Last year marked the beginning of a heated rivalry between Kirby Smart and Lane Kiffin. Smart and Georgia handed Ole Miss their one and only regular season loss last season, but Kiffin got the last laugh by beating them in the College Football Playoff.
Now Kiffin is in charge of LSU which will only take this rivalry to even higher levels as he has access to perks that Ole Miss could never give him.
Smart and Kiffin will do most of their battles on the recruiting trail as they both look to recruit the best players in the country to their school. The latest example of this is with four-star quarterback Colton Nussmeier who was in Athens on a visit for G-Day. On the surface this seemed like a normal visit, but it was a shot at Kiffin because Nussmeier is the younger brother of a former LSU quarterback.
Four-star QB Colton Nussmeier here with his family: pic.twitter.com/Qf1yl1r2WA
— Harrison Reno (@HarrisonReno) April 18, 2026
Kirby Smart looks to beat Lane Kiffin at his own game
Colton's older brother Garrett just wrapped up his five-year career at LSU. This past season he threw for nearly 2,000 yards and 12 touchdowns which gave him 7,700 passing yards and 52 touchdowns for his career.
He obviously was never coached by Kiffin, but he can still use his LSU connection to bring the younger Nussmeier to LSU to follow in his brothers footsteps.
LSU appears to be the leader in his recruitment right now, but based on his G-Day visit though it looks like Smart could be making some progress to catch up to Kiffin and the Tigers.
Kiffin has been doing his best to get in Smart's way as much as possible since he was hired by LSU. Smart however isn't backing down as he looks to take a recruit that one would believe should go to LSU just like his brother.
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