OXFORD, Miss. — It was a mere formality for the media to ask Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin on Monday about the arrest of a defensive lineman. Nobody really thought he was going to talk much about Zxavian Harris’ arrest over the weekend.
In typical fashion, though, he expressed confidence in the Rebels’ defensive front.
Harris, expected to be in the rotation this year, was arrested by the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Dept. for an alleged incident involving domestic violence and obstructing arrest. We figured to go ahead and get that out of the way before going into everything he talked about Monday.
“We’ve been made aware of [the arrest],” Kiffin said. “Still gathering information on that, and we have no other comment but that.” To be honest, that’s about all he should say about the thing at this point in time. Some fans want him to have more details on the punishment, but it’s too early for that.
Instead, he talked about the defensive front that was a key part of the Rebels having the No. 1-rated transfer portal this year.
“The defensive line played extremely well again,” Kiffin said. “It really caused us, including our first offense, some issues. That’s kind of been the theme of camp, about them playing really well. They did again.
The depth up front has been one of the keys in a No. 6 ranking in the preseason polls. It is a strong reason expectations for Ole Miss this year are through the roof for this season. Alabama not on the schedule is just a boost to that until fans notice Georgia is there.
“There’s a lot of different body-types in that unit that are really hard to deal with,” Kiffin said about that line after Saturday’s scrimmage. “Obviously, that’s our team, so that’s really good to deal with. Our offensive line has a chance to be improved. They’re heading in the right direction. Those guys haven’t played together. That takes some time too.”
