Lane Kiffin: Ole Miss quarterback room in a 'dramatically' better position than last year
A fairly quiet February National Signing Day for Ole Miss on Wednesday with a pair two more signees joining the Rebels 2023 recruiting class, but head coach Lane Kiffin got his first chance to speak on his transfers.
Two of the more high profiled transfers happen to be in the same position room with quarterbacks Spencer Sanders and Walker Howard joining Jaxson Dart. Sanders comes from Oklahoma State after four years of experience in the Big 12 while Howard comes from LSU after redshirting with the Tigers in 2022.
Plenty was made of the addition of Sanders into a room where Ole Miss seemingly has its starting quarterback for 2023 in Dart. Bringing in Howard was more a logical move with Kiffin wanting to plan for the future after Dart.
On Wednesday during Kiffin’s NSD press conference he provided his logic in wanting to bring in a quarterback such as Sanders to a room where it could create the idea of another quarterback battle this spring.
“I’m very excited about the quarterback room,” Kiffin said. “I was very concerned about it from just pure numbers. You guys could figure that out and my job is to put together the best roster every year. We had a chance to bring these two guys in.”
Ole Miss was in dire need of bodies back in the quarterback room with Luke Altmyer and Kinkead Dent both hitting the portal.
No team can head into a spring, let a lone a new season in the fall, with a starting quarterback and nobody behind him. There are always break glass in case of emergency situations that coaches need contingency plans for, Ole Miss is no different.
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Sanders is that contingency play, though he could also be playing for the starting gig come September. Kiffin did not answer in any absolutes when asked if the two additions created another quarterback battle or not.
“I think Jaxson did a lot of great things last year,” Kiffin said. “I know Jaxson, if you think about when he initially played versus the middle and end, he dramatically improved for a young quarterback. We’re very excited about him continuing that.”
As is Kiffin’s usual modus operandi, he offered up a NFL-like comparison when it came why Sanders and Howard.
“We were able to add two guys. One more of a veteran. If you look at the NFL model a veteran quarterback and a really young one. More of a draft pick. The quarterback room is dramatically in a much better position than it was a year ago. That’s really our goal with our whole roster and every position every year. Is to continue to improve it with what comes out versus what comes in. It’ll be very exciting to see those guys develop and work with (Howard), too.”
