Todd McShay, Sean McDonough break down early impression of Jaxson Dart after Ole Miss transfer

Jaxson Dart is readying for the biggest game of his career thus far, with No. 14 Ole Miss welcoming No. 7 Kentucky to Oxford for what should be an awesome SEC showdown.

Ahead of the highly anticipated game, ESPN analysts Todd McShay and Sean McDonough broke down their early impressions of Dart, and how he’ll be able to handle the rigors of conference play.

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“Jaxson Dart, the thing that really jumped out to me in the meetings today, and I’ve watched him on tape — and he’s a young quarterback, has not played a lot of ball, but he’s getting better every game,” said McShay. “Both the head coach and the offensive coordinator and even when talking to Dart himself, they recognize that he has made huge strides. And the talent’s there.

“So I’m excited to see him now in this big stage opportunity in a huge SEC game. Does he take that next step?”

While Dart had to work hard to be named the starting quarterback of the Rebels, McDonough added that there’s no doubt the USC transfer is the alpha for the Rebels now.

“That was another takeaway from the meeting. He’s clearly the starting quarterback now. As the folks here know, there was some question if he was for the first couple weeks. That’s gone,” added McDonough. “You think about everything he’s been through. Moved to a completely different part of the country, learned a completely different style of offense — he’s never played in an RPO offense before. He’s out of the air raid. So he had to learn all of this, all the new teammates.”

Indisputably, McDonough has a great point, as Dart has had to overcome a slew of changes in going from Los Angeles to Mississippi. Additionally, McShay added there’s “different hunting” in Oxford to, to what McDonough had a hilarious response.

“Different hunting, he’s a hunter and fisherman,” added McDonough. “I think though, and Todd would agree with me on this, I’m sure, the biggest takeaway from the meeting with Jaxson Dart is: He has a brother named Diesel. And that’s his actual name. It’s not a nickname.”

According to McShay and McDonough, Dart is jealous of his brother’s given name — annoyed that his parents saved an awesome name for his younger brother.

“He’s mad that he’s not Diesel,” elaborated McDonough. “Because he was older and they named him Jaxson and then the younger brother Diesel.”

Hey, Jaxson Dart is a pretty sweet name for a quarterback, if that makes the sting any less prominent for Rebels star. Nevertheless, if Dart can find a way to capture victory over Kentucky on Saturday, his popularity can reach new heights in 2022.