OXFORD ― When Lane Kiffin settles into his headset on Aug. 31 for Ole Miss football’s opener against Furman, he’ll begin his 13th season as a head coach at the college level. With more than 10 additional years as an assistant, he’s seen a few things.
That experience adds weight to the praise he directed toward his quarterback, Jaxson Dart, after the Rebels completed their third spring practice on Tuesday.
“I actually don’t know that I’ve seen over time a player actively recruit more to put together a team on both sides of the ball than Jaxson did this offseason,” Kiffin said. “That says a lot about him. Says a lot about him as a leader, and I’ve even said, potentially, someday as a head coach if he wants to be, because he has really special qualities and one of them is to get people to follow him.”
The 2024 Rebels will be Dart’s team. For the first time in an Ole Miss tenure that is entering its third year, Dart will not have competition for the starting quarterback spot. In truth, there was never much doubt about his candidacy to be the Rebels’ 2023 starter. But labels matter, and Kiffin didn’t name Dart his starting QB until after Ole Miss won its opener last season.
This time, there is no ambiguity. More than that, the 2024 Ole Miss team has been constructed ‒ at least partially ‒ thanks to Dart’s influence.
“I think a number of guys would say (Dart impacted their decision), especially offensively,” Kiffin said. “I think that the receivers would tell you that, Juice Wells. And I think even, not just portal guys, but even the guys that came back, like Tre (Harrs), like (Caden) Prieskorn. I think they would tell you that he recruited them really well, too.”
The salesmanship was easy, Dart said. He just pointed toward what the Rebels accomplished last season.
Their 11 wins marked the most in school history,…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/why-ole-miss-football-jaxson-195628912.html
Author : The Clarion Ledger
Publish date : 2024-03-19 19:56:28
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