Lane Kiffin goes in-depth on the impact Luke Knox had on people at Ole Miss

The Ole Miss and Florida International University football families were rocked to learn of the death of Luke Knox, a 22-year-old linebacker entering his senior season, last Wednesday. He was found in his dorm room by friends in “medical distress” before being rushed to a local hospital where he later died.

Since the tragedy, Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin has penned a heartfelt message to Knox and his family, and reiterated the sentiment in a recent press conference during fall training camp.

“Really neat kid. Got to spend a lot of one-on-one time with him. I’m fortunate for that. Sometimes, you don’t, because you’ve got so many problems, [I] just happened to with him. Very unfortunate,” Kiffin said. “Thoughts and prayers are to the family and friends, which, we’re in the midst of a lot of that right here, even non-players that were close to him, office workers, equipment people.

“He impacted a lot of people, probably more than he imagined. And you can see that by the reaction from so many people hurt.”

Kiffin coached Knox for two seasons before he ultimately opted to transfer to FIU for his fifth season this March. Luke is the younger brother of Buffalo Bills tight end Dawson Knox, who was a second-round draft pick out of Ole Miss.

Knox played a total of 23 games during the past four years for the Rebels before opting to transfer in March. His best season came in 2019 at linebacker when he racked up 10 tackles, two tackles for loss, and one fumble recovery. In 2021, he had 11 tackles, two TFLs, a fumble recovery and one pass defended. Coming out of Brentwood Academy (Tenn.), he was a three-star prospect in the 2018 recruiting class, according to the On3 Consensus.

The Rebels and Golden Panthers will surely honor Knox at some point during the season, though no plans have been announced yet. Ole Miss kicks off its season On Sept. 3 against Troy, while FIU will get its year underway against Bryant a couple days earlier on Sept. 1.