Lane Kiffin emphasizes importance of mental health amid tragedy at Ole Miss

The Ole Miss football community is currently working to come together amid the tragic shooting death of Corey Adams. Now, as the team begins to get ready for the upcoming season, head coach Lane Kiffin is looking at how his staff can help the players deal with their emotions.

Ahead of Fall Camp, Kiffin emphasized the importance of mental health for his team. He also advocated for players to lean on the coaching staff because of their experience dealing with difficult life situations.

“Yeah, we just spend a lot of time with them,” Lane Kiffin said. “Even last night, in the first team meeting, I talked to a lot because there’s so many new guys about, we’re very open door here. I know every coach says that, and I tell our players, and probably not much that you’re going through that the staff hasn’t. The staff’s been through a lot in their lives, very experienced staff that way, I would say, with off-the-field things. So, I think we’re really close with our players that way. They know that we spent a lot of time with them and really try to help them through that.”

Corey Adams was an edge rusher at Ole Miss who joined the program in the Class of 2025. A Louisiana native, he died in a shooting in Tennessee, where five total people were shot. However, the other four would be listed in non-critical condition. It’s an active homicide investigation.

“We tell them that as they come here,” Kiffin said. “It’s not just our job to coach you in football. It’s our job to surround you with people that have have gone through the things you’re going to go through as premier college players.”

Lane Kiffin remembers impact Corey Adams had at Ole Miss

Given his young age, Corey Adams only had so much time to play with the Ole Miss program. Despite that, he had a massive impact on the program. That’s something that Lane Kiffin made sure to remember ahead of the 2025 season.

“He was just with us for a short time, but he made a major impact on us by how he worked, who he was, how he led even as a freshman. Very rarely do we ever have a freshman that in offseason conditioning and running was challenging seniors to finish in a standard. That’s who he was. Just a tragic passing,” Kiffin said.

“Obviously, our thoughts and prayers have been with the family and having them up here and spending time with them. But out of respect to them, I don’t have any more comments on that.”