OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi running back Kewan Lacy listened intently as he was asked about how he's gotten along with Lane Kiffin since the former Rebels coach left for LSU. He reflected silently for a moment, shrugged his shoulders and nonchalantly said, “I really don’t have a relationship with him.”
Lacy, the featured running back for the Rebels, said he has maintained contact with several former Ole Miss assistant coaches and teammates who followed Kiffin to LSU.
But Lacy “won’t really talk to them until after the season,” he said Tuesday. “I just want to be focused on the game plan and the game.”
The on-field storylines surrounding Saturday night’s tilt between the No. 8 Rebels and No. 7 Tigers have been overshadowed by Kiffin's return to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for the first time since he accepted the LSU head coaching job last Nov. 30 — a week before the Mississippi program he'd built during the previous five years received its first bid to the College Football Playoff.
Defensive coordinator Pete Golding was tapped to replace Kiffin and led Ole Miss to a pair of CFP wins, and very nearly a third in the national semifinals against Miami at the Fiesta Bowl.
Kiffin’s departure “was crazy,” defensive tackle Will Echoles said. “I was planning on deer hunting in the woods that morning. ... A team meeting got called to announce PG (Golding) as the head coach.
“It didn’t really hit me until the next day when I went to the weight room and (strength) coach (Nick) Savage wasn’t there. That’s when I realized there were coaches that weren’t there anymore.”
Echoles acknowledged there was pressure for many Ole Miss players to follow Kiffin to LSU, but said, “Nah. Not me. I told my mom that I liked it here and this is where I was supposed to be.”
Eight assistant coaches and four support staff, along with four players, chose to switch sides in the historic rivalry between public universities in neighboring states, including two defensive starters: end Princewell Umanmielen and linebacker T.J. Dottery. The duo have been key contributors to LSU’s 2-0 start.
Echoles, along with Lacy and wide receiver Deuce Alexander, who spoke at a news conference Tuesday, said the players who switched sides have remained friends with some of their old teammates.
“I still see P-Will and T.J. They're my boys,” Echoles said.
Speaking at LSU on Tuesday, Umanmielen downplayed his impending return to Ole Miss.
“Of course, there’s excitement seeing those guys,” Umanmielen said. “But it’s another week. They’re on the opposing side. So, there are no friends on the field, you know?”
LSU linebacker Whit Weeks said Dottery and Umanmielen “are locked in and they know that this our next opponent.”
“Neither of them have even said anything about going back to Oxford or anything like that,” Weeks said. “They’re staying steady and they know they’ve got to come in and have a good week of work.”
Alexander emphasized that the significance and timing of the game are what have their attention this week. It's the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams and could carry weight in both the SEC standings and CFP rankings.
“There’s no bad blood. After the game, we will be friends,” said Alexander, who added that when Kiffin departed, “I never knew what happened. Those coaches treated me great here. I had the opportunity to go (to LSU), but I was home. I live in Oxford.”
Alexander said he has not been surprised by LSU's success offensively during Kiffin's two games with the Tigers.
“I can see the same plays; yeah, I see the tweaks,” Alexander said with a knowing grin. “And the defense is great. They’ve got great players in the secondary. It’s going to be a great matchup with our receivers and their secondary.”
The pregame hype and fan intensity in Oxford concerning Kiffin’s return has been impossible to avoid, but has not been a distraction, the players said.
“We hear about it,” Echoles said. “But for us, it’s the game. I’m working hard to get back into my groove and get better.”
Added Alexander, “We see students trash-talk it. We hear it outside. Every time people see me, it’s the only game they want to talk about.
“But in our locker room,” Alexander said, “we’re about locking out all those things and keeping the main thing the main thing.”
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