Antonio Kite still talks to some of the former Rebels he will see on Saturday. He expects to talk to one of them a lot more once the ball is kicked off.
I mean, I feel like it’s a, it’s a regular game. They’re a great team, but like, I’m gonna take it as a— I take every game as a high-level game, especially when I’m playing against some old friends. You know, it’s gonna be a lot of trash talking, me and Chris Graves.
Graves, a defensive back, spent three seasons at Ole Miss before transferring to Missouri, which also has former Rebels Austin Simmons and Cayden Lee. Kite said seeing them will be “fun.” “I still got a relationship with some of those guys. So it’s going to be fun to see them, like, in person again rather than just being on a game or talking on the phone and stuff.”
He called that kind of reunion “very common” now, “especially with the transfer portal.”
From Florida to Vanderbilt
Kite had one of Ole Miss’s four takeaways in the 52-17 win at Vanderbilt, an interception. The Rebels had forced only two turnovers in their first four games, according to the Ole Miss game notes.
That was big for us, you know, see a lot of guys go out there and get the ball. You know, we haven’t been doing that, but we’ve been working on it every day at practice, trying to get the ball more and be better, better than that.
Asked what the defense did at Vanderbilt that it could not do in the 52-28 loss at Florida two weeks earlier, he kept it simple. “It was just more about us being us, you know, just executing at a high level, playing hard with heart.”
And on whether the loss and the open date that followed helped: “I don’t want to say a loss is a good thing, but I think we just learned from it, you know. We don’t want to feel that feeling again.”
Healthy, and a hair contest
Asked whether he is fully healthy, Kite answered, “Oh, yes, sir.” He was also asked whether he and safety Sharif Denson have a hair contest going. When a reporter said Denson’s looked “a little more organized,” Kite had an answer ready. “That’s what made mine more unique, I think.”
No. 13 Missouri (5-1, 2-1 SEC) visits No. 9 Ole Miss (4-1, 2-1 SEC) on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 2:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network. It is Homecoming in Oxford. Hotty Toddy 🦈
Quotes from Antonio Kite’s Missouri week media availability, Oct. 13, 2026. Statistics via the Ole Miss game notes. Photo: Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding before the game at Florida, Sept. 26, 2026. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images.