Kiffin bringing NFL vibe to Rebels' spring

OXFORD — Lane Kiffin said Tuesday Ole Miss has a “very NFL vibe” at its spring practices these days.

The Rebels have a lot of new players, but many of those players are already experienced in the Southeastern Conference or the Big Ten. In other words, they’re used to complicated installs and can handle complex offensive and defensive schemes.

So this spring, the Rebels are focused on the mental side of the game.

“We’re not going to do a lot of tackling or a lot of physical work,” Kiffin said. “Just for the wear and tear of the season.”

Kiffin noted that the Rebels could, conceivably, play a lot of games in 2024. Ole Miss, which opens the season on Aug. 31 versus Furman, could play as many as 16 games between that date and Jan. 20, when the CFP national championship game will be played in Atlanta.

“I’m not saying we’re going to play a lot of games, but potentially, moving forward, there will be a lot of games,” Kiffin said.

Kiffin welcoming new voices: Kiffin hasn’t been afraid to add new voices to the Manning Center. Former Mississippi State coach Zach Arnett is employed as an analyst. Former Connecticut defensive coordinator/interim head coach Lou Spanos is a defensive analyst working with the Rebels’ defensive line. Spanos has NFL experience with Pittsburgh, Washington and Tennessee.

“He’s really good with rush stuff,” Kiffin said. “It’s great Lou stayed again because a lot of these guys come in and they’re gone after a year.”

Kiffin confirmed reports Tuesday that Ole Miss has hired longtime NFL personnel staffer Mike Williams to a similar position in Oxford. Williams worked with the San Francisco 49ers, first as an area scout before returning to the organization as a pro personnel consultant after a stint with the Rams as their vice-president of player personnel.

“Mike’s been here probably a week,’ Kiffin said. “I’m continuing to try to evolve to where it is and where I think it’s going. We need to have really good personnel people.”

Kiffin said Williams provides another good evaluator who has an NFL background who can help determine valuations for players, those inside and outside the Ole Miss program.

Those are difficult decisions to make, of course, and at the end of the day, the decision is Kiffin’s. Learning how to accept a myriad of input and then make a decision is something Kiffin said he learned from his time under legendary former Alabama coach Nick Saban.

“He would take time to make decisions, a lot of time,” Kiffin said. “That was really new for me. I was not that way. Coach (Pete) Carroll was not that way. I’m not saying one way was right or wrong, but Coach (Saban) was much more likely to go sleep on it, talk to five more people about it. It was a different way of being around decision-making. I don’t think a lot of people know that but he was really good at that. He was really patient.”

Mobile sports betting is getting closer to being legalized in Mississippi. Per Mississippi Supertalk’s Caleb Sellers, the Mississippi Senate Gaming Commission passed HB 774 Tuesday, which allows persons 21 and older to legally place mobile wagers on sporting events. April 11 is the deadline for a floor vote on the bill.

“I don’t have a ton of knowledge in that area so when we don’t, we bring people in. We had someone speak to our SEC coaches about this about a year ago. I thought they did a great job. They’d worked with the NFL. They’d worked with other colleges and they knew how it worked. They were able to get the alerts and track where the bets come from — the players and their phones or girlfriends’ phones. I brought them in here before the season to talk to our guys. It’s just another one of those things out there that guys have to understand and protect the team and protect themselves.”