Lane Kiffin clarifies discussion with Jaxson Dart on future plans
Earlier this season, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin confirmed that quarterback Jaxson Dart would return next season. However, Dart recently said that he hasn’t made that decision yet, forcing Kiffin to walk back his previous comments.
Kiffin admitted that he probably shouldn’t have said that and explained that it’s part of trying to keep the roster constructed, even in the middle of a season.
“I probably shouldn’t have said that,” Lane Kiffin said. “That was a conversation between me and him and I kind of got caught off guard on saying that. I made sure right after I left the restaurant I said that to him because that’s not really my position to really say. When he’s ready to talk to you guys about that he will.”
Dart came to Ole Miss as a transfer from USC. Since then, he’s become one of the SEC’s best quarterbacks. Through 11 games in 2023, Dart has completed 66.4 percent of passes for 2,889 yards and 19 touchdowns.
“We have, sometimes, these talks are different these days roster for the next year in-season, which is very abnormal because you’ve got portal coming up and you’re really trying to figure all that out, especially a significant player like the quarterback. You try to figure it out because a lot of players come back sometimes based off of that.”
Ultimately, Kiffin explained that this situation with Dart is one of the challenges of roster building in the modern era.
“You guys hear me say all the time, whatever they make the rules and situations and, as I’ve said before, it was a disaster putting NIL and [transfer] portal at the same time, basically together without having it nailed, and in my opinion not very thought out. So, we’ve seen some of the disasters that have happened with that. So, it is what it is,” Kiffin said.
“We just try to maximize the situation and not ignore it and know that it’s there. I think there’s so much involved in it that you can have a player, a freshman make a play at the end of the game and it goes in your head, you’re so happy for him and you’re like, well, that guys’ going to get pre-portal’ed more by other people by making a play. Just kind of the world we’re in.”
Lane Kiffin addresses struggles of Ole Miss offensive line
In Ole Miss’ dominant win over ULM, Kiffin was concerned by the amount of negative plays that the offense allowed during the game. Part of that was on the offensive line. However, as Kiffin explained, not every negative play was because of the offensive line.
“We had a lot of negative plays in that game, which doesn’t necessarily mean all offensive line,” Kiffin said. “Sometimes it’s a (running) back stopping his feet or a tight end doing something or our quarterback taking a sack. We did not play great up front by any means upfront. So, we’ll continue to look at things. Maybe get some help back injury-wise, and just go from there.”