Knox Kiffin did it again. Lane Kiffin’s son came off the bench to replace Oxford High’s injured starting quarterback, Drew Dean, two weeks ago against Germantown. The OHS QB led a clutch drive and sealed a 43-42 comeback with a gutsy two-point conversion pass. The 16-year-old continued that momentum against Clinton, where he threw for 186 yards and two touchdowns, rallying Oxford from a halftime deficit to a 33-23 win. Even yesterday, he dominated the headlines with his second complete win as a starter against Murrah.

After Knox Kiffin’s 42–0 win over Murrah, his father, Lane Kiffin, reached out to three rival coaches for his son’s career. “@KirbySmartUGA @FrankWilson28 @CoachDanLanning,” Ole Miss head coach tagged these three rival names on X. As a 2028 QB prospect, Knox has already received several offers, including from SMU, Arkansas State, Western Kentucky, Sacramento State, Murray State, and FIU. In fact, the 16-year-old previously made it clear he won’t play for the Rebels.

“I’m definitely not going to play for my dad,” Knox said. “I want to do my own stuff.” And that’s why Lane, being an understanding father, laid down the other options for him. The kid is a prospect of the 2028 class and has a season total of 5 TDs and 627 offensive yards through four games at Oxford High. Despite multiple offers already, Lane Kiffin’s son has three names as his dream school. 

Oregon, Florida, and LSU. For Knox, Oregon was a no-brainer “top-3” material. “Dan Lanning, great coach. Best jerseys in the nation,” Kiffin said on the Under The Lights podcast. Although Lanning and the Ducks haven’t yet put forward an offer for Kiffin, he is totally sold on packing his bags for Eugene. LSU rounds out its trio for reasons deeper than just football, as Knox said, “the culture there is different.” Knox was also in Baton Rouge for LSU’s Week 7 game against Shane Beamer and South Carolina.

His unofficial visit to Death Valley is already in the books. Amid the coaching carousel, interim HC Frank Wilson should take note of this and do the needful. Lane Kiffin’s favor toward Kirby Smart comes from a long-standing relationship they built during their time together under legendary coach Nick Saban at Alabama, where Kiffin ran the offense and Smart led the defense. Kiffin even called him “the best coach in college football now.” The admiration is mutual.

The Georgia coach said, “I have a lot of respect for Lane, I’ve told you that.” So, keeping this respect in mind, Smart might not take too long to draft an official offer for Knox. Apart from these three, Florida made Kiffin’s list too, partly thanks to “the Swamp.” It’s the kind of stage he imagines every kid wanting to play on.

The last name dilemma

There is a reason why Knox Kiffin doesn’t really want to play under his father for the Ole Miss Rebels. After the Murray game, where Knox completed 8-of-11 passing with 138 yards and one touchdown, the reporter was fast enough to get the elephant out of the room. Is there pressure that comes with the Kiffin tag? Knox bluntly said, “I really didn’t see it that way. Everybody not like all the defense talking trash, all this, all that. Just like Twitter, you know, you know the deal.”

The pressure is surely there, but the 16-year-old doesn’t let that get to his performance. “But, yeah, I think there’s a bit of pressure, but I just don’t let it get to me.” Knox sets out to build an identity of his own. He doesn’t really want to get things easy just because he is Lane Kiffin’s son. That’s why the choice was to represent other programs rather than to play for Ole Miss. Talking about how much pressure the last name holds, Shedeur Sanders’ story inspires Knox.

Even Shedeur faced the heavy spotlight of nepotism when playing quarterback at Colorado under his dad, Deion Sanders. Even with Coach Prime’s efforts to squash those whispers, the narrative stuck. It seems Lane Kiffin’s son wants to avoid that shadow altogether. He wants to silence any doubts that he earned his spot based on talent, not family ties.