Oleโข Miss โFootball Players Dispute โฃLane Kiffin’s Account โof Departure
OXFORD, miss. – Several Ole Miss football players publicly challenged statements madeโฃ by โrecently departed head coach โLane Kiffin regarding the circumstancesโข of his move to LSU,allegingโ discrepancies between his public comments and what wasโข communicated to โthe team. The dispute centers on Kiffin’s explanation โคforโข his โabsence from a โteam meeting where players were informed of hisโ departure and his inability to โcoach the Rebels in the upcoming College Football โPlayoff.
Defensive back Suntarine โPerkins took to X โข(formerly โTwitter) on december 3, 2025,โค directlyโข responding to Kiffin’s remarks. Perkinsโ posted, “That was not the message you said in the meeting โฃroom.Everybody that was in there can vouch on this.” He included a link toโข kiffin’sโ initial statement.
former Ole Missโ defensive โคtackle Tariqious Tisdale,โ who played for Kiffin in 2020, also voiced criticism on Facebook, stating, “Don’t get me started on lane he’s been a snake as Iโฃ met him.” Tisdale added, “And I got teammates โthatโ can vouch especially if youโ was there in 2020-2021 and played defense.”
The โplayer reactions follow โKiffin’s introduction as LSU’s coachโค on Monday,where he described โฃleaving Ole Missโ as โ”excruciating and challenging” and stated theโข decision was made after athletic director Keith carter denied his request to coach the Rebels in the CFP. Kiffin โclaimed he informed โOle Miss officials of his decision Saturdayโ night and learned he would โขnot be permitted to โฃcoach in the โplayoff โคapproximately 30 minutes before the team meeting. He โฃexpressed regret at not being able to personally explainโข the situation to the players, โstating he respected the program’sโ decision.
Kiffin hadโ previously described the situation as “sucked for a lot of people” and said, โฃ”Thereโฃ was no way to possibly do โคitโค betterโค than the way we did.” โขHe also characterized the decision to leave as anโ attemptโ toโฃ act in the best interest of โฃthe playersโ and give them the best chance to win a nationalโ championship, particularly with โขa home playoff game in Mississippi.
Ole Miss finished the regular season with a 10-2 recordโ and earned a spot in the CFP.Offensiveโ coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., who initially followed kiffin toโข LSU, returned to coach the โฃrebels’ offense for the postseason at Kiffin’s request.
