Ole Miss' Jaxson Dart still among odds favorites to win 2022 Heisman Trophy
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin may not have any idea who his starting quarterback is going to be yet here at the end of May but the fine folks in Las Vegas seem to have a guy in mind. Transfer Jaxson Dart is still among the odds favorites to have a shot at winning the Heisman Trophy come December.
The Vegas sportsbooks have opened up their futures odds on who will be hoisting up the Heisman Trophy and despite there be uncertainty of who the actual starter for Ole Miss will be, Dart remains high on the list.
Dart is in the top five in most of the sportsbooks, but is not really very close in terms of the actual odds of being the heavy favorite. Of course this is late May and any meaningful games will not be played for close to four months from now.
Ceasars Sportsbook has Dart at +2500 and tied for fourth on the odds list with Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke. Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud is the consensus favorite at +300 with Alabama’s Bryce Young (+350) and new Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams (+1000) rounding out the top three.
According to Vegas Insider’s Heisman Odds, which they pull from FoxBet, Dart is sitting tied for fifth in the pecking order once again with Van Dyke at +3000.
Hype surrounding Dart is the most logical reason for him still remaining in the top five a month after spring drills ended where he was not particularly convincing.
A quarterback battle between Dart and Luke Altmyer emerged more closely contested all spring than initially expected. Both quarterbacks showed positives, depending on which day of practice was witnessed, but they both also showed some negatives at times.
Altmyer had more positives than negatives while Dart’s negatives were more alarming with the mistakes made with his passes and route reading.
Coming out of the Grove Bowl last month, Altmyer was the clear frontrunner in a battle that is going to linger on into August and possibly the first few games of the season.
“I think both guys have done good things, made big plays,” Kiffin said during the spring. “Seems like they’re both never on (at the same time). One will have a good day and the other will turn it over and then switch the other day. It’s good competition and doing some new things on offense with the guys and both guys really not a ton of playing time. Jaxson’s had more but it wasn’t with us, so not a ton of carry over.”
With Altmyer having a productive and steady spring, it has allowed for his name to pop up in the very early offseason Heisman chatter.
In the same list provided by Vegas Insider, Altmyer is on there but way down tied for 30th with a slew of other players at +10000.
Regardless of who the quarterback is come Sept. 3, playing in the Southeastern Conference in a offensive system under Kiffing and co-offensive coordinators Charlie Weis, Jr. and John David Baker gives Altmyer and Dart confidence they can succeed and potentially have Heisman caliber seasons.
We shall see soon enough.
