Raise your hand if you had Lane Kiffin as one of the most important public health advocates in the United States in the year of our Lord 2021.
First of all, Kiffin revealed that the Ole Miss football program has reached 100 percent vaccination rate among players and coaches. The Magnolia State lags well below the national average with 35.2 percent of the eligible population fully vaccinated with 256 deaths per 100,000 people, a rate surpassed by only four other states.
The most visible sports team in the state is doing its part to reverse those numbers and, at the very least, can comfortably say it will not have any games interrupted this fall.
But that's not all. As the Rebels hit the field for their first practice Sunday, Kiffin debuted a new, svelter, healthier version of himself, a fully 30 pounds lighter than he was at the Outback Bowl in January.
Kiffin's weight loss journey began as any successful weight loss journey does -- he did it for himself.
"I saw a picture of me at the bowl game last year and told the players I looked like an anaconda that had swallowed a deer and the deer got stuck in its neck," Kiffin told ESPN's Chris Low.
But losing the weight will benefit more than just his waistline. It served as a personal reminder that accountability is a two-way street.
"Here I am in postseason meetings back in January telling my offensive linemen and other guys that they needed to eat better, lose weight, get in better shape, and I looked like a whale."
Mississippi is not only among the least-vaccinated states in America, it's also among the most overweight. The state's own public health department estimated in 2018 37.3 percent of its adults -- three in eight -- were overweight, only percentage points behind West Virginia for the highest number in the nation and more than triple the 15 percent of obese Mississippians in 1990.
Kiffin is leading his entire staff in a weight loss competition, where the Rebel coach that loses the most weight between the opening of camp and the Labor Day opener against Louisville wins the $200-buy-in pot.
I never thought I'd say this, but the entire state of Mississippi would be much healthier if they'd just be more like Lane Kiffin.