ATLANTA – Say what you want about Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, but shy is not a word you will use.

Kiffin, along with LSU’s Brian Kelly and Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz, were the first three coaches to take part in Day 1 of SEC Media Days.

Kiffin did not disappoint.

The Rebels head coach was candid on a number of subjects, including his thoughts on name, image, and likeness.

During his session, Kiffin was asked what he thought works best and what doesn’t.

“You have really good boosters. That's how you do well at it. I'll say what other people say, as you know. It's like a payroll in baseball. What teams win over a long period of time? Teams that have high payrolls and can pay players a lot. We're in a situation not any different than that,” Kiffin said. “I'm sure other people said it. I said day one, you legalize cheating, so get ready for the people that have the most money to get players. Now you have it. It is what it is.”

That wasn’t all Kiffin had to say:

…Prior to taking the stage, Kiffin made his way through the atrium where an LSU fan asked him to sign a bottle of mustard.

He also made light of his first-pitch ceremony prior to Ole Miss’ baseball series against Tennessee, a three-game set swept by the Vols. Of course, Ole Miss went on to win the College World Series.

“I did sign a mustard bottle,” Kiffin said. “That was the first guy to come up, which I think he had an Alabama shirt on, so I was a little confused there.”

Kiffin joked he’s been asked to sign a lot of odd items during the off-season.

“I have signed a lot of mustard bottles and golf balls, which normally I haven't. It's been a unique off-season,” Kiffin said. “On the golf ball, which goes back to the first pitch I threw out for the Tennessee game, we got swept by Tennessee, didn't play well. Everybody thought it was my fault. I had a plan. I wanted our guys to stay humble, not play very well, then we'd go win the national championship in baseball. I'd like to say that was a plan. All the Tennessee fans that were all excited about sweeping us, there was a plan.”

…Kiffin’s first question during his Q&A referred to his time at Alabama and trick plays. He didn’t miss a beat with his response. “Well, Kirby Smart used to say sometimes you come up here and just talking about Alabama. So, our first question somehow is about Nick Saban, so... That's pretty usual.”

… Another question to Kiffin regarding he and Jackson State’s Deion Sanders being the top personalities also drew a few chuckles. “Well, we've got another personality in Mike Leach,” Kiffin said. “I would say there's three personalities in the state that are very unique and extremely different from each other (laughter).”

As for Sanders and possibly playing Jackson State one day: “It's nice to see Deion Sanders' success, how well he's done down there, how well he's done in recruiting,” Kiffin said. “I don't know future plans on that, but that would be exciting.”

LSU head coach Brian Kelly

…Kelly’s Northern accent has been popular in the world of satire, but LSU’s first-year head coach had some fun at his own expense Monday.

During his session, the former Notre Dame coach was asked, in his best Southern accent, to talk about his favorite Southern food since moving to Baton Rouge.

“Understand now, I have a Boston, Midwestern, Louisiana accent now. It's three dialects into one. It's no longer ‘fa-mah-lee.’ I got all kinds of stuff to throw at you. Just be ready (smiling).”

As far as his favorite new Southern food is concerned:

“The best? You know, it's probably the crawfish etouffee. I don't know how you top that. I would say also the grilled oysters,” he said. “If you haven't had grilled oysters, try that. That will get your cholesterol level up high pretty quickly. That's pretty good, too.”

…When it comes to earning trust with his new players, Kelly said it’s been a two-way street.

“First of all, trust is about saying something and backing it up, and then continuing that relationship,” he said. “We're working on that relationship every day through deeds, through things that we put in front of them and say that we're going to do for them, and backing it up, then asking them to do some things for us, seeing that they back it up.”

… Kelly was also asked what qualified as arguably the silliest question of the day when a reporter suggested Notre Dame’s lopsided losses to Alabama play a role in his coming to LSU.

“That wasn't part of my decision-making. Those were really good teams. They both won the national championship. I thought we played Alabama better than anybody in that last playoff,” Kelly said. “Their talent was unbelievable on the offensive side of the ball that year. So that wasn't like, I'm taking the LSU job, Alabama is so much better than us. That was not part of the process for me.

“It was timing. It was this place at LSU. It was the administration and the opportunity to bring this program back. It really had nothing to do with the Alabama game.”

Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz

…Drinkwitz was asked what he thought about Georgia’s tight end trio of Brock Bowers, Darnel Washington, and Arik Gilbert, and how dynamic a three-tight end offense could be.

“They can probably win a national championship. I mean, I don't know. I don't know what those guys are. I've seen them on tape,” he said. “They're really good. They got a great quarterback who can distribute the ball. They have a long offensive line. They run the ball. Coach (Todd) Monken does an excellent job getting them into the right schemes, the right plays. Probably the perfect play-caller for that group of guys. Without knowing more than that, I'd say the ceiling is they need to win a national championship.”

… Drinkwitz said he’s got no problems having former Big 12 rivals Texas and Oklahoma in the SEC starting in 2025.

“I'm all for it. I think I said up here earlier that I think the beauty of college football is the rivalries that we have. I think it's the shared traditions and pageantry of the game. I think we got to be careful that we don't miss that or lose that in search of better TV contracts or better TV exposure,” he said. We're going to lose the basis of who we are. I'm for playing consistent games. I'm for playing consistent opponents, building a consistent level of expectation that these are the teams that you need to beat, these are the teams that you need to be comparing yourself against.”