Lane Kiffin reacts to Matt Corral's comments about attending Ole Miss
Matt Corral had some comments taken out of context regarding his time at Ole Miss that were perceived as a dig at Lane Kiffin and the Rebels program as a whole.
Earlier this week, Corral was asked if he has any regrets regarding his choice of spending his college career at Ole Miss.
“I took the easy way out because I felt I could play right away,” Corral said on Tuesday, per ESPN. “Knowing what I know now and trusting my work ethic, I would have [gone] to a place that would have made me compete.”
Before joining the Rebels, Corral was going to take his talents to either USC or Florida. While Corral didn’t mean the comments to be disrespectful to the program he called home, Lane Kiffin was asked about them on Wednesday’s edition of First Take on ESPN.
“First off, I wasn’t here when Matt got here. So as far as the competition initially, which he was in, I wasn’t here,” started Kiffin. “Matt immediately texted me after that to say that’s not what he meant by it, and that he actually was in a competition here. So he’s a rookie in the NFL. He’s not going to say everything right. He’s not going to throw everything right, especially in his first year.
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“So I’m sure he’d take that back, but you know, we’re in the time where there’s not much going on in the media. Like I told him, this will run for 48 hours and nobody will even remember it.”
Evidently, Kiffin isn’t sweating his former quarterback’s comments, believing the media to be making a much bigger deal out of them. Nevertheless, Matt Corral is entering a competitive quarterback environment with the Carolina Panthers — he’ll be thankful to have Lane Kiffin’s teachings with him at the next level.
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Moreover, adjusting to life in the NFL won’t be easy for Matt Corral, but the Carolina Panthers have every bit of faith in their rookie quarterback. Corral starred on the college stage for the past two seasons at Ole Miss, and now he is ready to show what he can do as a pro.
Although the Panthers are hopeful Corral can eventually develop into an starter, they aren’t pushing him to do so by this season. With OTAs concluding earlier this off-season, it’s clear that Corral still has a long way to go to be NFL-ready.
“It’s a different game up here,” Panthers offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo said. “That’s not to take anything away from college football. I think they did a great job with him. … The biggest thing really, when you get these guys up here, it’s from the time the whistle blows till the ball is snapped on the next play is where he needs to spend his most time right now. Communication is a big part of it.”
Corral finished this past season seventh in Heisman Trophy voting after throwing for 3,349 yards and 20 touchdowns with just five interceptions. He helped the Rebels rank as the No. 1 offense in the SEC with 492.8 yards per game. His talent as a quarterback is not in question, he just needs to get used to how the NFL operates.