This season is nearly here, and it is almost time to lock the Vaught. Lane Kiffin met with the media on Monday morning for his availability period before the first game of the season against Georgia State. His remarks were brimming with confidence and focus. I have never heard the word excitement so much from Kiffin.
Kififn brought up the home atmosphere that he wished to create in Oxford.
"it’ll be exciting to come out and play in front of a home crowd that, you know, we really urge to be electric like it has been here at times. Really urge them to stay show up early and stay and create a great home environment like we’ve had it a lot of times here."
He has long harped on the fans to show up early and stay for the whole game, even against the cupcake opponents. It will be a tall task for the stadium to stay full the whole game, especially the student section, but the Vaught should be packed to start the season.
Kiffin also talked about his new signal caller, Austin Simmons.
"Austin’s doing a really good job. He had a really good Saturday night and performed really well. We continue to emphasize, you know, one of the things why we’ve had a really good record here and performed really well is not just the offensive stats and the most passing yards and all that. It’s been taking care of the football at that position and doing a really good job of that. So that’s of course a big emphasis and especially with a first time starter to make sure that that’s the number one emphasis for him. So we’re excited. He’s got a lot of weapons."
Finally, Kiffin talked about his revamped defensive line.
"I think that we have guys that have done a really good job. Coach Joyner does a great job, and he’s had to retool that like, a year ago with some new guys like Princely and Walter as well. So they’ve done a really good job and really present a lot of problems to our offense."
Overall, the tone from Kiffin was that he is excited about this group and thinks that they have the talent to accomplish what we all want them to accomplish, which is reach the playoffs. He also struck a focused tone, not overlooking Georgia State and talking about their talent level, including some high profile transfers from top schools.
Kick off for Ole Miss vs Georgia State is 6:45 central this Saturday, stay locked in here for more coverage.