Why Lane Kiffin picked Jaxson Dart as Ole Miss' starting quarterback
OXFORD, Miss. − Generally speaking, there are two paths to greatness. You can do a lot of things well or you can do very few things poorly.
The second path led Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin to choose USC transfer Jaxson Dart as his starting quarterback.
The No. 11 Rebels (4-0) host No. 8 Kentucky (4-0) at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday (11 a.m., ESPN). This will be Dart's first game as the Rebels' announced starting quarterback after a months-long competition with sophomore Luke Altmyer.
"His growth in the last few weeks has been more than his growth in all the time here by far," Kiffin said Monday. "That’s been good to see. He’s been playing a lot faster, dropping the speed of getting rid of the ball and rarely ever being sacked."
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Dart has done more game managing than game breaking thus far. He's thrown for 697 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions, completing 62.2% of his passes. He's rushed for 201 yards, including 116 in his most recent start, and his elusiveness in the pocket is a major reason why the Rebels have surrendered the fewest sacks in the SEC.
Kiffin likes to remind fans and reporters of Dart's youth; he turned 19 in May and has only played in four games in Kiffin's system. As the Rebels prepare for Kentucky by watching tape of Ole Miss' game against the Wildcats in 2020, Kiffin was taken aback by how different quarterback Matt Corral looked in that start — his second under Kiffin — compared to how he looked at the end of 2021.
But compare Corral's first four starts of 2020 with Dart's 2022 and it's easy to see the two paths to greatness on display. Corral threw for 1,280 yards and 11 touchdowns with 170 rushing yards playing exclusively against SEC opponents. But he also threw seven interceptions as Ole Miss struggled to a 1-3 start thanks in large part to a porous defense.
Dart has thrown the ball 44 fewer times and carried 22 fewer times than Corral did. That's 16.5 fewer plays per game with the quarterback in control. Dart's defense and running backs are better but he doesn't have a safety blanket like wide receiver Elijah Moore capable of catching 10 passes for 150 yards every game.
This Ole Miss team isn't built to win 42-41 like the 2020 squad was, so it doesn't need a boom-or-bust quarterback who can turn every play into a score so long as the coaches are OK with living through a few blunders. Whenever Kiffin has been asked about what Dart is doing well and not well, he always brings up the back-breakers.
"I really like that we didn’t have the one disaster play," Kiffin said after reviewing Dart's last start. "That’s growth. He had that in the previous games where there’s one significant play you want to take back, especially the two interceptions."
There's no better indicator that Ole Miss needs something different from its quarterbacks than that quote. Corral threw six interceptions in his fourth start of 2020 and Kiffin famously never benched him. Kiffin wanted Corral to get his mistakes under control, but he also needed a quarterback who could will a less-talented team to victory. That's not what Ole Miss needs anymore.
Of course, that's not to say Dart isn't capable of making game-changing plays. He's been average to above-average at doing so. On passes that travel 10 or more yards through the air, Dart is 20-for-39 with 453 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. By comparison, Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett IV is garnering Heisman Trophy buzz with very similar numbers when pushing the ball downfield (26-for-46, 579 yards, three touchdowns, one interception).
Dart isn't a finished product yet. Given the scouting report most commonly attached to Dart when he arrived was "quarterback with great arm talent who is prone to making mistakes," the more conservative version of Dart that Ole Miss fans have seen so far is a good indicator that growth may be imminent.
Adjusting to a new system with new teammates in a new conference in a new part of the country is tough. Heck, Joe Burrow had the third-worst passer rating among SEC starting quarterbacks in 2018, his first season after transferring from Ohio State, before turning in arguably the best season in college football history one year later.
No one is asking Dart to be Burrow or Corral or even Bennett. But the Rebels picked their starting quarterback based on the visible traits that have guided them to early-season success and potentially set them up for more success later in the year.
"Ever since I’ve been here, he’s becoming a good quarterback, a great quarterback," senior receiver Malik Heath said. "He wants to be a winner."