"Coach Prime!!!!": $14M worth Lane Kiffin hypes up Colorado's Deion Sanders for being the "portal GOAT"
Deion Sanders and Lane Kiffin have both found tremendous success on the transfer portal. The Colorado Buffaloes had the top-ranked transfer class in 2023 and the eighth-ranked transfer class in 2024. Meanwhile, the Ole Miss Rebels had the second-ranked transfer class in 2022 and 2023 and the top-ranked transfer class in 2024.
On3 Sports' Transfer Portal asked which coach is the portal GOAT, listing Sanders, Kiffin and Oregon Ducks coach Dan Lanning as three potential options, tweeting:
"Who has been the "GOAT" of the Transfer Portal era? - Deion 🦬 - Kiffin 🦈 - Lanning 🦆 Thoughts? 🤔"
Kiffin, who has a net worth of $14 million per Celebrity Net Worth, responded to the post by noting that the Buffaloes coach is the top recruiter via the transfer portal:
"Coach Prime!!!! @CUBuffsFootball"
Check out the post from On3 Sports' Transfer Portal and Lane Kiffin's response below:
While Sanders dominated the transfer portal ahead of the 2023 season, the Buffaloes finished with just a 4-8 record. Colorado has looked to revamp its offensive line and defense, both of which struggled tremendously last season.
Meanwhile, Lane Kiffin led the Rebels to an 11-2 record last season, finishing with the most wins in program history and their best record since the 1962 season. They defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Peach Bowl. Ole Miss will look to build off their strong season by reaching the College Football Playoff for the first time as the field will expand from four to 12 teams in 2024.
Lane Kiffin compares transfer portal to NFL free agency
The transfer portal has become much more relevant in college football as rules have changed to allow players to move between programs more frequently. Lane Kiffin, a former NFL head coach with the Oakland Raiders, compared how he approaches the transfer portal to NFL free agency.
Speaking to Blake Toppmeyer of USA Today, the Ole Miss Rebels coach stated:
"In the NFL, you’ve got to make decisions about how much to pay a player versus the other amount of players that you can get for that same price at other positions. I’m making that as a general statement about what they do in the NFL and would just say that in college football, you have to make those type of decisions now."
He added:
"The hope was, especially after the Georgia game, we need to build our offensive line better – (get) longer and we need to get bigger in the front seven. So, we went out aggressively in free agency, if I can just say what it is. We went out in free agency to attack that." [h/t USA Today]
Lane Kiffin is coming off arguably the best season of his coaching career, and one of the best seasons in program history. He is hoping that the upgrades via the transfer portal can help lead the Rebels to their first national title in over six decades.