve been here. From when we got here to where you’ve guys have seen we played a game without one last year. To now have quality competition, really deep with four or five guys in there that are doing things. It’s been really good.
“Really refreshing and that’s our goal. If you want to break it down even smaller and say, ‘Okay, you got to really improve the position group.’ If our whole team improved the last few years like our tight end group we’d be a really special personnel team.”
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What has made the Ole Miss tight end instill so much confidence in Kiffin is the underclassmen performing on the practice field.
Prieskorn and Trigg are known commodities and have proven, for the most part, what they can provide to the offense. But sophomores Heath and Wolfe were the wildcards in their respective growth and return to the field.
Heath saw limited action his freshman season with Trigg out with an injury and only Casey Kelly as a go-to tight end. But the spring plus summer workouts and fall camp have seen Heath get more production and reps with Trigg moving from the starters to the scout team and back in recent weeks.
Then there is Wolfe who’s short Ole Miss career has been centered around his back injury that has kept him from the field. This fall is the first time Wolfe has been full go and able to participate in contact drills.
Getting both young guns in the mix is doing nothing but helping this renovated and revitalized position group shine in August.
“(Wolfe’s) had his battles with injuries in the past but he’s had a great camp,” Prieskorn said after Monday’s practice. “He’s helped push me as an older guy. …Kyirin Heath’s had a wonderful camp, as well. He’s shown a lot as a young sophomore. Both of them have done well in camp.”
