Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss expected to hire important support staffer

Lane Kiffin has added a big name to his football support staff at Ole Miss, as Austin Thomas – who served as LSU‘s general manager last season – is expected to make the move to Oxford and join the Rebels’ program, per On3’s Matt Zenitz.

Thomas, who’s considered one of the top personnel managers in all of college football, has held positions at LSU, Baylor, Texas A&M, USC and Tennessee. Former LSU head coach Ed Orgeron named Thomas as the Tigers’ general manager back on Jan. 27, 2021.

Prior to his second stint at LSU, which came after he spent five years with the Tigers from 2013-17, Thomas was Baylor’s senior associate athletic director for football during the 2020 season. Before that, Thomas worked at Texas A&M as the Aggies’ associate athletic director for football personnel from 2018-19.

Thomas is a native of Franklin, Tennessee.

Report: As transfer decision looms, Jaxson Dart admitted to SEC school

Former USC quarterback Jaxson Dart, who on Jan. 10 entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, has not yet publicly made a decision on his destination, but a report from John Macon Gillespie of FanNation claims that Dart has already been admitted as a student at Ole Miss.

On3 was unable to confirm the validity of this report, but a separate report from 247 Sports’ Chris Hummer on Thursday stated that the Ole Miss Rebels “are in good shape” to land Dart.

Throughout the transfer process, Dart is believed to have considered both Ole Miss and Oklahoma, with BYU also giving a ; he even went so far as to tease potential commitments to both schools in Twitter posts wearing Rebels and Sooners gear. On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine currently lists Ole Miss as a runaway favorite, with Lane Kiffin’s Rebels receiving a 98.4% chance of landing the coveted quarterback.

Dart was a four-star recruit heading into USC, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. After an impressive freshman campaign at USC, though, his value has only increased — Dart came in at No. 2 among all quarterbacks in the On3 Transfer Portal rankings, trailing only former Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams. Moreover, his ranking is not just No. 2 among all quarterbacks, but No. 2 among all players in the NCAA Transfer Portal, regardless of position. He’s high up on a particularly talented group of quarterbacks, ranking above the likes of Quinn Ewers, Spencer Rattler and Kedon Slovis.

On3’s Simon Gibbs contributed to this report.