The Ole Miss football team is bracing for the fallout of the Lane Kiffin saga, and the ripples are already hitting the recruiting trail. With Kiffin widely expected to bolt Oxford for LSU and reportedly telling assistants they either get on the plane to Baton Rouge or get left behind, the Rebels suddenly look like a program in limbo. That kind of uncertainty is poison in December, and blue-chip recruits are starting to react.
Four-star safety Trae Collins has decommitted from the Ole Miss football team, he told Hayes Fawcett of Rivals. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound defender from Ridgeland, Mississippi, had been pledged to the Rebels since May and currently holds 26 offers, making him one of the most coveted defensive backs in the region. Walking away now signals that he is not willing to tie his future to a staff and scheme that may not be in place much longer.
Collins’ decision is exactly the kind of early warning sign programs dread when a head coach appears halfway out the door. Kiffin reportedly has much of his offensive staff lined up to follow him to LSU, with the message that if they are not on the plane, they will not have a spot on the new Tigers staff.
That might be shrewd career management for coaches, but for recruits who committed to Ole Miss, not “Kiffin, Inc.,” it raises fair questions about stability, development, and who will actually be calling the defense when they arrive on campus.
The optics around Kiffin’s exit are already drawing national fire. Colin Cowherd called the move “gross” in the College Football Playoff era, arguing that bailing on a Rebel team good enough to make a real run is very different from skipping a random bowl game.
At the same time, he acknowledged the uncomfortable truth hanging over all of this. LSU is simply a bigger, better-resourced job, and top coaches will always listen.
For Ole Miss, though, the reality is cold. As long as Kiffin’s future hangs in the air, more highly ranked commits like Trae Collins will at least reopen their recruitment. If the Rebels want to avoid a full-on exodus, they will need clarity.
