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In a college football world where the transfer portal is constantly expanding and players declaring for the NFL Draft, Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss squad is in a good spot for next season.
At Ole Miss’s Peach Bowl press conference on Tuesday, Kiffin was asked how much of a boost the Rebels have gotten after a handful of players recently announced they’ll be coming back to the program next season.
“I’m very pleased with how many guys are coming back,” Kiffin said. “It’s a lot of guys who are tweener guys … a lot of back and forth guys who would have been draft picks, but not as high as they’d like.”
Kiffin called this point in time a “new era of college football,” as players decide from either staying with a current program, transferring to another one or entering consideration into the NFL Draft.
Kiffin noted he’s used to players deciding their futures after bowl season, not before it.
“I’ve said when it started there’s no model to look after because the NFL would never have this setup,” Kiffin said. “This is while we’re in season and still playing games. It’s like the NFL opening the preseason right before the playoffs or the Super Bowl. It what it is.”
Kiffin said that the players that have decided to return to Ole Miss next season “says a lot about the culture in the locker room.”
“Really neat they feel that way about the program … they must feel that way about the locker room that they would choose to come back,” Kiffin said. “A lot of times that doesn’t happen because of their dreams to play in the NFL.”
No. 11 Ole Miss (10-2) is set to face No. 10 Penn State Peach Bowl on Dec. 30 at noon on ESPN.
