Ole Miss head coach has officially named Jaxson Dart the team’s starting quarterback following the junior’s four-touchdown performance in the Rebels’ 73-7 win versus Mercer.
Questions surrounding who would ultimately take over as Ole Miss” primary signal caller between Dart and Oklahoma State transfer Spencer Sanders seemed to be answered during Saturday’s match. However, Kiffin continued his recent trend of not cementing the starting position in the press conference following the game.
“I know there’s people out there that say, ‘People need to be named starters for them to play well.’ Well, [Dart] wasn’t named the starter and went 11 for 11, so that theory works very much that keeping competition open is a bad thing,” Kiffin said sarcastically after Saturday’s game.
Nevertheless, during his media availability on Monday, the Ole Miss head coach let the cat out of the bag and announced that Dart would be the team’s starting quarterback going into the week two matchup at Tulane.
On Saturday, Dart led the Rebels in passing, completing 18 of 23 passes for 334 yards and four touchdowns — all to Louisiana Tech transfer wide receiver Tre Harris. He was also Pro Football Focus’s highest-graded quarterback of the weekend with a 93.7 rating.
“Jaxson played really well. He had a really good camp and spring, and so he’s the starting quarterback,” Kiffin said. “We’re extremely excited about that room — that depth in the room.”
Both Sanders and LSU transfer Walker Howard made their debuts as Ole Miss quarterbacks on Saturday. Sanders went 8 for 14 passing with 134 yards and two touchdowns. Howard completed three of four passes for 56 yards. All three quarterbacks led a touchdown drive.
Collectively, the Rebels’ signal callers broke a single-game team passing record with 524 yards. Ole Miss was also the No. 1 scoring offense and top overall offense in the Southeastern Conference over the weekend.
Ole Miss will face off against Tulane in New Orleans, La. on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2 and can be streamed on participating SuperTalk Mississippi stations.
