Ole Miss Fall Camp: Lane Kiffin Highlights Transfers, 'Blended Family' in Opening Comments

Lane Kiffin, while dubbed the "Portal King," has his own share of challenges in bringing moving parts together this preseason.

OXFORD, Miss. -- Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin likened his current roster makeup to a "blended family" on Wednesday, and it could be an apt description.

Kiffin's Rebels began fall camp on Wednesday morning, and he along with multiple players were made available to the media in the afternoon. While Ole Miss has taken heavy advantage of the transfer portal this offseason to fill holes vacated by its 2021 players, that presents its own set of challenges: namely culture and "buying in."

"It was good to be out there today," Kiffin said in his opening statement. "We have a lot of moving parts as we've discussed all spring. This is a different era now in general. You don't have programs where everyone has been there for years and understanding what the expectations are.

"I think a lot of people are dealing with this, but especially us with the amount of transfers. I think that's a big challenge of ours: how we can get players to buy-in to the values and principles of what we do here. That's not going to happen overnight."

The 2022 season will mark Kiffin's third at the helm of the Ole Miss program, and the challenge of replacing a large amount of production was not an issue he faced a season ago.

"That's a lot more challenging," Kiffin said. "We didn't lose a lot of players from year one to year two who had really significant roles. It's like a blended family.

"We'll see more. A lot of times, the first day, it's easy to have energy."

The Rebels are now in full preparation for their season opener against the Troy Trojans on Sept. 3. The game in Oxford will be broadcast on SEC Network.

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