Lane Kiffin Trolls Spring Game, Critics & Portal Schedule While Preparing a Historic Rebel Run

Kiffin Unloads on Portal Schedule Stupidity  

Lane Kiffin shares our concerns and repeated commentary about college football’s ridiculous calendar and leadership. Despite being nationally renowned as "The Portal King” and taking advantage of the system better than anyone, he has called out the absurdity of the portal schedule.

Of particular irritation to Kiffin is that multi-time transfers are now immediately eligible in college football. Thus, the spring portal is expected to be a storm of activity.

While Kiffin is comfortable with his ability to handle the portal craze and understands and supports players' desire for the most money, he is smart enough to understand the damage it is doing to the game.

Additionally, Kiffin brings solutions to the problems he sees. He has proposed a minimum of one-year agreements for portal players to provide at least some stability to rosters and player movement.

Kiffin’s logic is unassailable, and college football should be shamed for its inaction. Yet nothing is likely to change anytime soon.

Jaxson's Dart Hits the Spring Football Bullseye  

Senior QB Jaxson Dart is the marquee man of the Rebels roster, and why there is so much optimism about an Ole Miss SEC title run. Dart is coming off a career campaign but is no longer limiting his efforts to merely being a QB.

This spring, Dart has stated his desire to become a virtual on-field offensive coordinator and is working to earn the trust for extra responsibilities. 

Furthermore, Dart demonstrated an exceptional ability to connect with recruits and transfer portal prospects. Dart was instrumental in helping Ole Miss land transfers such as RB Logan Diggs from LSU and WR Juice Wells from South Carolina, among other signees.

Kiffin is highly appreciative and complimentary of Dart’s help and leadership skills. He even said Dart has the potential to be a coach someday.  

In 2023 Kiffin and Dart partnered for the first 11-win season in Ole Miss history and have shown laser-like focus and energy on improving the Rebels into a bona fide threat to win the SEC.

Dart could have entered for the 2024 NFL Draft. Instead, he returned for a championship run and is going above and beyond with his efforts to facilitate unprecedented Rebel glory. Dart has emphatically said he preferred to make history at Ole Miss instead of playing in the NFL.

Getting Defensive With Complements to the Offense 

Since Kiffin took over in 2020, Ole Miss has never had a reliable defense.  And poor defense has prevented Ole Miss from beating the elite teams in the SEC, including winnable games against Alabama in 2020 and 2022. Last year, Georgia rendered the Rebels helpless in a 52-17 shellacking that illustrated Ole Miss was not quite ready for prime time.

Defensively, in 2023, Ole Miss ranked 70^th overall and 42^nd for points allowed. While that was an improvement over previous editions, it was not anywhere close to a championship level.

But thanks to an influx of superior personnel and the leadership of defensive coordinator Pete Golding, Ole Miss is starting to earn national respect. In fact, ESPN ranks the Ole Miss defense 19^th best in the country for the 2024 preseason.

If Ole Miss can field anything close to a Top 20 defense, that would be more than enough to complement what will be one of college football’s most potent offenses, making the Rebels a complete team and a serious threat for the SEC title and the expanded CFP. 

Thankful for Prayers Unanswered  

Lane Kiffin’s dream was to replace Nick Saban as the Alabama head coach. While many fans and outsiders wanted that to happen, the Alabama brass did not, opting for Kalen DeBoer instead. But that rejection might be the best thing that never happened to Lane Kiffin.

With the Nick Saban Alabama Death Star finally gone, there is a sense that Ole Miss is one of the teams that will challenge Georgia for SEC supremacy in 2024 and beyond.

Kiffin is masterfully building and preparing for what could be the best team and season in Ole Miss history.