PALMER: Could a running back swap come for LSU, Ole Miss?

By Hunt Palmer

College football’s new reality begs for questions.

The answers, or lack thereof, come loudly even in the calm before the storm.

Reports surfaced that Frank Wilson is headed to Ole Miss after LSU’s Texas Bowl appearance against Houston. He’ll be the running backs coach for the Rebels under Pete Golding.

That would suggest, based on Wilson’s comments over the last six weeks, that he wasn’t offered a position on Lane Kiffin’s new staff.

“As long as LSU will have me, I would love to have the opportunity to be a part of what we’re doing here,” Wilson said in November.

This will be Wilson’s second stint at Ole Miss, a place he worked from 2005-2007 under Ed Orgeron. His willingness to head back strengthens my above assertion.

“There’s no place like LSU,” Wilson said. “I’ve worked at universities in this conference around this country, and there’s something about the people here. When you speak of LSU, you can talk about the beautiful stadium, the pantheon, the steel, this beautiful facility that we’re in. But LSU’s not bricks and mortar. It’s the people…It’s totally different than another school where you just go to work. You become a part of it, and it becomes a part of you. It’s the people in this building. It’s the people in this community. It’s the people in this state that gravitates and pulls you in. It’s why we say, ‘Forever LSU’.”

It’s not forever, at least in the coaching world. Kiffin has decided to move on from Wilson. Considering yesterday’s move, it’s evident that Ole Miss running backs coach Kevin Smith is moving on, too.

Why would Golding hire a running backs coach if he’s already got one on staff? He wouldn’t.

Smith joined Kiffin in 2017 at Florida Atlantic and has spent eight of the last nine seasons on his staff with a brief stint at Miami in 2022.

When Kiffin departed Oxford with staff members in tow on November 30, Smith didn’t board the plane. However, when Kiffin was introduced as LSU new coach the following day, Smith’s son Kevin Smith Jr. was seated on the front row with close friend Knox Kiffin.

Smith will have options. LSU still feels like the obvious landing spot.

It’s also obvious how Rebel star back Kewan Lacy feels about Smith. He was asked about how hectic the coaching transition has been during a playoff run.

“It’s been pretty good,” Lacy said on Monday. “I still have my (position) coach, so I’m going day by day trying to focus on Tulane and our preparation. So, for the most part, everything has been the same.”

Except it hasn’t. Half of Ole Miss’s offensive staff is already signed with LSU, and more could follow. Lacy didn’t bite on a question about a video that surfaced online last week appearing to show Kiffin suggesting Lacy and Smith were headed to LSU after the playoff.

Free kewan lacy pic.twitter.com/vCwp1RfiRF

— Morris Buckwalter III (@buckwalter67) December 11, 2025

“It was just a surprise,” Lacy said. “I’ve just been keeping my mindset on just trying to go 1-0 and focus on the run we’re having right now. So, I don’t get into all of that.”

Like Kiffin all of November, Lacy was given a chance to tamp down speculation. He deftly avoided that as he has for nearly 1,000 yards after contact this season.

That won’t make things settle down in Oxford.

Grumblings have begun in Baton Rouge, as well. What does Wilson’s departure mean for Harlem Berry, the former No. 1 running back prospect in the country who enjoyed a solid freshman season on a putrid offense with no identity on the ground?

Wilson recruits Berry’s territory, New Orleans, and coaches his position. That relationship predates Berry’s birth. Wilson has known the family for decades.

It would come as no real surprise if a Smith/Lacy for Wilson/Berry swap was in the cards. Theoretically, both could end up at LSU or Ole Miss.

All of it would be the latest twist in a saga that has blended up the Ole Miss and LSU football operations into an incestuous mess since Thanksgiving.

That’s college football.