HOOVER, Alabama — It had been 12 years since Lane Kiffin walked into the Wynfrey Hotel as a Southeastern Conference head coach.

It was July 2009 and Kiffin was the head coach at Tennessee. Fast forward 12 years and Kiffin was back in Hoover, this time representing Ole Miss at Southeastern Conference Media Days.

The hotel hasn’t changed much, though it has a new name. There were no fans in the lobby Tuesday, as COVID-19 restrictions has eliminated that circus, at least for this year.

“I do remember that,” Kiffin said. “I barely remember it. A lot’s happened since then.”

That’s an understatement. Since leaving Tennessee, Kiffin has been the head coach at USC, been fired on the tarmac in Los Angeles, worked as Nick Saban’s offensive coordinator at Alabama, spent three humbling seasons as the head coach at Florida Atlantic and guided Ole Miss to a 5-5 season during a pandemic-plagued year at Ole Miss.

“I think you’re just very different after 12 years, no matter what,” Kiffin said. “I think I’m very different.”

At Ole Miss, Kiffin said he’s just now feeling like he’s getting into the flow of the actual job.

“I feel like it’s our first year even though we’re in our third recruiting year,” Kiffin said. “I feel it’s our first year of that because kids are finally on campus that we’ve been talking to. …I feel like it’s all kind of a first.”

Kiffin’s first Ole Miss team started 1-4 but finished hot, beating Indiana in the Outback Bowl. After landing a top-20 class in 2021, he’s begun to get real momentum on the recruiting trail, a product, he said Tuesday, of getting kids on campus for the first time in some 16 months.

“I would like to think that says something about our assistant coaches and our campus,” Kiffin said. “Now that kids can get here and see the program and meet the people versus being on a Zoom, I know it sounds crazy, but we signed kids and when they got here, I barely recognized them because I’d barely seen them not on a Zoom.”

Expectations are much higher in Oxford this season. Ole Miss will be picked to finish as high as third in the SEC West. The Rebels have a veteran offense, led by All-SEC quarterback Matt Corral and a defense that Kiffin expects to be much improved this fall.

Corral, Kiffin said, has made big strides since last season, when he threw for 3,337 yards.

“The fall just happened really fast, so to build up and have a spring (was important),” Kiffin said. “I thought that he was very mature and grew more as a leader.

“I think he has a very unique deep-ball arm, and again, for not having a spring, having some receivers banged up throughout the year and a new system, I think he’s really good and really accurate down the field and I think we can improve on that having a real offseason.”

Running back Jerrion Ealy had offseason shoulder surgery and is completely healthy now. Ealy, Kiffin hinted Tuesday, could have a very versatile role this season.

“We’re just excited to really have a fall,” Kiffin said. “We went into last season knowing nothing. At least we have more of an idea now. Instead of just teaching basics, we’re seeing how we can utilize guys in different ways. …His speed is so unique.”

Kiffin said he’d like to see Ealy and the other running backs run more and Corral run less.

“I don’t want the guy running a lot,” Kiffin said. “There’s a reason that position doesn’t run a lot at the next level.”

Kiffin didn’t want to go into details about his post-baseball season talk with John Rhys Plumlee, but he said the former quarterback has decided to embrace the move to wide receiver this summer.

“I’m excited to utilize him and see what we can do with him,” Kiffin said. “For a guy to go and make big plays in a bowl game playing a new position, this isn’t little league where you just go throw a guy in there and say, ‘Go over there and make plays.’ This is major college football and that was a top-10 team in the Outback Bowl.”

Kiffin said it’s not easy for quarterbacks to give up the position.

“For him to do that, there’s not many kids that do that anymore,” Kiffin said. “They’d be somewhere else. They’d take their ball and go home. It says a lot about him and his feelings for the university. He’s a special kid way beyond the player.”

Kiffin gave Plumlee the ultimate compliment, pointing at his son, Knox, who accompanied him to Hoover Tuesday.

“If he ends up like John Rhys Plumlee as a person, he’d be really excited,” Kiffin said.

Kiffin didn’t go into specifics Tuesday but Ole Miss is not yet at the 85 percent threshold that would change COVID-19 protocols.

“We’re not going to get into exact numbers today and we’re pushing our kids that direction,” Kiffin said. “You’d probably think everybody does it but families have personal reasons. We’re having, I would say, a constant battle continuing to push it and we’ll continue to push it as we get closer.”

Asked what is said in those conversations, Kiffin declined to elaborate much.

“We just recommend it, I guess,” Kiffin said.

Corral continued to haul in preseason honors as the junior signal-caller was named to the watch list for the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award on Tuesday.

The Davey O'Brien Award is presented annually to the nation's best college quarterback and is the oldest and most prestigious national quarterback award.

Corral, who was one of 80 players named to the Maxwell Award Watch List on Monday, passed for 3,337 yards and 29 touchdowns last year, while completing over 70 percent of his passes.

Corral, a preseason All-America selection, became just the fourth SEC player ever to finish as NCAA leader in total offense per game (384.9) last season, joining Pat Sullivan (1970), Rex Grossman (2001) and Johnny Manziel (2012).

The Ventura, California, native finished No. 5 in the FBS in passing yards per game (333.7), No. 7 in passing TDs (29), No. 9 in passing efficiency (177.6) and No. 11 in passing yards per completion (14.5).

The junior signal-caller is the returning SEC leader in eight separate categories. He also led the SEC with eight completions of 40 yards or more.

The 45th Annual Davey O'Brien Awards Dinner is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 21, 2022, in Fort Worth, Texas.

Like Corral, Georgia quarterback JT Daniels is a California native. The two are the most likely candidates for All-SEC honors heading into this season, but the rivalry is a friendly one, Daniels said Tuesday.

“The first time I met Matt -- I met a lot of these guys when I was elementary, middle school,” Daniels said. “Matt and I did an FBU camp together. He's a little farther away than (Alabama quarterback) Bryce (Young) and (Clemson quarterback) DJ (Uiagalelei) were, in terms of California location.

I remember in seventh grade I did a camp, and I came there and thought I was going to be by far the strongest, biggest arm. I had a good arm when I was a seventh grader, and that dude Matt rips it, like as a seventh grader. I thought he was a high schooler.

He's just always had a cannon. We became buddies instantly. Honestly, we've been good friends since then. We still talk, Manning camp last year, we hang out whenever we're around each other.”