Ole Miss and LSU’s Post-Lane Kiffin Beef Now Includes Lawsuits Against Players

The Kiffin-induced animosity between the two schools is now spreading to the legal arena.

Ex-Rebels linebacker Princewill Umanmielen is one of two former Ole Miss players being sued by the University. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Ole Miss has plenty of reasons to dislike SEC rival LSU, chief among them the fact that Lane Kiffin spurned the Rebels, in the midst of the school’s first-ever College Football Playoff run no less, for the Tigers. The wound from that stunning move still festers for some at the school to this day.

Now, the animosity between the two universities is spreading to the legal arena just a couple of months before the programs are set to face off on the field.

The University of Mississippi on Tuesday filed lawsuits against LSU defensive end Princewill Umanmielen and offensive lineman Devin Harper, seeking nearly $1 million combined from both players in relation to a breach of contract stemming from their transfers from the Rebels to the Tigers.

“The University of Mississippi values its student-athletes and is committed to honoring all obligations made to them,” the university said in a statement, according to the Daily Journal. “In return, the university expects that same commitment from its student-athletes and their representatives in upholding their contracts. Before transferring to another institution, student-athletes Devin Harper and Princewill Umanmielen signed revenue sharing agreements that included a provision requiring them to compensate the university with a predetermined amount if they departed before fulfilling their commitment.

“The University of Mississippi has a responsibility to enforce its contractual terms, and this position is consistent with the actions of other institutions in the current landscape of college athletics. The university attempted to amicably resolve this matter prior to filing.”

Ole Miss included detailed timelines of Umanmielen and Harper’s respective transfers from the Rebels, each of which came at least a week after both players had signed Revenue Sharing Agreements with the University of Mississippi.

After letters to both Umanmielen and Harper produced no response from either player, and the 30-day buyout payment deadline had passed, Ole Miss contacted LSU and requested payment on behalf of both players. But LSU responded and denied to make the payment, “stating they are not party to the contract.”

Umanmielen appeared in 15 games for the Rebels, including the program’s run to the College Football Playoff semifinal, tallying 13.5 tackles for loss and a team-high nine sacks. Harper, a former four-star recruit, logged six games for the Rebels in 2026. Both were among the four players who followed Kiffin to Baton Rouge, joining linebacker TJ Dottery and wide receiver Winston Watkins Jr.

Kiffin’s contentious Ole Miss exit for LSU creates lingering tension

Lane Kiffin had a number of his former Ole Miss players follow him to LSU after his controversial jump at the end of the 2025 regular season. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Kiffin won 55 games during his six years in Oxford, but 2026 amounted to his best season—and one of the best in program history on the strength of his prowess as an offensive mastermind, as well as the emergence of backup quarterback Trinidad Chambliss after the injury to starter Austin Simmons. As Ole Miss rolled to a program-record 13 wins, Kiffin listened to overtures from SEC rivals LSU, who had fired coach Brian Kelly in October, and Florida, who had done the same with coach Billy Napier just a week before Kelly’s dismissal.

After a months-long process that infuriated Ole Miss and their fanbase, Kiffin chose the Tigers, then invited more outrage when he claimed that his Rebels players had wanted him to coach them in the CFP, a claim several players pushed back against. The drama kept on playing out when Ole Miss interim coach Pete Golding lost some of his coaches to Kiffin’s staff at LSU before the Rebels took the field in the CFP, then lingered throughout the program’s run to the doorstep of the national title game with questions lingering about which coaches Kiffin would allow to stay on hand for the Rebels, chief among them offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr.

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Just when things seemed to have quieted on the Kiffin front, the much-maligned coach conducted an interview with Vanity Fair in which he spoke of comments from parents at LSU who cited the diversity of both the university and Baton Rouge as a positive, while mentioning that some “top recruits” told him their grandparents would not allow them to attend Ole Miss, alluding to the racial makeup and history of Ole Miss and Oxford, Miss.

Kiffin attempted to clarify his remark the next day, noting that he hoped it was “respectful” to Ole Miss before going on to “apologize if anybody at Ole Miss or in Mississippi was offended by that.”

“That was a poor usage of a term [“diversity”] that I believe, just like many coaches that have been there before, was factual,” Kiffin added at last week’s SEC media days. “But over the course of a long interview, [it] was bad timing and bad usage of the word. It is what it is. I apologized when I said it, and [I'm] moving on.”

Kiffin days ago admitted one of his regrets with his exit process was his attempt to continue coaching the Rebels in the playoff. For his point, Kiffin’s former defensive coordinator and new Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding said there is no friction between him and his old boss, but also admits he used the backlash to Kiffin’s quick departure to convince stars Trinidad Chambliss and Kewan Lacy to stay in Oxford.

The Tigers will travel to Oxford to take on the Rebels on Sept. 19 in Kiffin’s highly-anticipated return to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, where he will resemble a figure close to public enemy No. 1.

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