Lane Kiffin Seems To Have Tennessee On His Mind A Lot, This Time Regarding NIL

It is almost a weekly thing now for Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin to discuss the Tennessee football program in one way or the other. But he enjoys prodding the fan base that once cherished him, even if it means throwing out a golf ball as a first pitch at a baseball game. Now comes a different type of chatter, one that potentially involves a Tennessee commit.

While speaking with Rich Eisen last Friday, Kiffin seemed to conclude that an $8 million NIL deal that has recently caught the college football world on fire involved Tennessee commit Nico Iamleava.

"And you’re going to have all these locker room dynamics where now you’re reading, you got a player coming into school over there in East Tennessee for $8 million dollars that hasn’t played a down," Kiffin added. "And you’ve got a locker room saying, ‘Wait, now what if the guy doesn’t play? How’s that going to work? How is that donor going to feel that paid all that money, when the guy’s not playing?’ So you’ve got a lot of things that haven’t been figured out at all.”

Kiffin went on to mention Alabama quarterback Bryce Young, whom he sarcastically says should've gone into the transfer portal last season, just to drive up the price for his services in Tuscaloosa.

"And really, if you’re great, I mean, think how messed up the system is. If you’re a great player, you’re Bryce Young after the National Championship last year, you should go in the portal, even if you want to stay at Alabama. Because all you’ll do is drive up your price there because then the collectives there will suddenly come up with a lot of money to keep you," Kiffin said.

I don't blame Kiffin for continuing to rail against what he thinks is wrong with college football at the moment. If he wants to be the one carrying the sword in the fight, let him do it. Right now, there's no change on the horizon. It's wild because there aren't many restrictions on these matters and until there are, things will only get crazier and the market value for prospects will continue to rise.