Kewan Lacy didn’t leave much room for nostalgia when Lane Kiffin came up at SEC Media Days.
The Ole Miss running back, one of the Rebels’ representatives in Tampa this week alongside Trinidad Chambliss and Will Echoles, knew the questions were coming. Kiffin is now at LSU, and the conversation around him followed Lacy around the room. So did questions about former Ole Miss assistants Charlie Weis Jr. and Kevin Smith, especially from Louisiana reporters trying to get a read on how much the Rebels’ players knew about the move.
Lacy kept it short.
“He was my old head coach last year…My old OC last year....Running backs coach last year,” Lacy responded back during his media availability on Wednesday. “No, yeah, they’re all great guys.”
He was a little more careful when asked whether LSU’s push ever made him think about becoming a Tiger.
“Of course, yessir… No sir.” Lacy carefully said when asked about LSU’s pursuit of him and if he considered transferring.
Behind the scenes, Pete Golding’s message to Lacy and Chambliss was built around something bigger than the next stop. According to ESPN’s David Hale, Golding leaned hard into the idea of legacy and what staying at Ole Miss could mean long after football ends.
“Football’s gonna end. What are you going to use?
You gotta use an alumni base to be able to get you a job. Where are you gonna bring your kids to?
What jersey are they wearing? Y’all two created a legacy in one season that’s gonna be hard for anybody to overtake, and for what’s going on now, for Coach Kiffin to leave - go Google Lane Kiffin,” Golding said, according to ESPN’s David Hale.
“I had them both do it in my office. Google Lane Kiffin, the dude they’d have built a statue of here three days ago.
Google his name right now. They wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire.
They’ll do the same thing to y'all to (if you leave). But if you come out and say I’m going to continue to build on the legacy I’ve created, what that’s going to do for you and this fan base and the alumni for the rest of your life, I don’t give a shit where you go or what they pay you, you’ll never amount to that much.”
Chambliss and Echoles were more willing to talk about what LSU is getting in Kiffin, though neither went deep into it. Chambliss pointed to the coach’s background and experience.
“I’d say the quarterbacks at LSU are getting a coach with a lot of experience,” Chambliss said. “Coach Kiffin has been in the college game a long time, also an NFL career. Yeah, getting a good coach, solid guy.”
Echoles focused on the way Kiffin’s practices challenged Ole Miss.
“Just practice in pads was always intense. Some days they got us, some days we got them,” Echoles added about previous team practices.
“But just being able to - Lane throws so much at you schematically wise, as far as what he runs, you never know. And then you got the tempo too.
So just make plays, simple as that.”
The Rebels and Tigers are set to meet September 19 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, a game plenty of people are already circling as one of the season’s biggest matchups. Ole Miss, though, is treating it like part of the grind of the first nine-game conference schedule.
“I feel like it’s going to be a very competitive game. But I feel like it’s just another game on the schedule.” Lacy told reporters.
Echoles said the same basic thing, even while acknowledging the outside noise that will come with Kiffin’s return to Oxford.
“For me, I’d say it’s more like an ex, honestly…LSU, that's just another opposition that's in our way of our main goal, just like any other SEC team we play. We're not trying to make the game too big,” Echoles said on Wednesday about the lingering Week 3 matchup. “We know there's going to be tension outside of that, but we've got to go out there and execute.”
Kiffin, meanwhile, said Thursday in Tampa that he wishes the Ole Miss exit had gone differently. Speaking to ESPN, he said he would have preferred to simply tell Keith Carter he was leaving and move on without the back-and-forth over the College Football Playoffs.
"I wish I would have gone in when I met with (Ole Miss Athletics Director) Keith (Carter) and said, 'I've made the decision to go,'" Kiffin told ESPN on Thursday. "I wish I would have just said, 'Hey, I'd like to coach the team,' and he'd say, 'No.'
And I'd say, 'Hey, OK, I appreciate it.' (I wish I'd) move on (and) never even discussed it again."
ESPN’s College GameDay has already said it will head to The Grove for Kiffin’s expected return to Oxford in late September.
In Other News...
Pete Golding Just Sent Ole Miss Fans A Telling Message
Pete Golding has been settling into his role as Ole Miss head coach in more ways than one. After being promoted when Lane Kiffin left for LSU in November 2025, Golding has already made himself at home in Oxford, including buying one of Kiffins former houses. It is the kind of detail that says plenty about how quickly the program has moved into a new era, even after Ole Miss kept winning through the postseason and reached the Fiesta Bowl.
Golding also has been visible away from the football facility, recently showing up at a fan event in Memphis with quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and offensive lineman Patrick Kutas. For a coach still putting his own stamp on the job, those small public moments matter, especially in a place where the fan base is watching closely to see how the transition feels and how much of the old identity carries over. The house purchase may have been the most eye-catching part, but the broader message is that Golding is not treating this like a temporary stop. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Fixed A Lot This Offseason But One Concern Still Lingers
Ole Miss spent the offseason trying to make the roster sturdier for 2026, leaning on the transfer portal to add bodies and balance across the depth chart. Pete Goldings staff wanted more players who could step into starting roles or at least handle meaningful rotation work, a move designed to keep the same core names from carrying so much of the load again.
Even with those fixes in place, one part of the offense still feels unsettled heading into tougher competition. The Rebels have enough proven pieces elsewhere to feel better about their overall depth, but the wide receiver group remains the spot where the most questions linger, and how quickly the new faces settle in could shape how far this team can go. [Read more 🡒]
Pete Golding Sends Ole Miss A Clear Message Before LSU
SEC Media Days gave Pete Golding a chance to reset the conversation around Ole Miss, and the message was simple enough: the Rebels cannot afford to live in the past. With questions still lingering about Lane Kiffin and the way last season ended, Golding pointed back to the grind of the schedule and the need to handle each opponent on its own terms, especially with LSU looming in week three.
The backdrop matters because Ole Miss has already seen how one or two slips can reshape a season, with losses to Kentucky and Florida helping knock the Rebels out of the College Football Playoff picture. Goldings point was less about revisiting old frustrations than about avoiding them, and for a team with bigger goals, the challenge now is keeping its attention fixed on the next game instead of the noise that tends to follow. [Read more 🡒]