When Lane Kiffin was hired to become the new head coach at Ole Miss this past December, there was a lot of excitement from those within the program about the direction the team could be headed. And that’s appeared to carry over into the preseason as the Rebels get set for the 2020 campaign.

During an appearance on “The Paul Finebaum Show” on Tuesday, Ole Miss sophomore running back Jerrion Ealy reflected on finding out Kiffin was going to be taking over the program and shared his thoughts on the new head coach.

“I was very fired up. He’s the right guy for this program,” Ealy said on the show. “He’s the right guy to turn us around and get us where we need to be. Just daily encounters, it’s fun being around him.”

This is only the second time that Kiffin will be a head coach in the SEC. In 2009, he went 7-6 in his lone season leading Tennessee. But he experienced great success while serving as the offensive coordinator at Alabama from 2014-16, then went on to go 26-13 while being the head coach at Florida Atlantic the past three seasons.

Meanwhile, Ealy is looking to build off a strong freshman season for the Rebels in which he rushed for 722 yards and six touchdowns in 12 games. He also had 20 receptions for 172 yards and a touchdown. On Ole Miss’ depth chart for Saturday’s season opener, the Rebels listed that either Ealy or true freshman Henry Parrish Jr. will be the starting running back this week.

Ole Miss will begin the Kiffin era with a home matchup against No. 5 Florida on Saturday at noon ET on ESPN.