Chandler Pittman committed to Ole Miss last October.

That means, of course, he committed to a coaching staff that, with the exception of Derrick Nix, is no longer in Oxford.

So, naturally, the 5-foot-10, 160-pound athlete from Magee, Miss., knew he likely needed to do his due diligence when Ole Miss fired Matt Luke and replaced him a week later with Lane Kiffin.

Pittman has opened his options, but he was on the Ole Miss campus on Sunday when the dead period ended, getting to know the new Rebel staff.

"Ole Miss is still home and I'm just enjoying the process, really," Pittman said. "I'm here (Sunday) and hopefully I'll meet everybody on the new staff and get the home environment back."

Nix's presence on Kiffin's staff _ Nix was the running backs coach for Luke and is now the wide receivers coach on Kiffin's staff _ has been a calming, reassuring one for Pittman. Nix and Pittman talk almost daily, Pittman said. Pittman said he recently spoke to Kiffin on FaceTime.

"We had a good little conversation," Pittman said, adding that Kiffin's decision to keep Nix in Oxford was "big."

"Coach Nix has been talking to me really since I started camping here in the eighth grade, so it was big," Pittman said. "We have a good relationship. We talk at least five or six times a week."

Pittman said he's going to visit Memphis soon. He's taken a trip to Florida State. He joked that nothing is going on between Mississippi State and him, "and that might be a good thing," he said with a laugh.

Pittman said the key thing for him and Ole Miss is elementary. He just wants to get to know the new staff and find out what they have planned for him at the college level. Pittman said he's mostly being told he'll line up in the slot and occasionally be a running back that lines up in the backfield.

"I just think I'm good with the ball in my hand in space," Pittman said. "When I'm in space, I feel like I can make some plays."