Kiffin takes shots at Meyer, Saban

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Fans who attended the University of Tennessee's recruiting celebration here early Thursday morning didn't need coffee. New UT coach Lane Kiffin and his staff provided plenty of stimulation.
Kiffin took shots at defending national champion Florida and Alabama, recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron talked about winning a national championship, and assistant coach Lance Thompson vowed that UT would "own Memphis" in recruiting.
It was that kind of morning. And the sellout crowd of almost 1,000 fans at the Knoxville Convention Center ate it up.
Their loudest applause came when Kiffin called out Florida coach Urban Meyer on an alleged NCAA recruiting violation in the recruitment of Nu'Keese Richardson, a wide receiver from Pahokee, Fla., who committed to Florida but signed with UT.
"I'm going to turn Florida in right now in front of you," Kiffin told the crowd. "Nu'Keese was here on campus (on his recruiting visit) and his phone kept ringing. One of our coaches said, 'Nu'Keese, who's that?' He said, 'Urban Meyer.'
"Just so you know, when a recruit is on another campus, you can't call him. I love the fact that Urban had to cheat and still didn't get him."
Florida didn't take Kiffin's comments lightly. It released a statement from athletic director Jeremy Foley on Thursday afternoon.
"There was no rule violation and we have confirmed this with the Southeastern Conference," Foley's statement read. "It is obvious that Coach Kiffin doesn't know that there is not a rule precluding phone contact with a prospect during an official visit on another campus during a contact period.
"His allegations are inappropriate, out of line and, most importantly, totally false. It is completely unfair to Urban Meyer, our coaching staff, our football program and our institution. The appropriate action at this time in my opinion is for Coach Kiffin to make a public apology. His comments not only slandered our coach, but he violated SEC rules by publicly criticizing another coach and institution."
UT spokeswoman Tiffany Carpenter told The Associated Press that UT would not file an official complaint with the NCAA.
Florida wasn't Kiffin's only target. He also took a dig at Alabama, which was No. 1 in the country this past season before losing to Florida in the SEC championship game.
"Nick Saban (Alabama's coach) should have started his press conference (Wednesday) by saying, 'Our great class that we signed ... I'd really like to thank Lance (Thompson) because Lance signed eight of those guys.' "
Thompson was an assistant coach and star recruiter for Saban before joining Kiffin's new staff at Tennessee. And he's about as shy as his head coach.
"He ain't getting any more of my (recruits)," Thompson said of Saban.
Thompson also compared UT's recruiting in Memphis to Alabama's recruiting in Mobile, Ala., before he arrived.
"Everybody said, 'Auburn beats us in Mobile,' " Thompson said. "Y'all beat us anymore, Eddie (referring to former Auburn assistant coach Eddie Gran, who's now on Kiffin's staff). Y'all say the same thing about Memphis in Tennessee. We're going to own Memphis."
Kiffin and his assistants made it clear they don't take the recruiting services' evaluations of players as gospel. That set up Thompson for another Alabama shot.
"Just for your information, Utah had no five-stars (recruits), and they kicked the lining out of our tails," said Thompson in reference to Alabama's loss to Utah in the Sugar Bowl.
Kiffin and his staff were scheduled to address UT fans in Nashville and Memphis later Thursday.

(Contact John Adams at adamsj@knoxnews.com.)

(John Adams is sports editor of The Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennesse.)