Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin Says Deion Sanders Would 'Do Great' as Auburn HC

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin offered his endorsement of Jackson State's Deion Sanders with Auburn looking to replace the recently fired Bryan Harsin.

Kiffin told reporters Wednesday he believes Sanders would "do great" with the Tigers:

"I think that's a great name and they should hire him. Great recruiter, great name. This is a different world we're in now. Recruiting has always been important, but now you have the portal, so you have kids...you can change a roster faster than you ever could before, and you can lose a roster faster than you ever could before. The ability to hire, like Deion, and have that name right away and portal people wanting to come play for him right away, you can flip a roster where before, realistically, it would take two to three years to truly turn a roster around. You can do it immediately."

It seems inevitable Sanders will leave Jackson State to take a Power Five job. He told 60 Minutes' Jon Wertheim in October he'd at least listen if the opportunity presented itself:

The Athletic's Bruce Feldman listed Sanders as a candidate to succeed Harsin but added, "We’ve heard mixed reactions on whether Auburn brass would be comfortable with Sanders taking over."

The Hall of Fame cornerback has answered his skeptics at every step.

He has attracted a higher level of talent to JSU than the program typically gets. In the case of 5-star cornerback and No. 1 overall recruit Travis Hunter, he took his alma mater, Florida State, head on.

Sanders is delivering on the field as well. Jackson State went 4-3 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season before it won 11 games in 2021. It sits at 8-0 in 2022.

As Kiffin laid out, Sanders has the personality and charisma to go toe-to-toe with Alabama's Nick Saban, Georgia's Kirby Smart, Clemson's Dabo Swinney and the rest of the competition on the recruiting trail.

And while talent accumulation isn't a guarantee of success—just look at Texas A&M—it goes a long way toward winning in the SEC.

Hiring a coach from an FCS program would obviously present a level of risk for Auburn. Sanders, meanwhile, may prefer his first Power Five gig be one with a better track record of stability.

But this is a partnership the sides should consider, even if the discussions come to nothing.

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Recruit ratings via 247Sports' composite list.