A Mississippi football player is suing coach Lane Kiffin and the school for racial and sexual discrimination and negligence, saying he was kicked off the team during a mental health crisis.
DeSanto Rollins, a defensive tackle from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, filed the lawsuit Thursday in federal court in Oxford, Mississippi, where the school is located.
Rollins, who is Black, is seeking $10 million in compensatory damages and $30 million in punitive damages. He claims he was not supported through his depression the way white and female athletes have been at Ole Miss.
“We have not received a lawsuit,” the school said Friday through spokesman Kyle Campbell. “DeSanto was never removed from the football team and remains on scholarship. In addition, he continues to have the opportunity to receive all of the resources and advantages that are afforded a student-athlete at the university.”
Rollins was still listed on the Rebels’ roster as of Friday.
A letter dated May 3 from the office of Rollins’ attorney, Carroll Rhodes of Hazlehurst, Mississippi, was addressed to Kiffin, Mississippi Chancellor Glenn Boyce, state Attorney General Lynn Fitch and Commissioner of Higher Education Alfred Rankins and laid out Rollin’s tort claims demand.
The lawsuit claims none of the defendants responded to the letter.
Rollins’ playing career has been hampered by injuries, including a concussion and Achilles tendon injury in the spring and summer of 2022, that left him severely depressed, the lawsuit said.
He said nobody within the athletic department or football program provided him with direction or referrals to mental health services after his injuries.
Rollins said Kiffin and defensive line coach Randall Joyner urged him last November to enter the transfer portal, but he declined.
In January, Rollins’ grandmother died and he “continued to suffer severe depression,” according to the lawsuit.
In late February, Rollins was told by Kiffin that he was moving to the offense line and relegated…
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