What landing five-star transfer QB Jaxson Dart means for Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss football
Ole Miss football has its man.
Reports surfaced that USC quarterback Jaxson Dart committed to Mississippi out of the transfer portal Saturday. A rising sophomore with at least three years of eligibility, Dart is ranked as a five-star talent and the third-best player in the transfer portal behind Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams and Ohio State quarterback Quinn Ewers, according to 247Sports.
Dart’s freshman year at USC was impressive. For a coach like Lane Kiffin to get the moldable clay of a sophomore quarterback who threw for 391 yards and four touchdowns in his first college start has to be considered a coup.
The background
In the simplest terms, adding Dart means Ole Miss has a quarterback for 2022. Rising sophomore Luke Altmyer was Ole Miss’ de facto replacement for Matt Corral, but with only 37 passes, he’s more of an unknown.
Let’s not pretend Dart was dominant as a freshman at USC. If he had played enough to qualify for the statistical leaderboards, he would’ve finished 10th in the Pac-12 in completion percentage and passer efficiency rating, ninth in yards per pass attempt and fifth in passing yards per game.
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That said, he played for a program in turmoil. Dart’s first start came days after USC fired coach Clay Helton. Then Dart hurt his meniscus in his knee and missed four weeks. Two quarters into his return, Dart lost potential first-round pick Drake London at receiver with a season-ending injury.
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Kiffin hasn’t been in Oxford three years yet and he’s already lost three quarterbacks to the transfer portal, counting Plumlee. That’s not an indictment on Kiffin. It’s just how the sport works now. So if Altmyer decides he wants to go somewhere he can play immediately, the Rebels will be right back where they were numerically.
The verdict
Bringing in Dart is a good thing for Ole Miss. Obviously. There are no guarantees that Dart can be a program-changing talent in the way Corral was. But Kiffin’s track record working with quarterbacks and Dart’s connection to passing game coordinator John David Baker, who recruited Dart to USC, hint towards the Rebels having a good understanding of how to use him.
More than that, though, Dart’s addition shows how Ole Miss plans to recruit and build rosters in the transfer portal era and that Kiffin isn’t going to be content to have a rebuilding year.
Contact Nick Suss at 601-408-2674 or nsuss@gannett.com. Follow @nicksuss on Twitter.