Former Alabama running back Damien Harris delivered a blunt assessment of Lane Kiffin on Thursday, saying the new LSU coach has worn out his welcome as a constant topic of conversation.
“I’m tired of talking about a guy who simply just doesn’t care about anything but himself,” Harris said on CBS Sports HQ.
CBS Sports College Football shared the clip, which immediately spread among college football fans already bracing for Kiffin’s debut Saturday night against Clemson at Tiger Stadium. Harris, now a CBS Sports analyst, played for Kiffin when the coach was Alabama’s offensive coordinator and has followed his former mentor’s career from Tuscaloosa to Florida Atlantic, Ole Miss and now LSU.
The comments came as Kiffin again sat at the center of the sport’s latest eligibility fight. LSU has pursued former NFL rookies, including tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris, after court rulings opened a path for some 2022 high school graduates to claim a fifth college season.
Both players starred for Kiffin at Ole Miss last year, then spent part of the summer on NFL rosters before being waived.
Kiffin has defended the recruiting push, arguing the players are available because judges said they were wronged by the NCAA’s eligibility rules.
“Because of the rulings, they are going to play for you or someone else,” Kiffin said last month. “We made the decision to recruit them. It’s wrong to be critical of these kids.”
Harris’ criticism was broader than one roster move. It tapped a year of anger that followed Kiffin’s decision to leave 11-1 Ole Miss for LSU last November, two days after the Egg Bowl and before the Rebels’ first College Football Playoff run.
Athletic director Keith Carter refused to let Kiffin coach Oxford through the postseason. Defensive coordinator Pete Golding took over and led Ole Miss to the semifinals.
Kiffin signed a seven-year, $91 million contract in Baton Rouge, a deal that starts at $13 million a year and made him one of the highest-paid coaches in the country. He went 55-19 in six seasons at Ole Miss, including four 10-win years. Those numbers did not quiet the charge that he walked away from a special team at the first chance to take what he has called a bigger job.
The timing still stings in Mississippi. One widely circulated reply to the CBS Sports post accused Kiffin of skipping senior night greetings during his six years in Oxford. Other viewers told Harris to stop talking about Kiffin if he was tired of the subject.
The clip itself drew more than 1,700 likes and more than 330,000 views within hours.
Kiffin has heard versions of the same critique for years. He left Tennessee after one season, was fired at USC and bolted Alabama for Florida Atlantic during a national title run. Supporters say that history is also the point: He wins, he recruits, and he treats the sport as a business in an era of the transfer portal, name-image-likeness money and courtroom eligibility.
LSU is ranked in the top 15 and opens as a double-digit home favorite against No. 23 Clemson. The Tigers assembled the nation’s No. 1 transfer portal class, headlined by Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt. LSU officials said the opener is the most credentialed game in Tiger Stadium history. ESPN’s College GameDay will be on campus.
The legal fight has not ended. A Louisiana judge this week sided with the players seeking eligibility, while the Southeastern Conference sued LSU and Kiffin in federal court to block former professionals from the 105-man roster due Friday. Kiffin has said LSU is waiting on final guidance and remains focused on Clemson.
Harris’ appearance underscored how little space Kiffin gets between controversies. Even a two-minute studio segment on roster rules turned into another referendum on character, loyalty and whether the coach’s talent for finding loopholes comes at a cost to the people around him.
Saturday will not settle that argument. A win in Death Valley would give Kiffin the night he was hired to produce. A loss would hand his critics another line. Either way, Harris made clear he is ready to change the subject.
