Lane Kiffin explains how Ole Miss has found success while relying on the transfer portal
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin has become known for his use of the transfer portal to build a roster. However, it’s not easy to build a roster this way, as he’s learned over the years.
During an appearance on SportsCenter, Kiffin broke down some of those challenges that come with living in the transfer portal and how he’s found success doing that while at Ole Miss.
“It is challenging, kind of like free agency in professional sports,” Lane Kiffin said. “It sounds great when you sign these guys but then you’ve got to mesh them together and you’ve got to get everybody to play really well together as well because everybody wants to get the ball or be the star.”
Despite the challenges with navigating the portal, Kiffin has used it heavily to add players like quarterback Jaxson Dart over the years. He’s taken those players and been able to turn them into a competitive team, going 8-1 to this point in the season.
“So, it’s not just as easy as signing guys because you’ve seen around the country where that’s worked and where that has worked and where that hasn’t worked,” Kiffin continued. “So, I give a lot of credit to our players. This is a really neat, cool group of players to coach. I love coming in here every morning, seeing the guys. They fire me up. I’m just excited to coach them. They’re really special.”
Finding that chemistry is something that Lane Kiffin emphasized the importance of when building a roster.
“When you say each year, and that now is the case in college football when you use the portal. Half the roster is new every year,” Kiffin added. “So, it’s like a brand new, start over again each season. This has been fun. That’s been challenging and it’s been awesome to see them come together this quickly in the season and overcome adversity in the games.”
Lane Kiffin explains why Ole Miss has nothing to lose in challenge at Georgia
Next up for Ole Miss are the Georgia Bulldogs. It’s going to be a tough game that nobody expects Ole Miss to win. So, Lane Kiffin knows his team has nothing to lose.
“We’re not worried about the SEC West champs right now. Part of that is out of our control. We’re worried about preparing well today and going to play the most challenging game that you could possibly have – the two-time defending national champs. Like I said, they haven’t lost there since before COVID, five years. They do a great job on offense, defense, special teams. And have elite coaching to match elite players and an elite crowd. This is the trifecta of tests here so this will be fun,” Kiffin said.
“We’ve just got to keep playing well, find a way to win the games. Get to 1-0 each week and then worry about the next week after that. Like I said, this is a giant challenge – the biggest one you could possibly have, double-digit underdogs. No one is expecting us to have a chance so it’s kind of like playing with house money. What do we have to lose? Let’s just go out and take a shot.”