Who would have thought the “transfer portal king” would pull his ultimate antics against his former team? After making the move to LSU, Lane Kiffin is pulling every string possible to add key players to the team, like going the extra mile to Knoxville for Sam Levitt. But now he is not just bringing in top players but also trying to get the entire lot from Ole Miss; that’s not sitting well with the program.
“[Kiffin is] trying to destroy our locker room,” a program source said, according to reports from On3.
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Ole Miss and LSU both hold elite transfer portal classes, but the situation escalates beyond competition as he is interfering in Ole Miss’s recruiting business. Kiffin, who’s now at LSU, aggressively targets his former program’s players, including offensive tackle McKale Boley, linebacker Luke Ferrelli, edge Jordan Renaud, and outside linebacker Blake Purchase.
Things got complicated when the running backs coach tried to bring running back Kewan Lacy into the team but failed. The linebacker Princewill Umanmielen resigned from Ole Miss but later entered the transfer portal. On top of it, offensive lineman Devin Harper recommitted to Ole Miss but later took a visit to Baton Rouge.
Harper was with TJ Dottery visiting the LSU Tigers. Dottery didn’t sign a new contract with Ole Miss even though they had been in the talking stage for weeks. But things turned nasty this week when Lane Kiffin shared contract details through agents connected to Ole Miss players in the transfer portal. Now using Dottery and other players, Kiffin is trying to get Harper and Umanmielen to his team.
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This is giving Ole Miss the feeling that they are failing to keep their roster together, as one Rebels source bluntly sums it up, taking a shot at Kiffin.
“[The Rebels are] in hand-to-hand combat with [Kiffin and LSU],” another Ole Miss source said to On3.
Ole Miss alum Sudu Upadhyay made another shocking revelation on Lane Kiffin’s move on his X page: that one source confirmed to him that Kiffin is trying to contact the entire Ole Miss roster. Well, he already took in the entire offensive line with him to Baton Rouge, and now the threat of losing the entire roster is just building the postseason chaos.
His last-moment decision to pull away all his coaches who are LSU-bound ahead of Ole Miss’s crucial game against Miami already took a hard hit at them. Now, all these moves can be because athletic director Keith Carter didn’t allow Kiffin to coach Ole Miss till the finals, but that’s just hampering Ole Miss’s future.
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LSU has financial backing, and Lane Kiffin already has an extra $25-30 million dedicated to NIL and revenue sharing to bring in top players to the team. So, fighting against that won’t be that straightforward for Golding and his team. Now, only time can tell if players choose loyalty with the program or Kiffin.
As he made his intentions pretty clear.
Lane Kiffin makes his stance clear on the entire portal chaos
Lane Kiffin isn’t letting Pete Golding’s first full-fledged year run smoothly. They are already leading the transfer portal rankings in the SEC as per 247Sports at No. 1, whereas Ole Miss is No. 2. But that idea of both going hand in hand is going well with Kiffin. As he made his intentions pretty clear.
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He might be liking the competition, but eyeing the entire Ole Miss roster isn’t sending any positive news to Golding and his team.
“Two great programs!!! The way it should be,” Lane Kiffin said on X.
Kiffin added key players to the team, like filling up the quarterback position after Michale Van Buren and Garrett Nussmeier exited; he added quarterbacks Husan Longstreet, Sam Leavitt, and Landen Clark. Even wide receivers like Roman Mothershed, Winston Watkins, Tyree Holloway, and Jackson Harris.
While the running back room also sees major additions with Dilin Jones, Rod Gainey, and Raycine Guillory joining in. Defensive linemen like Achilles Woods and Jordan Ross also came in through the Troich portal. This overhaul became evident after losing more than 33 players to the portal.
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But despite the surge, Kiffin’s move to take in Ole Miss players with dirty tactics is just intensifying the chaos between the two programs.
The post Lane Kiffin Accused of Destroying Ole Miss Locker Room as LSU HC Makes His Stance Clear appeared first on EssentiallySports.
