Dethroning Jaxson Dart as Ole Miss quarterback will be 'difficult,' ESPN says

Jaxson Dart started for Ole Miss in 2022 and it won’t be easy to unseat him, despite transfer quarterbacks coming in, according to ESPN’s Chris Low.

Dart was the leader in the clubhouse, per se, even though Spencer Sanders and Walker Howard came to the program via Oklahoma State and LSU, respectively. Sanders is the intriguing one due to his veteran experience and leadership.

In fact, Low made the case that Sanders was closer to Dart than Howard.

“Dart was good enough (and consistent enough) in the spring that it’s going to be difficult for anyone to unseat him,” Low wrote. “What he did better than anybody was get the ball into the end zone, and that’s the ultimate measure of a quarterback. But to say Sanders, especially with all of his experience and athleticism, is too far behind to catch Dart would be premature. And who’s to say both quarterbacks won’t contribute in some form or fashion in 2023?”

Dart may be the guy for Ole Miss right now, but Kiffin is the type of coach to select the quarterback who’s best suited to win right now. Ole Miss plays in the rough SEC West.

“Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin has been adamant that he’s going to build the most talented roster he can, and he knows as well as anyone you can never have enough good quarterbacks,” Low wrote. “Ole Miss goes so fast on offense it helps to have as many reps as possible in that system. For Dart, everything seemed to slow down this spring, and his footwork, timing and rhythm were all improved.

“Ole Miss doesn’t have to name a starter until more than three months from now. But if that decision had to be made today, it would be Dart.”

Kiffin explained that the transfer portal creates greater competition after the spring game. However, he also wanted to emphasize that there are multiple reasons for bringing in transfer portal depth.

“We hang on this competition because we preach that and you guys report that because we talk about it all the time, but it’s not just competition why you bring people in, it’s to make your roster better and I think that gets forgotten sometimes with the kids or the parents that they don’t understand,” Kiffin said.

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“Does it mean you don’t have confidence in our kid? No, it doesn’t. It means we want to win games and we want to have really deep rosters at positions so when things happen, other guys are ready to play.”