There’s nothing like a little preseason trolling on social media to amp up college football fans during the doldrums of the summer. And no one is more equipped to lead the charge of humorous, light-hearted jabs than Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin.
On Tuesday, moments after Ole Miss landed a commitment from highly-touted four-star tight end JC Anderson out of Mt. Zion, Ill., Kiffin quickly ran to X to take a shot at Auburn frontman and former Rebel head honcho Hugh Freeze. In a now-deleted post featuring Kiffin’s son, Knox, holding a fish, the Ole Miss head coach delivered a playful reminder to Freeze that his former program had beaten him in a hotly-contested recruiting battle — for now.
Over the years, both Kiffin and Freeze have utilized pictures of fish they, or their relatives, had caught to signal that their respective rosters were adding a quality player. However, the trolling has been remarkably one-sided, with Kiffin levying the jabs and Freeze refraining from taking the bait. Since taking over at Ole Miss, Kiffin is 2-0 in games coached against Freeze.
Freeze, a native of Mississippi, was hired by Ole Miss in 2011 and led the Rebels to four winning records across five seasons, including four bowl appearances and a 2016 Sugar Bowl win over Oklahoma State. He was then entangled in scandals involving recruiting violations and improper use of his university-issued phone, prompting him to resign from his post. This sparked an ugly departure.
Since then, Freeze was given a second chance at Liberty, where he spent four successful seasons before returning to the SEC as Auburn’s head coach in 2022. Though the offensive-minded coach has yet to right the ship on the Plains, he is hoping to return the storied program to glory this year. Freeze was diagnosed with prostate cancer earlier this year but is expected to make a full recovery.
Kiffin, meanwhile, has helped Ole Miss ascend to heights even greater than those reached during Freeze’s tenure. In his five years with the Rebels, Kiffin has amassed a 44-18 overall record, including five straight bowl berths, and the first-ever 11-win campaign in Ole Miss history.
As is evidenced by Anderson’s commitment to the red and blue, Kiffin has also had numerous victories along the recruiting trail. Earlier this week, coveted four-star edge rusher Landon Barnes from Duncanville, Texas, committed to Ole Miss over defending national champion Ohio State.
Though these victories are worth celebrating for now, the Rebels’ coaching staff will not be able to rest until pens meet paper and the prospects have officially etched letters of intent to enroll at Ole Miss. Even then, things can get hairy — just look at what happened with four-star Winona linebacker Tyler Lockhart this past recruiting cycle.
Ole Miss will return to the gridiron to kick off the 2025 campaign on Aug. 31 with a new face of the program after record-setting quarterback Jaxson Dart was picked by the New York Giants in the first round of the NFL Draft. Austin Simmons, a highly-touted southpaw, will take the reins of the Rebels’ offense with a myriad of weapons at his disposal. Pete Golding’s defense, after losing a lot to the draft, will also feature a multitude of new yet talented members.
Last year, Ole Miss fell just shy of College Football Playoff expectations after losing conference matchups against Kentucky, LSU, and Florida. The red and blue did, however, have notable performances versus Georgia, South Carolina, and a 32-point victory over Duke to rubberstamp double-digit wins in the left column for a second consecutive year.
With 61 days remaining until kickoff, Rebel fans can look forward to more Kiffin posts and remarks at the upcoming SEC Media Days in Atlanta to fill the two-month gap.
