Lane Kiffin clearly likes to poke at Nick Saban whether it be on social media or the more traditional variety.
The former employee has also coopted the “rat poison” line from his old employer while also sprinkling a little bit of his own toxic positivity on the Crimson Tide. Kiffin combined the two Wednesday when asked about next Saturday’s visit to Alabama.
Ole Miss (3-0) has an open week Saturday and Kiffin was asked on the SEC coaches teleconference if he enjoys getting an extra week to prepare for the top-ranked Crimson Tide.
“As we know, they have a great team, great players,” Kiffin said. “I wish the media would stop upsetting Coach Saban by saying this is a weak team or has weaknesses. I mean, they went on the road into a top-10 team, into the Swamp and won with a freshman quarterback. Got an early lead and hung on at the end and now all of a sudden it’s not a good team and they have weaknesses and they can’t stop people so it doesn’t really help us a lot being around there knowing how that place works.”
For clarity, Florida was No. 11 when Alabama left with a 31-29 win Saturday and quarterback Bryce Young is a sophomore.
Kiffin later shared a link to this AL.com story on his Twitter page with 494,000-plus followers with this message:
“Please stop poking the bear!!!!! They are loaded and don’t have any “holes” @espn @finebaum @SECNetwork @CBSSports Best team in America by far!!!” Kiffin wrote.
He took it a step further when discussing the advantage he sees Alabama having when attracting top talent.
“For years now you’ve had the issue when you play Alabama, they have five-star players like an NFL team and better than some NFL teams at certain positions,” Kiffin said. “Now they go to go cherry pick players for any holes they may have like an Ohio State receiver (Jameson Williams) or a Tennessee linebacker (Henry To’o To’o). So now, it’s like they not only do they get the best draft picks but they get to go into free agency and take players so it really is going to set up one of the most talented teams ever, which is what we’re getting ready to play.”
To’o To’o topped 247Sports’ rankings of transfer portal talents while Williams was No. 23. The former Vol leads Alabama in tackles with 22 while Jameson is the second-leading receiver with 11 catches for 218 yards.
Ole Miss had two of the top 150 players in that ranking led by linebacker No. 59 Chance Campbell who arrived from Maryland. The former Terp leads the team in tackles with 19, of which 2.5 were for a loss including one sack.
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.
