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The Athens Banner-Herald sat down with USC coach Lane Kiffin to discuss Jarvis Jones and the SEC for the paper's college football preview this Sunday. Kiffin, a former Tennessee coach, was in his first season at USC when Jones was on his way out of the program.
This is what Kiffin told the Banner-Herald when he was asked what he thought of what Jones has done for the Dawgs and if he wonders why Jones isn't playing for the Trojans:
Yeah, a lot. Especially when we saw one of the preseason draft (projections) I think it was in USA Today. The first three guys were Matt Barkley, Jarvis Jones and Robert Woods. They could all be on the same team. Yeah, it was a big blow. Obviously, we're excited for him that he's doing so well and it says a lot about him that he came back for another year even though he could have went and made a bunch of money. We're happy for him, but obviously we'd love to have him. If you look at the last two seasons, we've played 25 games and we've had the lead in 24 of those 25 games in the second half. Obviously, a premiere rusher like that, especially to go along with our first-round pick, Nick Perry, would have been pretty exciting.
Kiffin also admitted he believes the SEC is the strongest league because of its defensive prowess, particularly in the front seven. The Trojans are projected by some experts as the No.1 team in the country.
Read more on the Bulldogs at Dawg Sports and SB Nation Atlanta. Team Speed Kills has more on the SEC.