Lane Kiffin breaks down what it looks like to embrace 'free agency' for Ole Miss at SEC Media Days

It's a different time in college football now. The new recruiting standard is money and transfers. In a way, it's like the pros, where there is free agency, bidding for players, and recruiting by using money. It's not the same thing that it used to be. And, change is okay, it's about people embracing it. And Lane Kiffin, the head coach at Ole Miss, is doing that.

Kiffin did not have issues recruiting or getting players to come play for him before NIL was a thing. And, during NIL he doesn't either. But, the NIL and transfer portal are a different beast. We have now seen it work in his favor, though, more than once.

One recent example that he spoke of, was landing a great transfer in linebacker Chris Paul Jr., who played at Arkansas the last few years. Paul Jr. stands at 6'1", 235 pounds . He plays well in coverage, and he can hit hard. Of course, there are other things he does well, too, but fitting into the Ole Miss defense and culture was the biggest reason Kiffin wanted to go after him.

But first, he had to go through free agency.

"Now that we're like the NFL when it comes to free agency and all this, I think that was similar to what happens a lot in the NFL," Kiffin said at SEC Media Days. "You play against somebody and then they go — they're up for free agency that year and they're a rival and so you feel like you know them well. Especially as an offensive head coach going against him, playing him. Then he got injured later in our game (last year) and (we were) able to run the ball a lot better when he was out. So just seeing his impact, when he became available in free agency, we already knew about him that way. Really glad to have him."

A few years ago, Paul Jr. played behind two elite linebackers Grant Morgan and Bumper Pool, two dudes who were top five in tackles in the SEC in the same season. So, he learned a lot from those two and applied that to last season as well.

In 2023, Paul Jr. had 6.5 tackles for loss and two sacks playing as a Mike linebacker. He was a great run-stopper, but unfortunately played in just 11 games . He has great instincts for the ball and should fit in well on the defense that has a ton of speed and athleticism already.

This is one sneaky good free agency pickup for Kiffin and Ole Miss, as they get acclimated and used to this new age of college football.

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