Ole Miss quarterbacks offer mixed bag in Grove Bowl performances

Heading into Saturday’s Grove Bowl there might have been one school of thought in how Ole Miss’ quarterback battle was going to go, but two hours later it may have taken an interesting turn.

All spring the talk had been between Jaxson Dart and Luke Altmyer vying to become the successor to Matt Corral and the new leader of the Rebel offense. That is probably still the case but a new leader in the clubhouse heading into the summer possibly emerged.

Of the two, Altmyer had the more consistent and productive game. He completed nine of 22 pass attempts for 182 and rushed for 72 yards and two touchdowns on five carries.

Altmyer appeared to have a calmer presence and demeanor in the pocket, though that can easily be chalked up to being able to line up behind the starting offensive line.

“At times it was difficult because we had some guys down like (Jonathan) Mingo and some others,” Altmyer said. “There were times I didn’t think my ball spun very well today. I wasn’t as clean as I felt like I needed to be, but we scored 40-something points. What more could you ask for?”

One half of the quarterback competition was feeling pretty well after Saturday’s scrimmage but the other competitor might not be feeling so cheery after their performance.

Dart’s introduction in front of the largest crowd this spring, including the four open scrimmages, had a bumpy start. the Southern California transfer struggled in the first half and could never find a rhythm, throwing for two interceptions and less than 70 yards.

Things steadied for Dart in the second half and he finished the game throwing for 166 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions on 11 completed passes out of 30 attempts. He also rushed for 63 yards on 14 carries.

The two picks in the first half were glaring, especially the second one that was a pick-six by Tysheem Johnson. After throwing the pick, Dart ran over and hit linebacker Troy Brown with a strong tackle, which can be attributed to frustration at that point.

“Not a very good first half. I thought (Dart) was trying to win the job instead of just playing quarterback,” said head coach Lane Kiffin. “He rushed some balls and not being very consistent. I just talked to him before the half about calming down, taking it one play at at time. He was more consistent in the second half.”

The quarterback battle could still be a two-man race when fall camp rolls around in August, but Kinkead Dent might have given Kiffin something to think about the next few months.

Dent came in to replace Dart after the pick six and looked very strong on a touchdown drive. The junior actually led two successful drives that ended in touchdowns.

Once it was all said and done, Dent finished with 140 passing yards and two touchdowns and missed only one pass attempt (12-13). Dent did not throw an interception.

“I thought Kinkead did good,” Kiffin said. “The two series he played were touchdown drives, so that was really good to see. I’m proud of them. That’s not easy when you’re sitting there and get thrown in on both teams. Got to be ready to go in and play and did what we want our guys to do. We asked before the game what do we want from our quarterbacks and we want them to operate the system. Don’t want them to play outside the system and he did a good job.”