Lane Kiffin: Jaxson Dart is a 99 overall in leadership, ready for the spotlight in 2024

Lane Kiffin doesn’t believe there’s many areas Jaxson Dart has to improve entering another season as Ole Miss‘ starting quarterback in 2024.

Speaking with the media at SEC Media Days, Kiffin was asked where Dart needs to get better ahead of his third season with the Rebels, and the Ole Miss head coach opted to instead heap immense praise on his quarterback.

Kiffin went as far to say he’s a 99-overall in leadership, staying on the theme of the EA Sports video game, which of course is a huge topic this week.

“I think we’re always trying to improve players, obviously. I think that, with Jaxson, there’s not as much to point to, because he did finish the season really well,” Kiffin explained while on the podium. “We’ve had him now for a while. A lot of times we’ve got to go work on leadership things with someone, investing into their team and players, and he’s — in honor [NCAA Football 25] coming out, everybody is so excited, including Knox, because there’s a party tonight, to play this game or whatever — it makes me think of, if they had a rating of like, which maybe they do, of leadership, of a quarterback, he would be a 99, you know, because he invests into the players so much.

“So, a lot of times, you’ve got to work on that with them. He has that nailed. So, I think just continuing of his decision-making. Then, no matter how grounded you are, the spotlight gets big, and the pressure gets bigger. Him maintaining what he did really well at the end of the year, which is taking care of the football, and not forcing balls and making really good decisions.”

Could Jaxson Dart lead Ole Miss to the promise land? Lane Kiffin certainly believes so, but it’ll be up to the quarterback to continue improving and make his mark on the Rebels once again in 2024.

Jaxson Dart on area he wants to improve: ‘I want to be like an OC’

Alas, Jaxson Dart heads into year three as the Ole Miss starting quarterback in 2024, and this time around, he’s hoping to become more coach-like on the football field. 

Dart is certainly capable of running the offense and eclipsed 3,300 passing yards in 2023 as one of the better quarterbacks in the SEC. But he still sees plenty of room for improvement, like being able to completely call the shots on offense on his own, if need be. He explained at spring practice those goals for himself this season. 

“There’s a lot of things I want to improve on. I want to be like an OC out there,” said Dart, earlier this offseason. “I want Coach (Charlie) Weis to be able to trust me to call my own plays if I have to.”

Beyond simply executing the called play, Dart says he wants to learn to see and understand the game and play calls the way Weis does as the offensive coordinator. 

“The big thing for me and him is I want to understand, every time he calls a play, what he’s looking at and what he’s looking to attack,” added Dart. “There’s a lot of things to improve on and I’m really excited to continue to improve myself day in and day out.”

On3’s Alex Weber contributed to this article.