Charlie Weis, Jr. brings respected pedigree, balanced offense to Oxford


On Wednesday, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin made his selection to replace former offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby, hiring South Florida offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Charlie Weis, Jr. The two were together at Alabama for two years under Nick Saban and then at Florida Atlantic where Kiffin and Weis worked together to win a Conference USA title.Now, with the two getting the band back together in the SEC at Ole Miss, it comes with a certain level of expectations. The Rebels are coming off a record-setting 2021 season where Kiffin led Ole Miss to its first ever 10-win regular season and a Sugar Bowl berth against Big 12 champion, Baylor.Matt Corral etched his name in the record books and will play in his final game on January 1. The California signal caller went from backup quarterback to potential day one NFL Draft pick next April.The expectation level has been raised and with the always tough SEC West only getting tougher, Weis will have big shoes to fill with Lebby leaving for Oklahoma. But, the 28-year old coordinator is used to being doubted and the demands have always been there. Hell, he’s been doing it for almost 15 years.Weis, Jr. initially started his “career” when his father was the head coach at Notre Dame. Then, some 14 years later he finds himself in Oxford with Kiffin. But, the relationship started back in Tuscaloosa when Kiffin first interacted with his offensive coordinator.Kiffin talked with ESPN’s Andrea Adelson back in 2018 about his early impressions of the young coaching savant once the two were reunited in Boca Raton, Fla., at FAU.“Age is irrelevant. Experience is relevant,” Kiffin said. “I can be 50 years old, and if I’ve only coached for three years, then I’ve only coached for three years. He was this child coaching prodigy. When everyone else was playing in college, he was coaching. He’s coached with Will Muschamp at Florida, at Kansas with his dad, he’s coached at Alabama with Nick Saban, and he’s coached in Atlanta, and he’s coached here. There’s a lot of 40-year-olds that will never be able to say that.“When you sit in his meetings, if you closed your eyes and just listened — the way he commands a room, the way he commands the players, the other coaches way older than him — you’d never guess he was 25.”It’s the same innate ability to read defenses on the fly, break down schemes and teach players 10 years younger than him which leads some of the sports’ best praising Kiffin’s hire.“He’s viewed in the coaching world as a really sharp young offensive mind,” On3 Sports’ Matt Zenitz said. “People at Alabama had a lot of respect for him and thought he had big-time upside back when he was there as a support staffer.”After a brief stint in the NFL with Atlanta Falcons and when Kiffin’s first offensive coordinator at FAU, Kendal Briles, left for the same gig at Houston, he called Weis, Jr.The answer was easy and a quick one.“Coach Kiffin is someone I look up to more than anyone in football, and when he offered me that job, I knew I could not turn him down twice after leaving the first time,” Weis Jr. told Adelson. “When I got that offer, the second he said it, I said, ‘Yes!’ and it was the easiest decision I’ve ever had to make.”
 Once he got to FAU, he wasted little time making an impact on Kiffin’s staff.In his first season, Weis’ offensive attack was well-balanced. In the backfield, Devin Singletary ran for 1,348 yards and 22 touchdowns while Kerrith Whyte chipped in 1,026 yards from scrimmage and 10 total scores. At receiver, he had three with 45+ catches, led by Jovon Durante who ended the year with 65 receptions for 873 yards and five touchdowns. The Owls ended the year ranked 14th nationally in total offense.In year two, Weis’ offensive attack was 23rd nationally and boasted a quarterback with a QBR of 144.9 and a 61.8 completion percentage. FAU and Chris Robison threw for 3,701 yards and 28 touchdowns while the two-headed monster of Malcolm Davidson and Larry McCammon III combined for 1,035 yards and 16 touchdowns.John Mackey Award winner and unanimous All-American Harrison Bryant torched everyone in 2019 through the air, hauling in 65 receptions for 1,004 yards and seven touchdowns. Five other receivers combined for 20 more touchdown receptions and 2,311 yards.
 That’s the kind of balance expected of him in Oxford after Kiffin’s first two years saw the Rebels average 556 and 507 yards per game respectively. The two have a ton of familiarity with each other and they tend to work in a similar fashion, operating mostly in the spread power run scheme Ole Miss fans got to know while Lebby was in town.After being away from Kiffin for two seasons at USF, Weis has reunited with his former boss and will be tasked with filling Corral and Lebby’s shoes in 2022. But as he said in the ESPN interview three years ago, Kiffin’s belief in the young play caller not only comes from a previous working relationship at FAU but from a lesson he learned from his mentor.“I think I was 24 when I went to USC with Pete Carroll,” Kiffin said. “Pete believed in people and never worried about their age. I learned that from him.”