Jonathan Hess trading a fire extinguisher for a rose. Former Ole Miss TE to compete on 'The Bachelorette'
On Monday night Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin’s daughter, Landry, and her friends piled up in his living room to watch ‘The Bachelor’ finale. Later this year Kiffin may be asking them to make room for him.
Former Ole Miss tight end Jonathan Hess is set to find love on the next season of ‘The Bachelorette’. Hess was announced on Tuesday as a member of the 28-man cast that will try and win over new ‘Bachelorette’ Jenn Tran.
The new season is set to air this summer.
Hess was a tight end at Ole Miss from 2018 to 2022. Playing in 32 games Hess finished up his playing career with two catches for seven yards.
Last season Hess stayed in Oxford as a recruiting assistant on Kiffin’s staff. He is absent from spring practices to go film the show.
“I knew for a while but I wasn’t supposed to say anything, I guess,” Kiffin said after Tuesday’s practice. “Hess was really excited about it. Landry, my daughter, kind of had something to do with how they wrote his (submission video) they have to turn in. She was fired up for him. Her and her friends were like, ‘Hess! You could do this.’
For Kiffin he is going to have double the rooting interest as his former receiver at Florida Atlantic, John Mitchell, is also among the cast members for the upcoming season.
“It’s going to be interesting,” Kiffin added. “I kind of feel like it’s (the) basketball tournament, or now the playoffs for football. I feel like if he can make it and get some momentum going and get past the beginning to where people see a lot of him, then I think he’s got a chance because of his personality.”
Hess will be the first Ole Miss player to be a cast member on ‘The Bachelorette’ but not the first from the Southeastern Conference.
Most notably are former SEC quarterbacks Jesse Palmer and Jordan Rodgers as ‘Bachelor’ contestants that found success on and through the show.
Kiffin has a good idea of how his former player can have success of his own when the show airs this summer.
“I was asked this in the QB meeting this morning like what would (he need to do),” Kiffin said. “I said, ‘Just his Hess-isms. It’s just Hess.’ But I think they’re going to need enough time to see that come out.”
Kiffin, as we all were or are, once was a younger man and was more into and invested in the Bachelor lore and shows. He has self-admittedly “grown out of it” over time but it looks like the fifth year Rebels head coach will once again be partaking in watch parties soon.
