Rollins claims he suffered multiple injuries that caused severe depression. The death of his grandmother in January 2023 contributed to the depression, per the lawsuit. On February 27, 2023, Kiffin allegedly informed Rollins he would move from defensive tackle to the scout team offensive line, after Rollins declined to enter the transfer portal.
Rollins then sought a mental health break. He declined to meet with Kiffin until March 21, 2023. At that time, Rollins made a legal recording of his meeting with Kiffin, without Kiffin’s knowledge.
“Ok, you have a fucking head coach, this is a job, guess what, if I have mental issues and I’m not diminishing them, I can’t not see my fucking boss,” Kiffin said, per the transcript of the meeting attached to the lawsuit. “When you were told again and again the head coach needs to see you, wasn’t to make you practice, wasn’t to play a position you don’t fucking want to, OK? It was to talk to you and explain to you in the real world, OK? So I don’t give a fuck what your mom say, OK, or what you think in the real fucking world, you show up to work, and then you say, ‘Hey, I have mental issues, I can’t do anything for two weeks, but if you change my position I won’t have mental issues.’ . . . I guarantee if we fucking called you in and said you’re playing defense, would you have mental issues?”
Rollins responded by saying, “I definitely would.” He also said, “I mean, you’re acting like my issues aren’t real.”
“I didn’t say they’re not real,” Kiffin said. “You show up when your head -- when your boss wants to meet with you. It wouldn’t have been like this. If you would’ve come here when you kept getting messages the head coach wants to talk to you, you say ‘I’m not ready to talk to him.’”
“I wasn’t,” Rollins said.
“What fucking world do you live in?” Kiffin replied.
“I don’t see why you have to be disrespectful, honestly,” Rollins said.
“Get out of here,” Kiffin said. “Go, you’re off the team. You’re done. See ya. Go. And guess what? We can kick you off the team. So go read your fucking rights about mental health. We can kick you off the team for not showing up. When the head coach asks to meet with you and you don’t show up for weeks, we can remove you from the team. . . . It’s called being a pussy. It’s called hiding behind shit and not showing up to work.”