Ole Miss player blasts Lane Kiffin for trying to ‘steal our shine’
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When Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss to take the LSU job, he probably didn’t expect the team he left behind to move within 4 quarters of a national championship appearance.
And yet here the Rebels are, set for a semifinal date with Miami, where the winner gets a spot in the College Football Playoff national title game. The Rebels have defied expectations without Kiffin and, in part, because of Kiffin.
“I know some people were down at first and came here because of Kiffin,” senior defensive tackle Zxavian Harris told On3’s Chris Low after the Sugar Bowl. “But after realizing how he was and when Coach Golding came in, they saw a difference in how a real head coach is supposed to be, and you’ve seen how we’ve come together.”
The Rebels won a first-round home game over Tulane to set up a quarterfinal matchup with Georgia, a team that beat them in the regular season. The Dawgs were a near-touchdown favorite. Many expected the dream season to come to an end, and Kiffin was reportedly interested in appearing on the game broadcast to talk about his next challenge.
ESPN wasn’t interested, so the appearance didn’t happen. Kiffin went to an LSU women’s basketball game instead. Harris told Low that Kiffin’s initial departure felt like “a slap in the face” to the team, but the idea that he might hijack the team’s quarterfinal game was something more.
“That’s what Kiffin tried to do. He tried to be a damn announcer … trying to be a troll. We were going to troll him. We got something for him,” Harris told Low. “He was just trying to steal our shine. That’s all he tried to do.
“That’s all he’s been trying to do, is steal our shine.”
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
