Ole Miss quarterback decision will be based on production on the field, not recruiting hype
The Ole Miss quarterback battle is the central topic of discussion in fall camp and one that head coach Lane Kiffin would probably like to end sooner rather than later.
When the talking does end and a decision is finally made, the third-year coach made it clear on Tuesday it will not be made to be used as a recruiting tool for the future.
Luke Altmyer and Jaxson Dart are in what seems to be a dead heat in trying to win the job of Ole Miss’ next starting quarterback. Altmyer is the more seasoned of the two sophomores in relation to having experience in Oxford, but Dart has the hype.
The former Southern California quarterback hit the transfer portal and helped Ole Miss land one of the top transfer classes this past winter. The buzz quickly surrounded Dart, a former four-star prospect, as the guy to take the job from Altmyer with ease.
After spring practice and summer workouts it was not as easy for Dart earn the starting gig as anticipated.
Selecting Dart as QB1 based solely on all the hype, attention and buzz would be a way to show future quarterback prospects they have a real shot of playing as soon as they get to Ole Miss.
With a tightly contested quarterback battle on his hands Kiffin is not going to take the easy way out in picking a starter.
“That’s a fair question. That absolutely will have nothing to do with how we play players here,” Kiffin said. “We’ve got tons of example over time. We don’t care how many stars you are, where you’re from. Whether you’re from (Mississippi), whether you’re not. When I got here I was down for playing the other quarterback.
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“So, we don’t look at anything that way. It doesn’t matter where (Dart) came from or whether he played or how many stars he is. Will have nothing to do with whether he plays.”
Related: Ole Miss holds its first scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday and is ‘more important’ than most
Altmyer was also a four-star recruit and a highly touted prospect out of Starkville when Ole Miss signed him in 2020.
The buzz was not as nationally prevalent for Altmyer as it was with Dart’s recruitment last January, but the former did flip his commitment from Florida State to Ole Miss off of Kiffin’s overtures.
Comments made by Kiffin on Tuesday reinforced what co-defensive coordinator Chris Partridge said last week. Partridge revealed a little of the recruiting philosophy Kiffin and his staff use when looking for the right players.
“You gotta take time to get to know guys and not just take them because of what they’re ranked or what you think about them,” Partridge said.
“The beauty and what I love about Lane and he really taught me this, or honed it in even more, is if this kid’s a great player but he’s not going to be coach-able and he can’t learn what we want him to learn or he doesn’t fit into our program we’re not going to take them. I think people would be astonished at the kids that we’ve turned down here because they don’t fit in our program.”
