Eli Drinkwitz takes jab at Lane Kiffin for questionable use of SEC’s mandated injury reports
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
The SEC began mandating player availability reports beginning with the 2024 season.
Ole Miss quarterback Austin Simmons wasn’t on it before the Rebels’ Week 3 game against Arkansas, even while dealing with an ankle injury. And while Trinidad Chambliss ended up starting behind center, Simmons saw time but re-aggravated his injury.
Mizzou could face another backup quarterback on Saturday as it hosts South Carolina, as LaNorris Sellers could miss the game due to a concussion.
That, naturally, led to a question to Eli Drinkwitz about how teams plan around availability reports. The Tigers’ head coach took the opportunity to take a swipe at Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin over the Simmons situation.
“I’m not going to step into Lane’s business here, so I’m not going in there,” Drinkwitz joked. “It’s not really for us. It wasn’t created for the coaches. It was created for transparency because of other industries that are tied to college football. And so I would say you’d have to ask those guys.”
While the SEC availability report probably “wasn’t created for the coaches,” as Drinkwitz said, rest assured he’ll be keeping a close eye on the ones that come out of the South Carolina camp all the way up until Saturday’s game in CoMo.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
