RECAP: Ole Miss kicks of 2025 SEC Football Media Days
Lane Kiffin, Austin Simmons, Cayden Lee, and TJ Dottery represent Rebels in Atlanta
ATLANTA, GA (WCBI) – The wait is almost over. The college football season kicks off in just 47 days for Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss, as he enters his sixth season as the leader of the Rebels. To say that expectations have changed would be an understatement, Ole Miss has finished in the top 12 in three of the last four seasons and Kiffin is ready to keep it rolling.
“You know, when we got there, at Ole Miss, we had to sell to recruits, ‘hey, when you come here, this is what it’s going to look like. We’re going to win, we’re going to have first-round picks. We’re going to have the most players drafted in school history,” Kiffin said. “Now that we’ve done that, we’ve seen that impact. Whether that’s transfers coming in or high school kids, they have been able to see that. And especially with Mississippi kids, knowing that they can stay home and achieve and get all of these things that maybe previously they needed to leave for.
Kiffin is rolling out a new team in 2025 including new starting quarterback Austin Simmons, who has been all in on his new role.
“Yeah just embracing the new role, just being around the receivers more often,” Simmons said. “Especially with the offensive linemen, just getting used to all the new faces that we have coming in and just making sure everyone is on the same page and building that chemistry. I feel older. I’m going into year 3, and that really helps a lot. Just being able to say ‘I’ve been in this game for a while and being able to say I’m already adapted to it.”
“I think anytime you’ve gotten the chance to be the starter and you feel that, you change a little bit,” Kiffin said. “And he’s done a great job. He’s led well, worked on a lot of stuff during the off season, and he’s done a good job.”
Simmons and Ole Miss will finish out the summer with fall camp before kicking off their season under the lights against Georgia State in Oxford on August 30.
