Ole Miss issues statement regarding DeSanto Rollins lawsuit against Lane Kiffin, university

A lawsuit was filed on behalf of Ole Miss football player DeSanto Rollins in Federal Court on Thursday against head coach Lane Kiffin and the University of Mississippi.

In the lawsuit, filed with the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi Oxford Division, Rollins claims he was suffering from mental health issues just prior to the 2022 football season and was not given proper care for those issues by the university and that Kiffin allegedly kicked Rollins off the team causing those issues to cause more anxiety.

The Ole Miss athletics department has since provided a statement through an Ole Miss spokesman, claiming they have not received the lawsuit and that Rollins was never removed from the team.

“We have not received a lawsuit. DeSanto was never removed from the football team and remains on scholarship,” the statement reads. “In addition, he continues to have the opportunity to receive all of the resources and advantages that are afforded a student-athlete at the university.”

Rollins is seeking to be re-instated to the football team and, specifically, along the defensive line, with punitive damages of $40 million from Kiffin and the other defendants. He requests a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction and permanent injunction that would act to get him re-instated.

He also demands a jury trial.

There are also 10 other defendants that the suit claims Rollins does not know the name of and are labeled as John Does 1-10, until they are discovered and properly identified.

Rollins claims in the suit that his Achilles injury sustained in July 2022 caused him to suffer “severe depression, anxiety, frustration, embarrassment, humiliation, loss of sleep and loss of appetite that substantially limited his ability to perform major life activities like walking, jumping, standing for long periods of time, standing on his toes, climbing, eating and sleeping.”

He goes on to claim he was not aware of need for mental health evaluation or a mental health referral when he suffered those issues mentioned above. The suit goes on to state that the Ole Miss football staff, nutritionist and football trainers, “knew, or should have known” that Rollins was suffering from mental health issues and failed to provide mental health material or a referral after the Achilles injury.

Rollins has been a member of the Ole Miss team since the 2020 season.

An LCL injury to his left knee in August 2022 caused Rollins to feel “worthless, experienced sadness, embarrassment, humiliation, a loss of appetite and a loss of sleep” according to the suit.

On November 28 the suit claims that Rollins had an exit meeting with Ole Miss defensive line coach Randall Joyner and that he “pressured” Rollins to get into the transfer portal and go to another school and that if he waited until spring he would not have time to “look elsewhere.”

The suit goes on to claim that in the same meeting Joyner told Rollins that if he stayed at Ole Miss he would “just be here” and it would tough for him to play because how the place was “wired.”

In February Joyner informed Rollins that Kiffin wanted to meet with him and the two met on Feb. 27, according to the suit. In the meeting Kiffin allegedly told Rollins he was being removed from the defensive tackle position to the scout team’s offensive line because he would not enter the portal and leave Ole Miss.

The suit alleges that Rollins asked Kiffin if that was a choice or a command and that Kiffin then yelled at him in a “hostile and verbally threatening tone” telling Rollins that he “was the coach and Rollins was the player” and that if he did not like it then to quit.

The lawsuit alleges Rollins and Kiffin had a second meeting roughly a month later.

In the March 21 meeting the suit claims Kiffin was “maliciously, deliberately, intentionally, and in blatant disregard for rights and health” of Rollins and that Kiffin, allegedly, verbally assaulted him knowing Rollins was suffering from mental health issues.

The lawsuit includes dialogue from Kiffin and Rollins interaction that ends with it claiming Kiffin “kicked” Rollins off the team because he requested to take a mental health break after the first meeting in February.

Claimed in the suit as well is that Kiffin has never kicked off a white football player from the team for requesting a break and has allowed a white football player who had been removed from the team to return. The suit never mentions who the white player in question is.

At the time of this article’s publication Rollins is still listed on the football team’s roster on the Ole Miss athletics official website.