It is June 18th, the SEC has not played a game since January, and somehow Lane Kiffin is still beefing with a program he left six months ago. Yesterday, while LSU was landing 4-star RB Trey Martin — a Louisiana kid who chose the Tigers over, yes, Ole Miss — the Rebels' players were busy visiting Children's of Mississippi in Jackson, posing with sick kids, and radiating 'we are completely fine and have definitely moved on' energy.
Between the Vanity Fair interview where Kiffin seemed to imply Ole Miss had a segregation problem, the now-deleted tweet asserting LSU fans would 'never lose a fight to Ole Miss fans ever,' and his continued podcast tour relitigating every decision he made in Oxford, Kiffin is doing something genuinely impressive: making the entire college football internet forget he actually HAS a new job. In Baton Rouge. For $91 million. Kiffin has added eight 2027 commitments in June alone, including edge rusher Chris Whitehead — the No. 1 player in Virginia and No. 4 edge nationally — who committed on Wednesday. But sure, let's spend another news cycle explaining a Vanity Fair quote.
Meanwhile, Texas fans are doing the clenched-teeth smile through a Code Red situation. Five-star wide receiver Easton Royal — committed to the Longhorns since November, No. 1 WR in America per Rivals, No. 1 prospect in Louisiana — is scheduled to take his final official visit to Austin tomorrow. This would be reassuring if Royal hadn't spent May 29-30 posting Tiger Stadium photoshoots with the caption '⚡️⚡️,' then canceled his Ole Miss and Tennessee visits immediately, then gone to Florida on June 11 and tweeted 'YUHH WE TURNT INNA SWAMP! I CAN GET USED TO THIS.' He also just got bumped to a five-star PLUS. Every single one of these visits has gone 'amazing.' Steve Sarkisian has to be sweating through a very expensive blazer right now.
Elsewhere in the SEC chaos vortex: Kirk Herbstreit asked Ryan Day how to quantify what Caleb Downs meant to Ohio State, and Day responded that when Downs arrived in Columbus, 'he was a mess — I don't know what they were doing at Alabama.' Alabama fans, who spent last offseason explaining why Kalen DeBoer just needed more time, are now explaining why Ryan Day is actually a hater. Both things can coexist.
And Auburn. Always Auburn. New head coach Alex Golesh lost the No. 1 QB in the 2027 Rivals300 — five-star Will Mencl — to Oregon back in April. Not to Georgia. Not to Texas. Oregon. Mencl then went to the Elite 11 Finals, went 20-for-23 with three touchdowns, and is now lobbying for more recruits to join him in Eugene. Auburn's response has been to continue existing. Quietly. In the background. It's giving 'Hugh Freeze is getting his golf time in' energy, and honestly, respect the peace.
