Jaxson Dart called for meeting of offense Sunday following loss to Kentucky
OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss is coming off its first loss at home since Alabama defeated the Rebels 30-24 in November of the 2022 season. Losing 20-17 against an unranked Kentucky team last Saturday led wide receiver Cayden Lee to an important realization approaching two extremely challenging road games.
“It really opened our eyes. We’re not the big dogs anymore, we have to get back to the groundwork, go 1-0 every day, reset, and look at things different.”
With the offense going 1-for-10 on third downs and failing to find positive yards on first down, quarterback Jaxson Dart called a meeting of the offensive unit Sunday morning.
“We had an offensive meeting Sunday morning following that. Kind of talked things over, how we felt things went negative, what we could have (done) better. Just more (of) how we’re going to do things going forward and what we can do different because we don’t want that result to ever happen again.“
Cayden Lee on the Rebels’ offense meeting
According to Lee, Dart was visibly disappointed with his performance in the game.
“I feel like he’s one of the guys who definitely took it the hardest. He’s the one who made sure we had that meeting Sunday. He kind of led the meeting and talked things over. This week I feel like he’s got something in store We’re going to do really good, I feel like.“
– Lee on Dart’s leadership
#OleMiss QB Jaxson Dart (6-2, 225)
A strong armed passer, he operates the Rebels offense with precision, timing and accuracy. Only thrown seven incompletions in two games this season. pic.twitter.com/5HitKQBtWp
— Jordan Reid (@Jordan_Reid) September 14, 2024
After the loss Saturday, Dart spoke with media and discussed the loss.
“There’s a lot of things we need to improve on. We’ve got a lot more opportunities, so (we’re) just going to continue. This is going to be a wake-up call and it’s going to be a season-defining game for us. How we answer that, we’ll have to do with the direction of how the season goes, so we got to buck up.”
Jaxson Dart after loss to Kentucky
While it’s easy to nitpick everything that went wrong against Kentucky, Lee acknowledges that the Rebels will be facing a new task in Columbia, going against a gritty 3-1 South Carolina team. At the same time, it’s worth pointing out that South Carolina fans have a strong dislike for wide receiver Juice Wells, who transferred to Ole Miss from Carolina in the offseason.
Now that Wells is on the Rebels’ side of the field, the former Gamecock gave Lee and the team some advice going into Williams-Brice Stadium.
“He said it’s going to be electric, the stadium is amazing, the crowd is going to be pumped up, juiced, 2:30 game, so we have to be ready.”
– Lee on what Juice Wells said about South Carolina
Ole Miss vs. South Carolina will kick-off at 2:30 CT on ESPN. Until then, be sure to stay tuned with The Rebel Walk. Hotty Toddy!
Adversity creates opportunity, and at the same time sets the stage for failure. When it strikes a football team, which result obtains depends certainly upon the character and abilities of the players but also, to a very substantial degree, upon the leadership skills of the head coach.
Now, we’re about to learn whether Lane Kiffin is an extraordinarily skilled coach, or a $10,000,000 flake. Because, make no mistake about it, this season stands on the brink of collapse, and only a superb job of coaching will rescue it.
So, you built this thing in your own image, Coach. Let’s see whether or not you can make it fly. You won’t get a better chance. Show us what you got.
This is what the process is all about. It’s your time to shine–or not.
Ball’s in your court.