Twenty-Two Names to Know for the Ole Miss Season: No. 1 Jaxson Dart
OXFORD, Miss. – It’s finally here!!!! Gameday! As we have led up to week one in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for the kickoff of Ole Miss football’s 2024 season, The Rebel Walk team has been highlighting one player each day for our ‘Ole Miss 22’ rankings. We’ve broken down who they are, how they got here, and what we expect from each.
And today, we take a look at the No. 1 player on the list, quarterback, Jaxson Dart.
Heading into year three in Oxford, Dart is poised to elevate his ceiling even farther ahead of what is one of the most anticipated seasons in Ole Miss football history.
How did Dart arrive at Ole Miss?
In high school, Dart played three seasons at Roy High School, located near Hill Air Force Base, three hours north of Salt Lake City. At Roy, Dart earned two All-Region honors for his play, in both his sophomore and junior seasons. Then, it was after his junior year that Dart made a move that would greatly impact his career.
For his senior season, Dart transferred to finish his high school career at Corner Canyon High School in Draper, Utah. It was there that he made a meteoric rise from All-Region quarterback to the 2020 Gatorade National High School Player of the Year.
In his one season at Corner Canyon, Dart led the team to its third-straight high school championship — and he also led the nation in passing yards, total yards, passing touchdowns and total touchdowns. He was the first high school player from Utah to win the Gatorade National High School Player of the Year Award since 1985. That season, Dart totaled 4,691 passing yards, 1195 rushing yards, 67 passing touchdowns, and 12 rushing touchdowns in an undefeated season.
That performance skyrocketed Dart up the recruiting rankings, where ESPN had him as the 19th-best player in the class of 2021. He was the second-ranked QB and a four-star prospect. He enrolled early at USC after his high school career to play under Trojans’ head coach Clay Helton, where he was primarily recruited by Graham Harrell and Seth Doege.
Dart impressed enough in the spring game and preseason camp to be named the backup quarterback for the Trojans in 2021. Then after an injury to starter Kedon Slovis, Dart would make his first appearance after Slovis suffered an injury against Washington State. Dart would finish the contest throwing for 391 passing yards, 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Seeing action in six games, with three starts, Dart totaled 1,353 passing yards, 9 passing touchdowns, and 5 interceptions while adding two rushing touchdowns on the ground.
After the season, USC made a series of personnel moves that eventually equated to Lincoln Riley becoming the new head coach of USC. With that, Caleb Williams would be following him and Dart made the decision to enter the transfer portal. While in the transfer portal, three teams were largely involved with Dart’s recruitment: Ole Miss, Oklahoma and BYU.
After visits to both Ole Miss and Oklahoma, Dart would choose to come play for Lane Kiffin and the Rebels.
Career Outlook
As a player, one way to describe Jaxson Dart is as a warrior and one that’s been battle tested. At USC, he competed with Miller Moss for the backup spot to Kedon Slovis. Arriving at Ole Miss ahead of the 2022 season, he competed against Luke Altmyer for the starting spot. Then in 2023, he competed with Oklahoma State transfer Spencer Sanders for the starting role, yet again.
All that competing has sharpened Dart as a signal caller to where he now is simply amongst the best in college football. In his first year on campus, Dart led Ole Miss to an 8-5 record, passing for 2,974 yards, 20 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Part of that season included a win for Dart and the Rebels over No. 7-ranked Kentucky in Oxford.
Last season in 2023, Dart took another step forward in his development, particularly as a dual threat. Leading Ole Miss to an 11-2 record and the program’s first 10-win regular season in program history. Dart completed 233-358 passes for 3,364 passing yards, 23 passing touchdowns and 5 interceptions. He also would add 389 rushing yards on the ground and 8 rushing touchdowns.
Dart shined in important games last season against LSU, A&M, and in the Peach Bowl against Penn State. In a home win against the Tigers, Dart went pound-for-pound with the Heisman Trophy winner in Jayden Daniels, as the Rebels’ QB passed for 389 passing yards and 4 touchdowns in the 55-49 win.
He’s back for the 2024 season…
Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart is returning and will make history next season and continue to break records. pic.twitter.com/VaUFYpGif5
— Brad Logan (@BradLoganCOTE) January 20, 2024
To cap off the season, Dart threw for 379 passing yards, 3 touchdowns and added one more touchdown on the ground in the win over Penn State.
A BIG day from Jaxson Dart helps Ole Miss defeat PSU in the Peach Bowl 🎯 pic.twitter.com/PrcgZXsKRr
— ESPN BET (@ESPNBET) December 30, 2023
On January 1, 2024, Rebel fans breathed an excited sigh of relief when Dart announced he would return for a final season in Oxford.
Good Morning… 2024👀 pic.twitter.com/osbR1jP1GE
— Jaxson Dart (@JaxsonDart) January 1, 2024
Fall camp and the 2024 season
There was no question entering this fall camp; Dart is leading the charge for the 2024 season. Head coach Lane Kiffin has doubled down on this offense, bringing in multiple pass catchers from the transfer portal. With Tre Harris, Jordan Watkins, Caden Prieskorn, Cayden Lee and Ayden Williams all returning, and the additions of Juice Wells, Dae’Quan Wright, and Micah Davis coming in from the portal with big-time production and experience, this offense is set up to be one of the most talented in the Lane Kiffin era.
Dart was very much involved in the process of bringing in each and every transfer:
“I was just a part of pretty much every transfer that came to our school through this process. I felt like I was part of the recruiting department, but I think that’s super cool and very genuine of him (Kiffin).”
Jaxson Dart on his involvement with portal
Dart is the only returning Power Four starting QB who threw for more than 3,300 passing yards and rushed for more than 380 yards last season.
Leadership
In addition to his obvious talent, much of the focus around Dart this offseason has been on leadership. In year three of the Ole Miss offense, it’s about him being the one to help push this group to new heights. Earlier this week Dart spoke to the media and displayed some of his leadership tendencies by talking about adversity.
“I’m really excited to face adversity. I think that’s something that I’m actually really looking forward to and seeing how our team handles it. I felt like last year that’s what made our team what it was — of us being able to block out the noises, block out the storms and just weather it all. I think that was what really set us apart last year, so I’m excited to face adversity this year and see how our team responds. I think the ceiling for our team is so high…in those times it’s really going to tell what kind of team we are.“
Jaxson Dart on anticipating adversity
On the Field
On the field, Dart has shown a large sample size of what he can do. As a passer, Dart possesses a live arm. He is capable of driving the ball down the field to several points and can make off-platform throws downfield. When in the pocket, he seems to do a good job of being able to layer passes over the defense through sound mechanics. Mentally in year three, it’s reasonable to think Dart will be able to continue this trend of identifying defenses in the pre-snap and limiting turnovers.
A modern dual-threat, with size and strength, Dart is a capable runner on the field with the Ole Miss offense drawing up designed runs for him. He can accelerate fairly quickly to get downhill and knows when to get down — but he is also capable of withstanding hits. A lot of people describe Dart as a warrior with his fearless ability to run and his propensity to take a hit while doing so.
Here’s that HUGE scramble by Jaxson Dart for 18 yards on 2nd & 15 on the Rebs’ fourth quarter touchdown drive! pic.twitter.com/FeEyyY3sFl
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) October 22, 2023
In this Ole Miss offense, Dart seems to consistently make the proper reads in RPO situations.
Two areas of focus for Dart this year will be how much and how accurately he throws into tight windows. With the new receiving corps such a talented group, he may not have to as much, compared to years past). And if he continues to show the same increased accuracy on his deep passes as he did last season, Dart and the Rebels will be able to take this elite offensive group to an even higher ceiling.
Up Next
Kickoff is today at 6:00 p.m. at Vaught-Hemingway as the Rebels open the season against Furman!
TJ Oxley
TJ Oxley is the Vice President of Operations and the Director of Community Relations for The Rebel Walk. He is also the Director of Basketball Content and Senior Basketball Writer. He has over five years of experience providing in-depth analysis of college basketball through multiple platforms. A former MBA graduate of Ole Miss, TJ started with The Rebel Walk in 2019.
