Lane Kiffin explains why Austin Simmons edged out Walker Howard for backup QB role

In the team’s Week 1 game against Furman, Ole Miss took care of business with a 76-0 win. That gave head coach Lane Kiffin plenty of opportunities to get his backups into the game.

One notable choice by Kiffin was to put quarterback Austin Simmons out with the backups instead of Walker Howard. After the game, Kiffin explained to media members how it was that Simmons was able to edge out Howard for that role.

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“I think it was very close,” Lane Kiffin said. “Both guys had a really good camp. Did really well. It was a hard decision. Just felt that Austin played a little better right at the end, the last couple competitive situations, but it was a very hard decision. We’re very confident as you saw with both guys going in there and running our offense.”

Walker Howard was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2022, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, who transferred to Ole Miss from LSU. For his part, Austin Simmons was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2023 and brings plenty of his own potential. During the offseason, there was a competition between the two to become the backup to Jaxson Dart. That job clearly ended up going to Simmons instead of Howard, who many may have presumed would be the backup this season.

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In his playing time, Simmons completed seven of 16 passes for 111 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 10 yards. That was all during garbage time. In fact, between Simmons and Dart, the two quarterbacks were able to combine for the program’s single-game passing record. Between the two of them, they had 529 passing yards and six passing touchdowns.

Lane Kiffin also made sure to get Walker Howard into the game. However, in a much briefer performance, he was unable to complete a pass on two attempts.

Next week, Ole Miss will get set to take on Middle Tennessee State and while Week 1 will be difficult to replicate, Ole Miss will certainly do its best. If a situation arises in that game where Kiffin needs to turn to one of his backups at the quarterback position, it looks like it’s going to be Simmons that he turns to.