Last month, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said that he would prefer if the position battle at quarterback didn’t carry into the regular season. “I always think it’s better to have your guy, but you don’t want to risk choosing the wrong one,” Kiffin said at the time.
Well, Kiffin has his guy, as reported by ESPN’s Chris Low. 22nd-ranked Ole Miss is expected to start Jaxson Dart at quarterback, as the Rebels open their season against FCS opponent Mercer at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday.
While Dart came into camp as the incumbent starter, he was pushed by transfers Spencer Sanders (Oklahoma State) and Walker Howard (LSU). However, the competition was really between Dart, who went 226-of-262 for 2,974 yards with 20 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 12 starts last season and Sanders, who was a four-year starter in Stillwater.
Dart was one of six FBS quarterbacks nationally and one of just two in the SEC (LSU’s Jayden Daniels) at both 2,900 yards passing and 600 yards rushing. Dart rushed for 614 yards on 128 attempts and one touchdown.
Dart, who enters his junior season with 4,327 career passing yards and 29 passing touchdowns, was named to the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award preseason watch list. He enters 2023 ranked No. 4 on the Ole Miss all-time career total offense per play list (7.32; min. 400 plays), No. 13 on the total offense list (3,588) and No. 17 on the passing yards list (2,974).
While he made 12 of 13 starts last season, Dart threw 11 interceptions and was a significant reason why Ole Miss had a five-game losing streak to finish out the season.
Dart is a transfer himself, having originally committed to Southern Cal in 2021, but eventually made his way over to Kiffin’s program after one season with the Trojans. While he doesn’t have the same starting experience that Sanders possesses and maybe not that same level of hype that Howard brought over with him from LSU, Dart is familiar with the offense, having made 12 starts in 2022.
It should be interesting to see how the Rebels’ offense looks this season. Under offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., Ole Miss ranked No. 8 in total offense with 496.4 yards/per game in 2022. We’ll have to see if Dart is able to take that next step as he and Weis enter their second season in Oxford together.
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