Ole Miss coordinators give state of the union as preseason camp rolls on

A suspension, Golding and Weis speak, and the curious case of Michael Trigg

PHOTO CREDIT: OLE MISS ATHLETICS

Ole Miss is two weeks into preseason camp and just over two weeks from its season opener against Mercer, and there have been no shortage of news and storylines. Let’s dive into a few of them.

Khari Coleman not currently with team after arrest

On Saturday evening, RebelGrove reported that Khari Coleman was arrested on August 4 on five counts of indecent exposure. As it states in the story, we were not provided a copy of the summarized incident report by the University Police Department due to it being “an ongoing investigation,” a statement that makes little sense and contradicts their policy from previous incidents. Hmm, interesting. Nevertheless, there are few reportable details at the moment. Apologies for being intentionally vague, but does not sound like a misunderstanding or a situation in which the details do not mirror the severity of the charges.

Coleman was a projected returning starter at a position of little depth need for Ole Miss: linebacker. It would be pointless and irresponsible to forecast how the situation plays out, but Coleman’s absence, however long that may be, is a significant one for the Rebels as they prepare for the 2023 season.

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The coordinators yearly state of the union

Lane Kiffin adopted a Nick Saban media philosophy when it comes to coordinators being available to local media — they aren’t available to speak during the season. In 2020, one of the last events I attended as a full time reporter, a few weeks before Covid shut the world down, was an off the record lunch with the newly-hired Kiffin in the Manning Center. He brought both coordinators, D.J. Durkin and Jeff Lebby, with him. If my memory serves me correctly, at the end of the meeting, as the trio of coaches exited the room, Durkin grinned and said “see y’all next year.” He wasn’t being an ass. It was humorous. This policy doesn’t bother me. This isn’t professional sports (yet), and coaches are free to grant or limit access as they choose. Kiffin is far from a tyrant when it comes to access. But, with that in mind, it’s rare that we hear from his top two lieutenants and it most always interests me when we do. Both Pete Golding and Charlie Weis Jr. spoke to the media last week. Here’s what stood out to me.

Golding is a tremendous listen

Pete Golding spoke to local media for over 17 minutes last Friday. I’d encourage you to watch it. For as often as these local media opportunities end up being snooze-fests, this was quite the opposite. I found Golding to be engaging and insightful with every question he was asked, which falls in line with most everything I have heard about him when it comes to talking football.

Golding was asked about his defensive philosophy and what a Pete Golding defense looks like when operating at optimal capacity. His answer included the traits he values most when recruiting talent to build a defense.

“Our motto is fast, smart and physical —in that order,” Golding said. “The reason for that is because, I don’t care how physical you are, if you aren’t smart enough to be in the right place, it doesn’t matter. I don’t care how smart you are, because if you are smart enough to be in the right place, but not fast enough to tackle the guy with the ball, then it doesn’t matter. So, number one, you have to get speed at all positions.”

While having speed on defense is hardly an earth-shattering revelation, the way he described its importance was interesting to me. Why is speed so imperative to have, particularly at the college level, and why are instincts and football-intelligence the other two traits he values the most to go along with speed?

“This is a game of space now, working the horizontal ends of the field. So, you have to get guys who can run and guys who can process things quickly,” Golding said. “The difference between college and the NFL is that there aren’t a lot of unbalanced formations in the NFL. Very few teams are going tempo in the NFL. You combine all of those things, it can all happen in one play in college.”

What’s the easiest way to enable players to play fast? The coach-speak answer you often hear is to “keep things simple,” in terms of complexity of scheme, but doing that is — pardon the play on words — not so simple, according to Golding.

“When guys are coming from high school and not used to seeing those things at that speed, it is easy to say ‘hey, let’s keep it simple.’ Then, every time you line up in a certain look, the opponent knows what you are doing because they have good coaches and players too. It’s about making the same things look different and different things look the same so your guys can still play fast,” Golding said.

Golding was also asked why he left Alabama.

Once again, I found his answer to be pretty candid and in line with what was heard and reported when the hire became public.

“This is probably similar to you guys’ (media) work, in that, having coached in Division II, my goal was always to coach in the SEC,” Golding said. “But I think you can also get so locked in on your career and the next step. For me, it was division-II, then division 1-AA, then mid-major, and then the SEC, and then becoming a coordinator in the SEC. When you are married and have three kids, you can lose sight of the value of what you are really about.

“Having won a national championship and a lot of SEC Championships, I wanted to go somewhere where my family could be more involved. My wife graduated from Ole Miss. My mother was born and raised in Mississippi. I played in Mississippi. So, when you can go somewhere that has already had success, that is very close to being to being elite and feel like you can have an impact on helping that, while being somewhere your wife wants to be and has always wanted to be — while still being able to do what you love to do — I think that is special.”

Of course, the entirety of the situation is not that simple or pollyanna. At the time of his hiring, there was significant buzz about Golding being in a similar position to the man he replaced, Chris Partridge, in terms of his job status being in limbo while the head coach’s eye wandered toward a potential replacement option at Golding’s position. I don’t cover Alabama and don’t pretend to know what was true and untrue about Golding’s future there. Here’s what Nick Saban said publicly about it.

“Everybody needs to make their personal choices and decisions about where they think they can best develop their career. Pete did a great job for us,” Saban said. “I like Pete and he improved every year for us in terms of how he did his job, which I was always pleased with. He chose for personal reasons, or whatever reasons, there was a better opportunity for him to go some place else and that’s his prerogative. And we wish him well.”

Again, who knows what is true and what isn’t, but, as I often mention in this space, two things can be true at once. Perhaps Golding’s answer was more centered around why he chose Ole Miss versus why he left Alabama. I guess the point is that everything I heard around Golding’s reasoning for winding up in Oxford centered around it being a decision that prioritized his family, regardless of his job security in Tuscaloosa. I found it refreshing that he didn’t shy away from that.

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Golding was asked about similarities and differences between Saban and Kiffin.

This is a pretty funny question. Before I get to his answer, I will first direct you to a portion of his opening remarks before he fielded questions.

“I am always excited to see new and different ways to do things,” Golding said. “There are a lot of different ways to win football games.”

If this newsletter were a tabloid, I’d probably come up with some disingenuous but creative headline about how this is a shot at Saban. I obviously don’t think Golding intended it that way. I just found it to be interesting that he included that in his opening comments. Anyway, onto his less eye-popping but quality answer about the similarities between the 71-year-old, stern, no-nonsense Saban and the 48-year-old Twitter savvy, often pot-stirring Kiffin.

It began with a chuckle.

“Honestly, a lot, especially in a meeting format,” Golding said. “They both demand discipline within the program, but in different ways. A lot of their mannerisms are very similar. I think what Coach Kiffin does a good job of is that, when you are at a place for a long period of time, it is very easy to go somewhere else and try to run it exactly the same way. But (each job) is not really ever exactly the same. It’s not the same resources. It’s not the same place. I think what Coach Kiffin does well is that a lot of the things that helped Alabama get to where they are, we do those things too. I think that Coach Kiffin also does a good job of putting his own personality on the program while not getting away from the culture needed for a winning program. I think he and I both learned a lot from that.”

You heard it first here. Kiffin and Saban could be long lost brothers.

photo credit: hell, I don’t know. Someone on the internet in 2014.

In all seriousness, this was a very interesting answer that made me feel as if I learned something from someone with access I don’t have. What more could you want?

Golding was asked about recruiting Mississippi kids and what makes them unique.

This answer isn’t likely to register on many people’s radars, but it stuck out to me because it confirmed what I have seen with my own two eyes, as well as what I have discussed with current and former recruiting staffers — including my football correspondent, Weldon Rotenberg. Golding answered by comparing Mississippi recruits to Texas recruits.

“I think the first thing is the mentality,” Golding said. “Having coached in Texas and recruited in Texas, (Texas prospects) are starting a real program so much earlier. Their facilities, the amount of staff and the resources available, a lot of those guys often reach their ceiling quicker. Then, you have these guys in rural Mississippi with less staff and fewer resources — and not because the coaches aren’t good coaches, they just don’t have the resources to do it the same way — those guys, who have a high ceiling and often improve quickly.

“I have always appreciated the mentality and the mindset of (Mississippi recruits). You often have a raw athlete that loves football and is also appreciative. I think that it goes a long way. With that 5,-star syndrome sometimes, those guys appreciate the team room, appreciate the gear they get. They appreciate the opportunity to play in the SEC and feel like they have to earn it and keep it, instead of it being given to them. I think that mentality goes a long way.”

This is an apt, articulate description of the differences between the two states and what makes Mississippi prospects unique. Not better or worse, just unique.

I have covered high school football in both states. When I moved to Dallas, I freelanced high school games for the Dallas Morning News, in part due to my newfound boredom of having weekends off, partially due to still longing to write and report even if it didn’t pay my bills, and mostly due to simply wanting a free seat to see what Texas high school is really like. I covered a game at Southlake Carroll a few months after Quinn Ewers elected to skip his senior year and enroll at Ohio State. It was the first time I had to apply for a credential to cover a high school game. Upon entering the stadium — as I passed trucks, RVs and vans tailgating in the parking lot — I asked a gate attendant how to get to the press box. The attendant instructed me to take the elevator right past the merchandise shop. I nodded and continued on my way, past the air-condition merchandise shop and onto the elevator while silently wondering if I was indeed at a high school game or at a road SEC venue for the first time. That press box, along without about seven others I inhabited over the course of two seasons, was nicer than at least four SEC stadiums I have been to. I swear to you I am not exaggerating when I say that. It’s truly astounding. That 2021 season/class alone, nearly 380 kids in the state of Texas signed with FBS schools, according to 247Sports class rankings.

Mississippi, on the other hand, is different. I never needed a credential and never had to ask how to get to the press box. Perhaps the one component I left out of why I wanted to spend my Friday nights at Texas high school football games after leaving the media industry full-time was the genuine enjoyment and appreciation I got out of covering Mississippi high school football. It’s where I got my start and how I gained any sliver of confidence that I could actually make a half-assed career out of writing. Courtney Cronin, who now covers the Chicago Bears for ESPN, and is a regular panelist on Around the Horn and sometimes fills in for Stephen A. Smith on First Take, was bold enough (and perhaps crazy enough?) to give schmuck like me a chance to cover high school games for the Clarion-Ledger in 2015. The first game I covered was a thrilling 31-29 road win for Madison Central at Oxford. Some guy named D.K. Metcalf was held to 39 yards that night. Things turned out ok for him.

Anyway, I quickly educated myself on the talent in the state that year — like A.J. Brown at Starkville High, Jeffery Simmons at Noxubee, Benito Jones at Wayne County, Raekwon Davis at Meridian and Kobe Jones at Starkville High too. Every single name listed is still currently on an NFL roster or in one of the 32 training camps. But none of those stadiums they played in looked the same as the ones in Texas. Indoor practice facilities are now the norm at Texas high schools. Many Mississippi schools long for an adequate weight room. Yet, Mississippi (3rd) ranks ahead of Texas (9th) in NFL players produced by state per capita. There is no real bookend point to this segment, and not that my own experience is of any interest to you people, I just thought Golding masterfully articulated what I saw with my own eyes (on a much more basic level) to be refreshing.

We will have more Golding content in the coming days.

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Charlie Weis mastered the art of saying nothing

For as much ink that I spent on Golding’s spot, Weis’s will be briefer, mostly because I didn’t find a whole lot of what he said to be interesting. That’s not a shot. He’s a smart guy. I wrote about the now 30-year-old, former boy genius when he was hired. He didn’t receive many pressing questions and there are fewer uncertainties on his side of the ball than Golding’s. There were a couple of things that registered with me from Weis’ proverbial state of the union, though.

Weis was asked about the quarterback position, the perceived competition between Jaxson Dart and Spencer Sanders, and Weis’ role in determining it. While I hardly found his answer surprising, I did that it confirmed how we all perceive the dynamic between Weis and Kiffin as it played out in their first year together (at Ole Miss) last year.

“At the end of the day, my job is to coach those guys as best as I can, get them playing at the highest level and then ultimately let Coach Kiffin decide who is going to be the starter. At the end of the day, that is his decision,” Weis said.

This is not an earth shattering revelation, and the head coach deciding who the starting quarterback is is hardly uncommon. I just found the answer to be interesting because it made me think of how the perception of the Kiffin-Weis dynamic is different from how the Jeff Lebby-Kiffin combination was perceived. In the two years Lebby was the offensive coordinator, Ole Miss was one of the most dynamic offenses in the country with one of the best quarterbacks in the sport running the show. Unless my memory is failing me, I remember there being at least some chatter about whose offense it was and who was really the brains behind the success: Kiffin or Lebby? The question was pretty pointless, as the likely answer was the two working well together to produce a prolific attack. I mention that because you don’t really hear the same questions or discussion posed with Weis. It’s pretty clearly Lane Kiffin at the wheel, which is not a knock on Weis. Kiffin clearly thinks highly of him. It’s just abundantly obvious that Weis is the mechanic and Kiffin is the driver.

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The curious case of Michael Trigg

When Jaxson Dart announced his intention to transfer to Ole Miss in January of 2022, the excitement surrounding the news was amplified because of who was coming with him: his close friend and former 4-star tight end prospect Michael Trigg. That excitement was somewhat quelled throughout the 2022 season as Trigg failed to make a consistent on-field impact. He totaled just 17 catches for 176 yards and three touchdowns, with all three scores coming against Central Arkansas.

A collarbone injury sidelined him for a large chunk of the season, but there was also evidence of Trigg being in the proverbial doghouse with the coaching staff. There was a heated exchange caught on the television broadcast between him and Kiffin during the Kentucky game after Trigg was not aligned correctly on a play. After he returned to health from the collarbone injury, Trigg was apparently suspended from the team and unavailable for the Egg Bowl loss to Mississippi State. During an April scrimmage toward the end of spring football, Trigg lined up incorrectly on a play and it forced a timeout to be called, as well as an exasperated reaction from Kiffin.

Two Saturdays ago, it was reported Trigg was dismissed from practice. He’s been running with the second and third team offense since (as he was before the practice incident). Ole Miss brought in Memphis transfer Caden Prieskorn in the offseason. Prieskorn is the closest equivalent to an adult that you’ll find in college football. He’ll turn 24 years old in September. He got married in July and has a young son. I’ve talked to him on multiple occasions. He seems like an exceptionally nice, mature person. Prieskorn is also a great story. A quarterback in high school, he had zero FBS offers and went to a military prep school for one year where he broke his foot a few games into the season. His only FBS opportunity after that lone year at prep school was a walk-on spot at Memphis. Over the next three seasons, he worked hard enough to transform himself from a scout team player to a starting tight end sought after by power five schools in the portal and is now an SEC tight end with a potential NFL future. It seems abundantly clear that Prieskorn will be the team’s starting tight end and will play a prominent role in this offense.

Both Kiffin and Weis were asked about Prieskorn last week, and whether it was intentional or not, their answers not only contained high praise, but also a subliminal message for Trigg. Kiffin was asked a two-part question about Trigg’s role within the offense as well as the addition of Prieskorn. Kiffin answered in reverse order, which was probably not a coincedence.

“Prieskorn has fit in really well,” Kiffin said. “The players have already put him on the leadership committee after not being here very long. That says a lot. He is extremely mature. Trigg has done some good things and is still coming along. We are still pushing him forward. It’s still early in camp.”

Weis praised Prieskorn’s adaptiveness and commitment to learning a new offense quickly.

“He is a great leader,” Weis said. “He leads by example. I think it is extremely important for us to have guys who are intelligent football players, who can get lined up quickly, who know exactly what to do and do not make mental mistakes. I cannot emphasize enough how important that is, especially in our system.”

Again, I suppose I can’t say with any real certainty that these responses were intended to be a subtle message to Trigg, but man, it sure seems as if that’s the case.

We’ve all heard for over a year now about what a tremendous athlete Trigg is and that he has the potential to become a dominant pass catcher in the SEC. There’s no reason to doubt that, but unrealized potential is just that — unfulfilled. Trigg is now entering his third year of college football and has 24 career catches. Ability and potential are valued and create opportunity, but squandered opportunity diminishes that value. In a perfect world, the best version of Ole Miss’ offense includes both Trigg and Prieskorn being dynamic pass catchers and match up nightmares in the middle of the field. But as it stands now, I don’t think fans and media can have any real expectations of Trigg being a contributor until proven otherwise.

We’ll have more football content tomorrow.