Connect with us

Florida

What Lane Kiffin’s next 24 hours look like with Ole Miss, LSU, Florida decision to make

Published

on

What Lane Kiffin’s next 24 hours look like with Ole Miss, LSU, Florida decision to make


STARKVILLE — Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin is going to try to be a regular dad for a bit.

Then he’ll make the choice currently tearing him apart.

Ole Miss won one of the most important Egg Bowls in school history on Nov. 28. And yet, the next 24 hours may matter more to Ole Miss than what happened at Davis Wade Stadium.

Advertisement

The No. 6 Rebels beat the Bulldogs 38-19. It’s the third consecutive Egg Bowl win for Ole Miss (11-1, 7-1 SEC), cements the Rebels as first-time CFP participants and erases MSU’s (5-7, 1-7) path to a bowl game.

The positive momentum in Oxford could be shattered in one day. It’s up to Kiffin, who said postgame he needs to decide whether to depart for LSU or Florida on Nov. 29. That’s been Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter’s deadline since last week.

“These are hard decisions,” Kiffin said. “You guys have them all the time. You guys (reporters) have to make decisions about jobs you take, where you move. All those things. We get paid a lot so I know ours is under a different spotlight and scrutiny but, you know, a lot of people that are critical of it are the same people that do it all the time.”

Lane Kiffin’s schedule before picking between Ole Miss, LSU or Florida

Kiffin was headed straight from Starkville to Tupelo. In his words, the most important game of his day kicks off at 7 p.m.

Advertisement

Kiffin’s son, Knox, is starting for Oxford High in the MHSAA Class 7A state football. The game starts at 7 p.m.

Kiffin said he lives a day-to-day life. He’ll watch Knox play and leave the decision about his future until later. Sometime after that Kiffin will have to choose what offer to take.

LSU is a big brand with a recent national championship. Florida is where his coaching idol Steve Spurrier became a star, although reports indicated that the Gators are prepared to search elsewhere. Ole Miss is home.

Kiffin will become one of the sports highest-paid coaches regardless. Maybe $13 million, maybe closer to $15 million.

Advertisement

He knows he can’t be just another dad watching his son in Tupelo. Other dads don’t have million-dollar salaries. Other dads don’t generate headlines with their family takes trips to Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Gainesville, Florida.

“In other professions it’s a little easier because you get to go to places,” Kiffin said. “You go for a week, see all the schools. The neighborhood and stuff. Then you make the decision. Our jobs are more difficult that way, but I’m not complaining about it.”

Kiffin said he’s found himself missing his father, Monte, who died in 2024. He posted a picture of him on social media on Nov. 27 with he caption “Hero.” He wishes he could ask his dad for advice for his looming decision.

Kiffin doesn’t waver from his early morning hot yoga. It’s likely one of the last things he’ll before his big decision. He has long said it’s the hardest thing he does each day. Until Nov. 21, when he told the Clarion Ledger that it hasn’t been lately.

“Yeah, usually,” Kiffin said Nov. 21. “For most people. Except when you’ve had days like mine lately.”

Advertisement

Sam Hutchens covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at Shutchens@gannett.com or reach him on X at @Sam_Hutchens_



Source link

Florida

IOL Harrison Moore expected to transfer to Florida

Published

on

IOL Harrison Moore expected to transfer to Florida


Former Georgia Tech interior offensive lineman Harrison Moore is expected to transfer to Florida, according to CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz.

The direct connection between Moore and Florida is offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner. Moore, a former three-star recruit, played in 10 games as a true freshman under Faulkner, playing 184 total snaps at left guard, center and tight end. Pro Football Focus gave him a 68.8 offensive grade — No. 12 among freshman interior linemen with 100 or more snaps — 67.8 run-blocking grade and 72.0 pass-blocking grade.

He became a starter in 2025 — five games at left guard and four at center — playing 11 games. His PFF grades took a dip to 63.6, 65.5 and 68.4, respectively, but still ranked inside the top 30 among underclassmen with 500 or more snaps.

247Sports ranks Moore No. 229 overall among all players in the 2026 transfer portal cycle and No. 11 among interior offensive linemen.

Advertisement

Florida’s interior offensive line room

Florida’s interior offensive line returns starting left guard Knijeah Harris and backup guards Roderick Kearney and Tavaris Dice Jr. Moore slots in nicely at center with All-American Jake Slaughter out of eligibility and Marcus Mascoll moving on. Noel Portnjagin and Marcus Mascoll are in the portal, and Damieon George Jr. and Kamryn Waites have exhausted their eligibility.

Moore would compete with redshirt freshman Jason Zandamela for the starting center role, or Kearney could move to center and Moore could play guard.

Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.





Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Florida

More than 625 manatees died in 2025 in Florida but year also offered hope

Published

on

More than 625 manatees died in 2025 in Florida but year also offered hope


play

  • Manatee deaths in Florida increased in 2025, with young sea cows being particularly vulnerable.
  • A federal judge mandated a temporary halt on new septic tanks near the Indian River Lagoon and required feeding plans for starving manatees.
  • Despite record deaths, there were signs of hope, including some seagrass recovery and the opening of a new manatee rehab center.
  • New research revealed that a common herbicide may weaken manatee immune systems and that the animals are more recent migrants to Florida than previously believed.

This past year brought mixed milestones for manatees: near-record deaths for young sea cows but also a bit more seagrass for grazing, some new scientific insights and other hints of hope for 2026.

While they kept dying in droves, sea cows on the Space Coast — among their most important feeding spots — found more seagrass in the northern Indian River Lagoon. And a landmark legal ruling mandated that Florida’s most popular threatened species will soon swim in cleaner waters and must be fed lettuce to prevent winter starvation.

Advertisement

Here’s how the year in manatee news played out:

More manatees died but more also live

Good news arrived in recent years regarding the overall sea cow population. Florida estimated in 2021-2022 that its manatee population was between 8,350 to 11,730, up from estimates of less than half of that only a few decades ago.

But in 2025, Brevard County topped Florida’s manatee deaths, with young sea cows continuing to be the hardest hit, despite the local seagrass gains. State biologists suspect the young are still perishing as a result of a long-term famine.

Brevard typically leads Florida sea-cow deaths, because most seagrass (manatees’ main food) grows here in the 72-mile-long county’s portion of the 156-mile-long Indian River Lagoon.

Advertisement

According to the most recent stats from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, through Dec. 26:

  • Brevard had the most deaths: 118 manatees died in Brevard, compared to 100 in 2024. Lee County was second highest in 2025, with 113 manatee deaths.
  • Brevard’s deaths included: 9 by watercraft; 3 other human causes; 50 perinatal; 13 cold stress; 13 natural; 9 undetermined; and 21 not necropsied.
  • Statewide: 628 manatees died, topping the previous two years of 556 in 2024 and 546 in 2023. That still was less than the five-year average of 719 manatee deaths. Those deaths included: 97 by watercraft; 9 from a flood gate/canal lock; 9 other human causes; 135 perinatal; 33 cold stress; 63 natural; 50 undetermined; and 232 not necropsied.
  • One in five Florida manatees died within a year of birth: The 135 so-called “perinatal” manatee deaths — those that die within a year of birth — were 21% of the overall 628 manatee deaths last year. That was less than the record 149 perinatal deaths through Dec. 26, 2024, which increased to 154 total perinatal deaths for that year. But 2025 topped the five-year average of 104 perinatal deaths.

More landmark legal protection

In May, a federal judge ruled that Florida has to temporarily stop approving new septic tanks near the northern Indian River Lagoon and plan to start feeding manatees again when they are faced with winter starvation.

Brevard is offering homeowners financial help to meet that and other state septic-tank mandates.

The new manatee rules will remain in effect until the state gets a federal permit that allows so-called “incidental takes” of threatened manatees, the judge ruled. Incidental take refers to the unintentional (but not unexpected) death, injury, or harassment of a protected species during otherwise lawful activity.

In a separate legal battle, conservation groups have for several years been suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reclassify manatees from “threatened” back to “endangered.” Last year, the service declined to return Florida manatees to “endangered” status, a ruling environmental groups continue to challenge.

Advertisement

New manatee rehab opens at Brevard Zoo

Last year, Brevard Zoo took in the first two manatee patients — Churro and Randa — at the zoo’s new $2.1 million sea cow rehab center. As with the zoo’s sea turtle rehab, the facility is not open to the general public. But on April 4, the zoo gave Gov. Ron DeSantis a behind-the-scenes tour as the zoo celebrated the center’s opening with a ribbon cutting.

Florida Tech makes strides with robotic manatee

In 2025, Florida Tech students made leaps forward with a robotic manatee, called “Mechanatee.” They hope in years ahead to use the robot to study real manatees in the wild without disturbing them. The robot will mimic the movements and communication of manatees to gather data on their behavior and habitat. The project is still in its early stages, but the team hopes to eventually test Mechanatee in Belize.

Other sea-cow scientific breakthroughs:

Several other groundbreaking studies in 2025 showed, among other things, that a popular herbicide is suppressing manatee immunity, that sea cows aren’t nearly as longstanding Florida natives as once thought and are sophisticated navigators.

  • In January, University of Florida researchers found that the popular herbicide glyphosate can reduce manatee immune cell activity by more than 27%. That suggests sea cows living near high agricultural or residential runoff are more vulnerable to diseases and infections, even if they aren’t directly starving.
  • Manatees are relative newcomers to Florida: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says on its website: “As its name suggests, the Florida manatee is native to Florida and is found primarily in coastal areas throughout the state.” But a landmark study in the journal PLOS One released in January 2025 by University of South Florida found almost no manatee bones in more than 70 Native American settlements older than a few hundred years. That suggests manatees only likely began migrating from the West Indies when the climate started heating up, beginning at the end of the 19th century with the onset of the Industrial Revolution, the USF researchers concluded. Cooler temperatures lasting until the late 1800s probably kept cold-sensitive sea cows from migrating much north of the West Indies, USF concluded.
  • In April, a study lead by New College in Sarasota used post mortem MRIs to find that manatees are more sophisticated navigators than previously thought. “Despite this apparently ‘simple’ brain, manatees in the wild show some cognitively sophisticated behaviors, particularly in the realm of navigation,” the authors wrote. “Future work in manatees should examine local and global brain connectivity related to spatial navigation and other complex cognitive capabilities.”

Contact Waymer at (321) 261-5903 or jwaymer@floridatoday.com. Follow him on X at @JWayEnviro.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Florida

Florida’s political sphere reacts to Nicolas Maduro’s capture as former Venezuelan president awaits court appearance

Published

on

Florida’s political sphere reacts to Nicolas Maduro’s capture as former Venezuelan president awaits court appearance



Now that the United States has captured Nicolas Maduro and intends to prosecute him and members of his family, CBS News Miami’s Jim DeFede brings us the latest developments and the fallout following the Saturday morning strikes.

Guests: U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz/ (D) FL District 25

Advertisement

              Lt. Gov. Jay Collins/(R) Florida

              Ambassador Frank Mora/Former U.S. Ambassador to OAS

              Raul Stolk/Expert on Latin America

              Jon May/Represented Manuel Noriega  

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending