It’s hard to imagine the whirlwind that Lane Kiffin has been faced with since his hiring in Oxford. Assembling a quality coaching staff and recruiting a promising group of prospects to sign with a football program are unique and difficult challenges on their own, but when tasked with both duties at the same time, it’s hard to imagine the enormity of the job.

That’s the reality facing every new hire around the nation but considering the stakes in the Southeastern Conference, Kiffin has to be feeling the pressure to nail his first Ole Miss hires while bringing in some talent that will start the turnaround in Oxford.

One of the players that will likely play a part in Kiffin’s vision for the Ole Miss football program is Texas native and 2020 quarterback prospect Kade Renfro. The 6-foot-3, 189-pound Stephenville native took an official visit to Oxford last weekend and immediately committed to the Rebel program.

Now he will forever be known as the first quarterback to commit and sign on to play for Kiffin in Oxford. After Renfro’s signature came in during the first day of the Early Signing Period, Kiffin was asked to share his thoughts on his new signal-caller.

“Kade is a really good player who has a big upside,” Kiffin said on Wednesday. “At that position especially, just like all of them, we looked, we started from scratch and thought that he had a really big upside, someone who hasn’t played a ton of football. He is still maturing from a growth standpoint, growing into his body. But he’s very competitive and has really good touch on the ball. I think he has a bright future.”

While there is still much work to be done in recruiting for Ole Miss, Kiffin’s full attention is now on finalizing his first staff in Oxford.

Kiffin has already hired Jeff Lebby to be his offensive coordinator, Randy Clements as the offensive line coach, Blake Gideon has been announced as the special teams coordinator and Kevin Smith has been hired to an unspecified role. That leaves six spots left to fill with defensive coordinator being the biggest question on the staff.

“I think we’ve got a ways to go. We still need to figure out defensive coordinator,” Kiffin said on the progress of building out his staff. “Mac (Mike MacIntyre) is definitely one of those candidates. When you figure out that, you can figure out the rest. I always try to hire the coordinators first then interview the other guys, whether it is outside guys or guys that are here. The guys who are still on staff will have the first chance to interview, and we’ll go from there.”

Kiffin was later asked a follow-up question on how he plans to build his Ole Miss coaching staff.

“Hiring the coordinators first, we were able to do that on offense, which allowed us to hire offensive coaches, have another one that will probably be announced here today. Just wanted to find guys who were good coaches who fit really well. Not worried about big resumes, ‘Oh we have to go hire all these big-name coaches,’ maybe like we did at Tennessee. Just hire the best teachers and the best guys who are going to develop players. Excited about the guys we have so far. We have a lot of work to do. It’s similar to our recruiting class.”

Those comments have to make Ole Miss fans feel good as Kiffin has promised a more mature head coach than the one Tennessee hired 10 years ago. Based on that comment, that’s exactly what the Rebels are getting.