Ole Miss Football's Lane Kiffin Trolls Auburn's Hugh Freeze Amid Quarterback Drama

Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels continue navigating Fall Camp in Oxford with the program beginning to put the final touches on preseason practice.

The Rebels are less than two weeks away from taking the field at Vaught Hemingway Stadium for the season opener against Georgia State with a new-look roster set to debut.

After a long offseason across the Southeastern Conference, multiple head coaches, including Kiffin, remain in headlines.

Last week, Auburn shot-caller Hugh Freeze's comments surrounding the play-caller role took social media by storm.

The Auburn program will utilize 3 different play-callers across the 2025 season with the decision stealing headlines last week, but Freeze went on to clarify his logic.

Auburn Football. — Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze talks with wide receiver Cam Coleman (8) during practice at Woltosz Football Performance Center in Auburn, Ala. on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. | Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“Derrick Nix is the offensive coordinator, and he does all the planning and scripting, and is in charge of the game plan,” Freeze told reporters.

“But, man, there’s no staff without collaboration on the plan. Offensively or defensively, I reserve the right to say on the call sheet, yeah, I don’t like that one right here. But he does a great job for us.

“Kent leads the third-down plan. But other than that, Nix leads the charge and has the playcalling duties, with me reserving the right to say — I’ll go over when we’re on defense to do head-coaching duties and do the same thing there.

"I don’t tell DJ a lot, but sometimes I can see what I think offenses are doing. And I’ll say, hey, we need to cloud this.”

Following the news of Auburn's strategy, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin wasted no time in taking to social media to troll Freeze and Co. via X.

🔥 https://t.co/ZFDCfol9uh
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) August 19, 2025

Kiffin and Co. have navigated a critical offseason in Oxford with all eyes on a new-look roster headlined by new quarterback Austin Simmons.

Ole Miss offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. dove into what he's seen from his new signal-caller.

"Yes, it’s a huge process, right? I think Jaxson (Dart), it’s interesting comparing Austin to Jaxson because we had Jaxson on three separate years and honestly all three were totally different players, you know what I mean?

"So, it’s interesting with Austin, he’s had two years here to develop but he’s never played full-time. He’s never been the guy, the starter, all the things that come with that. I would say overall he’s on a great track. He’s certainly much further ahead than Jaxson was when he first got here in 2022 because that was Jaxson’s first year in the system compared to Austin having those years built in."

Ole Miss will open the 2025 season on Aug. 30 at Vaught Hemingway Stadium against the Georgia State Panthers.

More Ole Miss News:

Ole Miss Football Fall Camp Notes: Which Quarterback Will Backup Austin Simmons?

The Preseason Coaches Poll Ranking: Ole Miss Football Comes in at No. 15

What It Means: Ole Miss Football Beats Out Michigan Wolverines for Coveted Linebacker

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