PREVIEW: Q&A with Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal’s Michael Katz

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — At this point in his career, Middle Tennessee head football coach Derek Mason knows what to expect from a Lane Kiffin offense.

"It's going to be explosive shots," Mason said. "There's going to be opportunities to run the football. You're going to get tempo. These are hallmarks, really, of what they do."

He saw the Kiffin offense as a defensive backs coach with the Minnesota Vikings in 2007, where the Vikings triumphed over Kiffin's Oakland Raiders 28-22. He saw it three times at Stanford as either an assistant coach or defensive coordinator, while Kiffin was the head coach at Southern Cal, winning all three matchups.

The final time, a dominant, 54-21 win for the Rebels in Mason's final year at Vanderbilt, might be less to write home about, but the chess match between one of the best offensive minds and one of the best defensive minds in their generation of coaches has long produced good games between their two teams.

But ahead of his Blue Raiders' trip to Oxford this weekend to take on Kiffin's Ole Miss team, kicking off Saturday at 3:15 p.m. CT on the SEC Network and Blue Raider Network, Mason was focused on making sure his team understood the challenge they'd be facing in Vaught-Hemmingway Stadium. On defense, that's how extremely fast Kiffin and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. run their offense.

"Player-to-coach (communication) will help a little bit, but when you're going fast, you still have to be able to get guys lined up and make sure that they can get off the ball and do their jobs," Mason said. "If not, as they're looking to the sideline a guy may be running past you with the football."

For the offense, it's understanding the Rebel defense will have the athleticism to make an impact as well as the knowledge to be in the right spot, the latter thanks to defensive coordinator Pete Golding.

"He knows how to put his players in position," Mason said. "A very talented group on the backend, good on the second level in terms of their ability to track, hit, key and diagnose. They have speed all over the field."

Like many G5 teams facing power conference teams across the country, the Blue Raiders will be heavy underdogs when the ball is kicked in Oxford this weekend. But that hasn't deterred players like wide receiver Omari Kelly from sticking to their gameplan.

"It's going to have to be guerrilla warfare, a dogfight," Kelly said.

To preview the Rebels, GoBlueRaiders.com Staff Writer Sam Doughton chatted with Michael Katz, who covers Ole Miss for the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. The pair discussed Kiffin's growth as a head coach, the impact players to watch on both sides of the ball for the Rebels and what Ole Miss is looking to get out of their game against the Blue Raiders.

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1. It's fair to say that Lane Kiffin has been what nearly everyone at Ole Miss wanted him to be since bringing him in as head coach, firmly putting Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff conversation in the 12-team world. What do you think has been the biggest key to Kiffin's success so far in Oxford since arriving from Florida Atlantic in the 2020 season?

I think one of the biggest things for Kiffin has been his becoming a program CEO. The offensive acumen has never been questioned; there aren't many play callers better than Kiffin, and there really haven't been over the last 15 years or so. But after getting unceremoniously fired from USC, Kiffin was hired by Nick Saban at Alabama as offensive coordinator. Kiffin has talked at length of his admiration for Saban, and I think one of the biggest things he took away from his time in Tuscaloosa was how to lead an entire program and how to delegate duties.

He's hired elite coaches and assistants on both sides of the ball — the hiring of Pete Golding from Alabama to run the defense was a game-changer — and has built a culture players want to be part of. I think there's a level of credibility at Ole Miss under Kiffin that can't be overstated. He runs a program you can be developed at and win. Recruits and transfers see the "pro mindset" he runs things with and can see it work in real time.

2. Much of Derek Mason's Monday press conference was spent discussing Jaxson Dart, who Mason said had "matured" as a senior into a quarterback that really keeps his eyes downfield. Has Dart become more of a threat as a passer than the runner he was known for being so much of his time in Oxford? How have you seen him grow in his time as a Rebel?

In addition to his growth as a leader — every coach and player on the team has extreme admiration for the senior — the biggest area Dart has taken strides in is his decision-making process. When he got to Ole Miss in the winter/spring of 2022, he had just finished his true freshman season at USC in an air-raid offense. There was a learning curve when he got to Oxford. Ole Miss' offense is very, very different than USC's was and is heavily dependent on run-pass options, which Dart didn't do with the Trojans. He threw 11 interceptions his first season with the Rebels; there was a lot of good and a bit too much bad.

Last season, Dart seemed much more comfortable and confident in the offense, and the numbers reflected that. He cut his interception total to five, and he was among the most efficient passers in college football. Dart has always been an elite athlete — and a tough one willing to lower a shoulder rather than slide or run out of bounds — but I think his mastery of Ole Miss' offense in Year 3 is what makes him special.

3. The number of weapons Dart and Offensive Coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. have to use in their skill positions are almost too numerous to list. Who do you think is the biggest concern for opposing defenses out of the skill position guys and what makes them especially dynamic?

There's no shortage of options for Dart to throw to — or to hand off to, for that matter. But wide receiver Tre Harris is, without question, the alpha. He has NFL size at 6-foot-3, 210 pounds and has uncanny chemistry with Dart. Harris can do a bit of everything; he'll pluck a jump ball out of the air, run by someone on a deep route to take the top off the defense or turn a short reception into a long gain with his ability after the catch. In short, he's dynamic, the kind of receiver every quarterback dreams of. He's a preseason All-American for very good reason.

4. You yourself chose to highlight the success of the Ole Miss defensive line against Furman in your post-game story this past week. What makes that group in particular so difficult to face? How have the transfers (Princely Umanmielen and Walter Nolen) mixed together with the returning talent (JJ Pegues and Jared Ivey)?

This was really one of the major points of emphasis for the program all offseason — getting bigger and more athletic on both the offensive and defensive lines. Because, for as great as Ole Miss has been in recent years, the Rebels' lack of depth up-front tended to show up against elite competition. The 52-17 loss at Georgia last year seemed to stick with the coaching staff and helped frame their recruiting efforts.

Nolen and Umanmielen were two of the big prizes in the transfer portal and were huge pieces of that aforementioned athleticism movement. Both have freakish quickness and length and, combined with Pegues and Ivey's returns, make it difficult to key on any one defensive lineman. And if you have to block those guys one-on-one, odds are that someone is going to get free and get to the ball carrier. You simply can't teach the sort of athleticism Ole Miss' defensive line has.

5. After a 76-0 drubbing of Furman last week, the bar remains high for the heavily favored Rebels in Vaught-Hemingway this Saturday. How are you measuring Ole Miss' success this weekend?

The top priority is, of course, to remain healthy. That's always going to be crucial early in the season, particularly in games you're favored in. I think success for the Rebels this weekend is, of course, winning handily and having the stars out by halftime. But I think more than that it's playing clean football — no turnovers on offense, no big plays allowed on defense and a low number of penalties on both sides of the ball — and making sure the entire operation flows smoothly before the team goes on the road for the first time next weekend at Wake Forest.

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Players Mentioned

Omari Kelly

Middle Tennesee State University Athletics