By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
NEW ORLEANS – New LSU offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. called plays as Ole Miss offensive coordinator since 2022, but they have been very much in the name, image and likeness of new LSU head coach/former Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin.
Weis will be on the headphones tonight for No. 6 Ole Miss (12-1, 7-1 Southeastern Conference), a team recruited, coached and built by Kiffin, when it plays only its second game without Kiffin since 2020 in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal against No. 3 and SEC champion Georgia (12-1, 7-1 SEC). Kickoff for the Sugar Bowl at the Superdome is 7 p.m. on ESPN.
Five other Ole Miss offensive assistants who have joined Kiffin’s staff at LSU will also be continuing to coach the Rebels on work release through the playoffs before joining the Tigers full time. Those are co-offensive coordinator/tight ends Joe Cox, pass game coordinator/receivers George McDonald, running backs coach Kevin Smith, inside receivers coach Sawyer Jordan and quarterbacks assistant Dane Stevens were.
Kiffin will not be at the game as Ole Miss didn’t allow that double time. But he had considered going as a fan to see the program he built to one of its highest points in history. That after he inherited an NCAA probation-plagued mess that had three losing seasons out of four when he arrived from Florida Atlantic after the 2019 season.
Kiffin instead will be in Baton Rouge as the No. 5 LSU women’s basketball team (14-0) opens the SEC season against No. 11 Kentucky (13-1) at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center Thursday (7 p.m., SEC Network+).
But his talented hand-picked players, such as former Division II quarterback Trinidad Chambliss (3,298 passing yards, 19 TDs, 506 rushing yards, 8 TDs) from the portal and Ferris State, and sophomore running back Kewan Lacy (1,366 yards, 21 TDs) will be there. And they may stay in Louisiana for their next college game – Sept. 5 against Clemson in Tiger Stadium.
That is, if Chambliss receives another season of eligibility via his petition from the NCAA in time to enter the Transfer Portal between Friday and Jan. 16 and transfers to Kiffin and Weis at LSU. Lacy may also consider a transfer back to Smith and Kiffin and Weis and the other offensive coaches as well.
Another prized pupil of Kiffin’s is Weis, who jumped on the plane with Kiffin when he bolted from Ole Miss to LSU on Sunday, Nov. 30. He was also the first to return to Ole Miss in the short term to keep coordinating the offense under new head coach Pete Golding.
The 2026 season will be Weis’ ninth with Kiffin. When Kiffin was Alabama’s offensive coordinator from 2014-16, Weis, 22, became his offensive analyst in 2015 and stayed through ’16.
After one season as Florida Atlantic’s head coach in 2017, Kiffin hired Weis early in 2018 from an analyst job with the Atlanta Falcons and made Weis, 24, the youngest offensive coordinator in college football at the time. And by Weis’ second season in 2019, the son of three-time Super Bowl winning New England offensive coordinator and Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis was already calling most of the plays for Kiffin.
When Kiffin left for Ole Miss after the ’19 season, Weis took the offensive coordinator job at South Florida in 2020 and ’21 before rejoining Kiffin at Ole Miss in ’22 as OC and play caller.
“The whole time I’ve been here since 2022 when I first got here at Ole Miss, I’ve called the plays,” Weis said Tuesday at the Sugar Bowl Media Day. “We were together at Florida Atlantic as well, and in 2019 I definitely had all of it (the play calling). In 2018, it was much more of a blend of us two. So, it’s been pretty much the whole time, I’ve called the plays.”
But under the watchful eye of Kiffin, who had called plays since 2005 as offensive coordinator at USC.
“Oh yeah, absolutely,” Weis said. “He’s extremely involved in the process. A lot if it is more maybe before the series, when he says, “Hey, Charlie, get to this.’ Those sorts of things. He’s got such an unbelievable feel for the game. He’s got moments where he sees something or recognizes something. So it’s certainly a collaborative effort for sure.”
The Ole Miss offense did not skip a beat without Kiffin as the Rebels rolled Tulane, 41-10, in a College Football Playoff opener on Dec. 20 at Ole Miss. Weis’ unit put up 497 yards of offense with 29 first downs as Chambliss hit 23 of 29 passes for 282 yards and a touchdown. Lacy rushed for 87 yards and a TD on 15 carries.
“Honestly, it felt exactly the same against Tulane,” Weis said. “There were a couple of times where he (Kiffin) may have said something a little different than what we did, but I thought it was very similar. We had talked about keeping some similar flow. It didn’t feel too different, no.”
The Rebels will bring the nation’s No. 2 total offense to the Sugar Bowl with 498 yards a game and No. 3 passing attack with 312.4 a game. Ole Miss is also second in first downs with 26 a game and is 10th in scoring at 38.5 points a game.
Georgia is No. 10 nationally in defense with 284.5 yards allowed a game and ninth in scoring defense at 15.9 a game. But the Bulldogs are a distant 47th against the pass with 205 yards allowed a game. Chambliss completed 19 of 36 for 263 yards and a TD in a 43-35 loss at Georgia on Oct. 18 in which the Bulldogs shut out Kiffin and company in the fourth quarter, 17-0.
Weis and Kiffin have spoke often before and since the Tulane game.
“He always wants to,” Weis said. “He always watches the game and sees what we’re doing and all that stuff. Obviously getting to do things with coach is amazing. He’s the best offensive mind I’ve been around, and so being able to bounce ideas off of him is huge.”
The Kiffin-Weis offense is clearly up tempo, but with a focus on the run game.
“It’s a really cool system that we’ve created that plays at a really fast tempo,” Weis said. “It’s high pace, but at the same time we’re trying to do pro-style schemes and prepare our players for the next level as well. The unique blend of our system is it’s not just a 100 percent speed offense. It’s complex with what we do in it. I’m blessed I get to coach in it.”
And Lane Kiffin will be watching – live when he can at the LSU women’s game tonight, or on tape.
“I think he’s more of a fan right now,” Weis said, “just rooting for us to do the best that we can do here.”
Be the first to comment