Ole Miss football parts ways with defensive line coach Deke Adams

Ole Miss defensive line coach and SEC football staff vagabond Deke Adams will not be returning next season. The former staffer announced this in a tweet Tuesday morning that he is no longer a member of Lane Kiffin’s staff in Oxford.

Adams spent just one year in Oxford after being hired in January. He spent the 2019 season at Mississippi State and coached at North Carolina and South Carolina before that. The departure shouldn’t be too much of a surprise after the regular season campaign the defense had in 2020.

The Rebels were last in FBS in yards allowed per game and sixth-worst in FBS in points allowed per game. The defensive line was unable to mitigate rushing offense and could not get home when rushing the passer, generating the second-fewest sacks and the third-fewest tackles for loss of any conference team this season.

Although the results on the field left a lot to be desired, Adams did his job on the recruiting trail. He was instrumental in signing the top two junior college prospects in Isaiah Iton and Jamond Gordon and also inking prep targets JJ Hawkins, Taleeq Robbins, and Demarcus Smith.