The Coke bottle, once again, is no longer an innocent bystander on the podium of SEC press conferences. It is again a conversation piece, thanks to Lane Kiffin.

On Monday, the Ole Miss coach, during a pause in questions, looked at the bottle and asked the assembled media, “Does anyone drink Coke?

“You guys have 130 percent of your sugar for your entire day is in this one bottle.”

Kiffin, who admitted it’s been a long time since he had one, dropped 30 pounds heading into the 2021 season. At the time, he said it was hypocritical to ask his players to be more committed to taking care of their bodies when he himself was overweight.

It isn’t the first time the Coke bottle was thrust in the to the spotlight.

Last season, then-Alabama coach Nick Saban was asked after a win over Middle Tennessee State if Jalen Milroe would be helped by the experience.

“So, you asking me to speculate and answer a hypothetical question about how some guy’s going to perform in the future?” Saban asked the reporter. “I don’t really know. I mean I love him. I think he’s doing well. I know he’s working hard trying to improve.”

He then picked up the Coke bottle.

“This is a Coke bottle, it’s not a crystal ball,” Saban said. “How do you think he’ll play? Do you have any idea?”

That wasn’t the first time Saban went to the Coke bottle. In 2017, Saban was asked about then-defensive coordinator Kirby Smart being linked to another job. For more than two minutes, Saban explained his stance, before warning reporters not to ask anymore about it.

“I know you would like to some kind of way extract something out of this bottle, aight, that’s not there,” he said holding the Coke bottle. “It’s not there. You all speculate and create things and you want people to respond to them. Get this bottle to respond to it because I don’t know anything more than that.”

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.