TIGER RAG NEWS SERVICES
Lane Kiffin will make his Tiger Stadium debut as LSU’s head football coach on Saturday as the No. 11 Tigers host No. 23 Clemson at 6:30 p.m. in Tiger Stadium.
Kiffin held his first game-week press conference on Monday afternoon at the LSU Football Operations Center. Here is everything he said:
OPENING STATEMENT
“Alright, guys. Game week. Couldn’t be more excited for this, to be here. You know, 6:49 on Saturday on ABC, stadium sold out. It was really neat Saturday. We always try to prepare them for everything and we’ve always had a mock game and gone through hotel, meals, walk-throughs, everything that they do. How they dress, everything from really Sunday all the way to the end of Saturday. And on our walk (down victory hill), I thought that nobody would be there. And so it was pretty cool that some fans were there somehow and it was really neat to see the band play during the game so we could get used to that. TV timeouts and everything. So that kind of made it as real as we could make it for them and hopefully that will prepare them for Saturday.
“It’s awesome having College GameDay here. I think that speaks a lot (about) where LSU is as a program and how it’s viewed and that’s really excited. That’s what kids want. They want to be the national game of the week and they want College GameDay to cover them, so really excited for that part, but again this will be about preparation, not hype. There’s so much hype in this game. So much excitement from our fanbase to watch us. Probably that same excitement for everybody else in the country to root the other way against us and just a lot of work went into it. Seven or eight months of getting to this point and I always look at the game as a performance. The players do all this work, the coaches do all this work to make sure that they put the best performance out there for our people and our fans.
“Really tough opponent in Clemson. Very well coached. Veteran staff of guys that have won a lot of games, coordinators, head coach. Obviously, Dabo is one of the best to ever do it and has done it for a long time so this is a great matchup and one we’re excited to be a part of, and again, I’ve said it before, I’m humbled to be here as the LSU head coach. I don’t take that lightly. I would hope that the way that we work, the time that we put in and the preparation that we do over these seven months is what people brought us here to do.”
And he opened it up for questions from the media.
Why Did You Bring In NFL Players, Considering SEC’s Stance?
“That’s a great question about these decisions. I probably am in the minority of how I make decisions. Probably not what most coaches do. I feel like my decision should always be made in the best interest of the players that sit in this team room and not for my reputation and how the decisions play in the national media or other fanbases. I’ve never been that way and that could be wrong. That’s probably part of my story, why it is the way it is, but those players and the people that hired me know he’s always trying to do the best thing for them so I struggled with it a lot.
“There’s a lot of factors into it and different things and one that I also struggled with too is this late, even though that’s what you do in the NFL and there’s an argument that these players are paid like that. That’s what happened yesterday in the NFL. New players come in and take people’s spots, added to rosters and other guys have been there working. So I met with our leadership committee of our players and I asked them, ‘It’s your team. What do you want to do? These players are allowed to be added to rosters. What do you want to do?’ And every one of them was emphatic about, ‘If they can help us win, bring them.’ And we understand that we have a team that’s practiced together and worked together all offseason, but this is how it works at the next level and this is how the real world works. You know, there aren’t days you can’t bring in employees to certain jobs to help the company, so that made me feel a little better in the struggle and being torn back and forth.
“So we’ll wait to hear for more guidance. You know, the SEC issued guidance in our question about that they’ll follow court orders and so we’ll wait ’til this week to see if there’s any more guidance and question whether myself as the head coach of football and will football follow SEC orders? Of course we will.”
Does Kiffin Like Where His Offense Is At This Point?
“Yeah, I don’t ever feel like we’re there. That may be a good thing. I always feel like there’s somewhere to improve and there’s something we haven’t thought about, so the mock game, obviously because it’s against lesser competition, against our service teams as the other opponent, went really well and we moved the ball great, but I’m excited to see them play. But at the same time, there’s still a week of practice here and still things to do and different things to look at on offense, defense, to make sure we’re putting the best product out there for everyone on Saturday.”
Reaction To SEC’s Initial Ban On Pro Players Coming Back To College
“First off, a lot of athletes filed these injunctions or temporary restraining orders around the country against the NCAA, that were in this fifth-year. And their attorneys and them felt they should get the year back because of the NCAA not handling it properly, so when they started to win these cases, then came conference rules. And so, I don’t think it was very much a surprise. If you’re those kids’ attorneys or those kids, they feel they have a court order saying they can play. And now if they’re restricted by someone to not, they brought a court order against the conference, so there’s no intent, nor there ever was, to play somebody that we’re not supposed to in order of an SEC rule. So again, I’m not the spokesperson. I think now you’re waiting to see Thursday, the SEC had a stance, made a rule. A judge felt that they couldn’t do that to the players, so we’ll be practicing focused on Clemson and spending our time on that all week and they can figure out the rest and we’ll just wait for guidance.”
“To clarify the rules: the SEC has a rule which I think is the only conference that we make our (roster) list the day before the competition for the first game. We have to turn the list in of the 105 to the SEC and that is locked. That cannot move from my understanding from our conference. So you’ve got to make decisions, unless there’s information I don’t know, by Friday for that. There’s a lot of people who say, ‘Well, how could you take players in and they’ll be ready for the game?’ It’s a long season. So, in my opinion, just like in the NFL, they take people in Week 1, knowing that they’ll have them ready by Week 2, 3, 4 and then they’ll be playing their best in another system. Every coach obviously runs their program the way they want to and they see things differently and I respect that. I think that we create systems that help this for people coming late. We did it last year. Trinidad got to us in the summer last year. Not that much earlier as a quarterback, so I think we can do it with other players.”
Are The New Players Practicing?
“I can tell you that Dae’Quan (Wright) practiced and the SEC knows that. We asked them before. Again, that’s in no violation of any previous rule or even the rule that’s out there now. The new rule does not prohibit that and, you know, strictly talks about that final roster when you make your 105 Friday. Junior (Tuihalamaka) practiced and he’s in the same court hearing, so I guess the question is, of the kids around the country that are in hearings and potential players who have practiced, it would be Dae’Quan and Junior.”
How LSU Is Preparing For Clemson Offense?
“Yeah, I remember him (Christopher Vizzina) from high school. Actually watched him work out. Really talented. Really throws well on the move, so that’s a really good combination of them coming together and us having to figure out what are they going to do because you don’t know. The coach (Chad Morris) hasn’t called for a little bit of time, so we’re not sure exactly what they’ll look like and that’s always scary, but this will be about us practicing really well and then playing really well in a really exciting environment. But going back to not all the hype and just the preparation of it and playing really well in our first game together.”
Can Dae’Quan Wright, Junior Tuihalamaka Play Saturday If Cleared Thursday?
“Yeah, I don’t know. I can’t predict on Junior and Dae’Quan being this early in the week and what that would look like. Obviously, there’s still new information to come Thursday and what the SEC guides us to do.”
“Things have really kind of settled down for the most part, except defensive tackle.”
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) August 31, 2026
-Lane Kiffin on his depth chart – not the NFL Portal:https://t.co/EUXrJWPrkD
Position Battles Update
“I feel like things have really kind of settled down for the most part, except really D-tackle. D-tackle, still a lot of guys doing good things in there. Some old, some young and so we’ll rotate in there, but I would say outside of that, things have started to settle down.”
Biggest Concern In Offseason And How That’s Been Addressed
“Well, I think we put a lot of time into it. I know we did. We put a lot of time and energy into it. A lot of walk throughs, a lot of practices with the OTA’s and the different setups and there used to be player-led things so I think we’ve done a lot to prepare, because again, this is a really challenging opener, one we haven’t really been a part of. We’ve made our schedules different, so this is not a game you can kinda well, we’ll just try these things out with players and see how this freshman looks. This is a big time matchup on the national stage, and so, we’ve been knowing that the whole time through and just really trying to get them ready to go.”
How Do You See Your Career Path To Here?
“You’ve heard me say before. I said it, think, in the first press conference when I got here. I believe everything happened exactly how it was supposed to happen, when it was supposed to happen. And now I can look back on obstacles in my life and realize they all happened for a reason. And a lot of that side of me now, that came from getting fired at USC.
“If I didn’t get fired from USC, I don’t go to coach Saban. And to realize and to be around him and see his focus of every single detail in a program and everything. And to see that and obviously wanna copy that because of his success and how great he was. And the further I got removed, I realized that’s such a big part of his consistency, really, in his story about, you know, maybe the greatest coach ever. He’s in that conversation of any sport. It would be his consistency. It’s not like he just won a couple championships and then disappeared and won one late. That consistency has probably never been matched. That’s because of the attention to detail every day, every week, every month, every year. And, you know, I used to joke about it. They’re like, okay, (we) won the national championship. We got a staff meeting at 7:30 in the morning. And then he’d say, ‘Take a picture of the trophy, hand it over, and get ready to go win the next.’ And then he’d tell us how we’re behind in recruiting. ‘This is ridiculous. We gotta get to work.’ So I kinda laughed at the time. I get it now. And I think sometimes when you get removed from someone, you find them yourself starting to be like them. And so I think a lot I know a lot of that’s where it comes from.”
If New Transfers Win Thursday Ruling, Will CFP, SEC Push Back On LSU?
“I don’t know that. We would want to obviously have confirmation before that time, of what that means.”
What Does Kiffin Want To See This Team Do On Saturday?
“First off win, most importantly, no matter what. But then, the style that they play with. Like, when you come to watch, like, that’s an exciting team to watch that plays really good football. Man, they really master situations. They’re really well coached. They have a style about how they play, which I think we’ve done at previous places. And I think that that style and kinda swagger that our players play with, I think matches perfectly to LSU and when it was great, how they played. So I wanna see that come together and look like that.”
Is Passing Game Starting To Come Together?
“I think there’s been really good improvement. I think that Sam has had a great camp, and I’m usually pretty hard on the evals of anyone. So I can’t imagine it going much better for him. Now we gotta make more plays around him, protect better, be more consistent, but he’s been great.
“And the running game has looked really good, and the running backs have really improved. It’s really kinda exciting to watch now. It doesn’t mean anything if we don’t go do it Saturday. But the way that it’s progressed, knowing that, like, almost nobody was here from this offense and how it looked at the beginning of spring to how it looks now is exciting to see it all start to work together and them work together with each other.”
Can You Play Clean, Disciplined Football This Saturday?
“That’ll be a challenge, especially with the emotions of this game and first game in the stadium and at night and everything. So, we’ll talk extensively about that throughout the week, playing, like I said, really good fundamental disciplined football with a style also.”
How Has Kiffin Handled All The Chaos These Last Couple Weeks?
“Breathing. I’ve lived in chaos for a long time, and I like to say chaos is okay as long as it’s controlled chaos, especially in this room with your players. You know, this concern about ‘Are our players focused, you know, for this game?’ These guys work more or as much as anybody in the country. And just take Saturday, for example, that whole day for a mock game. And we’ve had that question before. Last year, I had that question all the way back to the Oklahoma game when it was like, ‘Oh, he’s taking this job. He’s taking this job. Where’s he going?’ And they said, there’s no way the team can be focused if you don’t come out and make an announcement, and the team went undefeated the rest of the season. So, I think that’s overrated. Just like if we play good, you know, doesn’t mean, okay, well, you know, we have all the answers there. Just like if we don’t play as well as we’d like.
“So sometimes that’s overrated. Players gotta make plays in the games. But I’ve said it before to our staff, to our players, kind of in our programs, we’re gonna have chaos. But we’re gonna have controlled chaos, and our team’s gonna understand why we do what we do. Just like in this decision about potentially taking players, like I told you, I went to the players. What do you wanna do? And they wanted to do it. So it’s not like it’s chaos that comes in, and they don’t understand it. It doesn’t matter if national media understands why we do what we do for our team or other fan bases. It just matters if these guys do.”
How Do Dae’Quan Wright And Junior Tuihalamaka Help LSU On The Field?
“I feel like everybody’s thinking, like, here comes these guys who’ve been in the NFL for four or five years. You know, the guys that are in discussions, that are in court cases and getting eligibility, are players that maybe went to a minicamp or got cut in a training camp on a 90 man roster. They didn’t make final rosters. So, you know, we would add players that potentially we think would help our team win. Doesn’t even mean that anyone would start. So that’s just how we look at it. And I told you guys that from the beginning how we looked at it. If there’s players to look at that and they tell us we can add, we’re gonna look at it and see whatever gives us the best chance to win.”
Is Risk Worth Reward During This Process Of Adding Transfers Late?
“Like I said before, I don’t make decisions what benefits me personally and what it does to my reputation or how people outside of here view me. And again, really in the minority of thinking that way, and I’ve always thought that way. So even if it’s a couple of players that maybe don’t even start, if it makes your team better and it’s legal to do and your players want it, I’ll take the hit publicly for it because that that’s my job. Told you guys when I got here, my job is not for other schools, other people, media, any of that. My job is for the people that hired me, what they want me to do, and the players in this room. And that’s how I’ve always operated.”
Has Kiffin Visualized What Saturday Will Be Like?
“We’ve tried everything but the fans. So there’s no way that when you say we didn’t try, like I said, every minute of last week was exactly like every minute of this week but the fans: the walk, the bus, the hotel, the food, the night meetings. You know, Friday night over at the hotel, the walk throughs here, the snacks that they have at halftime, halftime speeches. Shoot, we had the people out there during TV timeouts, like, throwing through the hoops to try to win prizes and stuff. So the band was great. It was awesome to see them out there because that was a long mock game. So, I think we’ve done as much we can that way.”
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