Watkins excited to reunite with ‘wide receiver genius’ Kiffin

By Hunt Palmer

As November wound down and tensions built in Oxford, Winston Watkins felt he might make a move.

When Lane Kiffin departed Ole Miss for LSU, that choice became clear for the freshman wide receiver.

“I never considered going back to Ole Miss,” Watkins said. “I definitely knew I wanted to leave. As soon as Kiffin left and went to LSU, I had an idea that I wanted to leave.”

Watkins was drawn to Ole Miss by Kiffin’s track record with wide receivers. The former four-star recruit and speed merchant caught 26 balls for 373 yards and a touchdown in his first collegiate season thanks in part to the architect of the high-powered Rebel offense.

“Coach Kiffin is like a receiver genius,” Watkins aid. “When I did my visit as a high schooler coming in, looking at everything he did from the past was incredible. You’ve got tons of guys over thousands of yards, tons of guys in the NFL that have played the wide receiver position. It’s a no brainer.”

LSU wasn’t an option for Watkins out of high school. He chose the Rebels over offers from Ohio State, Miami and others.

This weekend was his first time on LSU’s campus, and it made an impression.

“The technology is times 10 better than Ole Miss,” Watkins said. “Ole Miss still just older to me, I would say. Everything in the building, the computers, he (virtual reality) setup they got, the facilities, the treatment, the people, it’s just so many resources that you can use that are just 10 times better than other places.”

Kiffin’s offense, his position coach George McDonald and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. made Watkins feel at home on the visit. One potential issue did give Watkins some pause.

LSU has now taken nine transfer wide receivers. Two remained from the 2025 roster, and three more high schoolers signed in Decembers.

It’s a log jam out wide for LSU.

“Before I came on my visit, I definitely was hesitating to figure out what was going on,” Watkins said. “But at the same time when I was on my visit, everything cleared up for me. I got a better understanding and realized that at the end of the day I’m going to go in there and competing and do what I’m supposed to.”

Unlike the other additions, Watkins has firsthand experience watching this staff handle wide receiver depth. Eight Rebels caught 29-plus passes in 2025, and six scored multiple touchdowns through the air.

Those numbers include a running back and a tight end, but there is wealth to be spread.

“These are the same guys I worked with when I was at Ole Miss, and we’re coming from having a deep room at Ole Miss,” Watkins said. “We had five to six, seven guys getting the ball in the pass game. We had to work together to be great.”

Kiffin, of course, is persona non grata in Oxford and will be for a very long time. Some Ole Miss players and many, many national media personalities criticized the coach for his decision to leave the Rebels in a playoff push.

Watkins watched it all unfold in front of him but didn’t hold it against his former, now current, coach.

“We went on a nice little run, and then Coach Kiffin had to depart and go to LSU,” Watkins said. “But, when we were there together, our relationship was amazing. That’s my guy. He always made sure I was good. He always looked out for me…I feel like Coach Kiffin is a great guy. At the end of the day, I feel like the decisions he makes are his own personal business. I don’t take nothing that he did in the past against me or the team that he coached.”

The quotes in this story come from Winston Watkins’s interview on After Further Review with Matt Moscona.