LSU's Lane Kiffin on return to Ole Miss in September: 'I'm not even there yet'

Destin, Fla. — Lane Kiffin was not about to give the college football world another offseason soundbite. Six months into his LSU tenure, Kiffin addressed the media at SEC spring meetings on Tuesday with a soft-spoken tone.

Kiffin declined to talk in detail about his return to Ole Miss on Sept. 19, a matchup that everybody in the sport is keeping tabs. The LSU head coach and Ole Miss have traded jabs this offseason, including Kiffin claiming some out-of-state families did not want their sons to move to Oxford because of its racially fraught past.

“I’m not even there yet,” Kiffin said when asked about the visit to Ole Miss this season. “We’ve got so much work to do before that. … I’ve gone back to Tennessee before, so I guess we’ve gotten some practice.”

Kiffin left Ole Miss following the Egg Bowl and ahead of the program’s College Football Playoff run. The move ahead of the postseason turned heads. Kiffin said that his time at Ole Miss can be cherished while recognizing he wanted to take on a new challenge at LSU.

“We made this decision for the next chapter,” Kiffin said. “Two things can be right at the same time, they both can be true. You can have had a wonderful experience, and everything you said about those six years, where you know you needed Oxford and Ole Miss more than they needed you. That can totally be true. And then you can choose a new challenge and go to another place, so both those things are true.”

Lane Kiffin has not wasted time since he arrived in Baton Rouge. He assembled one of the top transfer portal classes in January, bringing in Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt, Colorado offensive tackle Jordan Seaton and Ole Miss EDGE Princewill Umanmielen.

Sources have told On3 that LSU’s roster is north of $40 million this season. Kiffin said the elite level of roster spending does not add any more pressure heading into Year 1 with the Tigers.

“It’s been a great six months, and signed a lot of really good players, have guys committed and put together an awesome staff,” Kiffin said. “I never said the decision was just about winning national championships. There are a lot of things that went into it. You can’t please everybody, and make decisions, and take a different job. Sometimes timing is just right for a new challenge, and this is a really big challenge. It’s been a great start.”