Kirby Smart offers strong praise for LSU football coach Lane Kiffin

LSU football head coach Lane Kiffin won't speak at SEC Media Days until Thursday, but he's already been discussed by some of his fellow SEC head coaches. On Tuesday, it was Georgia head coach Kirby Smart offering some praise.

>The pair worked together at Alabama under former head coach Nick Saban, winning the 2015 national championship. As the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Kiffin developed passers Jake Coker and Blake Sims along with Heisman-winning running back Derrick Henry.

>"He was really good at that with us at Alabama," Smart said. "He made Coach Saban uncomfortable, let's just say what it is, and he helped evolve that offense and bring it along and did some really good things in a day and age when people weren't doing them, but he does a great job."

>Smart and Kiffin met three times during Kiffin's Ole Miss Tenure. Georgia won 52-17 in 2023, but Ole Miss got revenge with a 28-10 win in 2024. In 2025, Georgia beat Ole Miss in Athens. Ole Miss and Georgia met in the 2025 postseason, with Ole Miss getting the win in the Sugar Bowl. That was Kiffin's roster and Charlie Weis was still calling the offensive plays, but Pete Golding was the Ole Miss head coach.

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Georgia HC Kirby Smart asked about Lane Kiffin being in BR and what the group chat looks like these days.

Some fun, but also some insight into what really drives @Lane_Kiffin and why Kirby doesn't like facing him.

His Dawgs played Ole Miss three times in the last two years. pic.twitter.com/MxP8DYyYv1

— Michael Cauble (@Cauble) July 21, 2026"He's hard to play," Smart said. "I don't like having to play his teams because I know what he knows and I know how he thinks about defenses and he knows what he's doing."

>This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: Kirby Smart offers strong praise for LSU football coach Lane Kiffin