QB Dart states Ole Miss ‘at its peak,’ credits Kiffin

• Chris Low, ESPN

  • Senior WriterJul 15, 2024, 08:23 PM ET Close College football reporter
  • Signed up with ESPN.com in 2007
  • Graduate of the University of Tennessee

Echoing what his coach Lane Kiffin has actually been saying since spring, Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart said Monday that the Rebels’ skill level compares to anyone’s in college football.And, yes, that indicates Georgia, Alabama and Texas. The Rebels are ranked in the leading 10 of many early preseason surveys and have actually won 10 or more games two of the past 3 seasons. This is quickly the most awaited season in Ole Miss since the Archie Manning period in the late 1960s.

“Yeah, definitely, we match up, simply from a skill perspective if you ‘d go guy by guy,” Dart said. “But even if you have a skilled lineup does not make you an excellent group, and you see that in the SEC every year. There are teams who are predicted to have an excellent year in preseason and they do not live that out. So when you play in such an excellent conference like this, you actually need to be on your toes because in any offered week you could slip up and lose the game since you play against the best competition.

“Our job right now is to construct that team no matter what talent that we have. We need to come together as a group and have the seriousness to do that.”

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Kiffin is well aware of the grandiose expectations. He does not bask in them (“rat poison,” as he revels in calling them from his days with Nick Saban), but he’s likewise not ranging from them. In particular, this Ole Miss team ought to be the best and inmost it has been on the offending line and on defense under Kiffin.

“Based off performance, whether they’ve been with us or the portal guys who have actually performed other places, I believe in all stages of the game as you take a look at it, it’s the very best lineup we have actually had and there’s more competition at some spots,” Kiffin said. “We have actually had some good groups. I believe we’ve had some actually great players, but I believe in some cases they weren’t necessarily NFL-profile size, length and weight guys. We have more of those guys. Now, again, that doesn’t suggest we’re going to be excellent. We’ve got to play truly well and play together, however we look better.”

Throughout the offseason, Dart said the players have actually kept what’s important the focus, which is improving every day, but he added that everyone on the team comprehends the stakes. The feeling among most Ole Miss fans is that anything besides a College Football Playoff appearance would be a disappointment.

“It’s a big reason that I returned for this season and a reason that many of the other guys who were on that very same bubble [of leaving for the NFL] chosen to come back,” Dart said. “Ole Miss, I believe, is at its peak as a football program today. What Coach Kiffin has done here is remarkable, and I believe there’s simply an overwhelming quantity of confidence within the facility as well as from our community and our support group that we’re going to have a great year.”

Dart is entering his 3rd season as Ole Miss’ starter. He’s the only returning Power 4 player who passed for more than 3,300 yards (3,364) and hurried for more than 380 yards (389) last season. Dart, who played through an injury much of last season, passed for 23 touchdowns and hurried for 8. He also minimized his turnovers.A huge part of Kiffin’s confidence in this group revolves around the method Dart has actually grown as a player, however the quarterback said Kiffin has actually assisted him off the field as much as on it.

“He’s assisted me in all elements, but if I needed to diminish it down to one, I ‘d say it’s management,” Dart said of Kiffin’s mentorship. “He’s shed so much knowledge and knowledge on me. At one point, he was the youngest head coach in the NFL and he’s had experience at every level and has been successful at every level. He’s had his own experiences where he’s had to fight through adversity and been able to come out on the best side of things, and he’s shed that on me. He’s somebody that I can go to if it’s a football- or a non-football-related concern.”

A big part of Lane Kiffin’s self-confidence in this year’s Ole Miss team focuses on QB Jaxson Dart’s growth as a player– while Dart stated Kiffin has actually assisted him off the field as much as on it. Jeffrey McWhorter/AP

The irony of the Dart-Kiffin dynamic is that Kiffin said he wasn’t great at all with relationships earlier in his training profession.

“You believe you know a lot at a particular age and you truly do not know,” Kiffin said. “I was looking at something from 2 years back and stated, ‘That was so dumb.’ When I was more youthful, I just knew X’s and O’s, however I didn’t know how to lead a team. I just didn’t know how to and certainly didn’t understand how to help players off the field at that age.”

A Lot Of Ole Miss’ crucial players are from the transfer website. Dart is among those after beginning his career at USC. He said Kiffin’s capability to develop the required bond in the locker space with new guys coming in every year is due in part to his typically completely truthful credibility.

“You see that with this team,” Dart stated. “You know you need to produce and work like you remain in an NFL-style environment despite where you came from or what your NIL is or anything else. We’re a super-mature group of players. We have so many guys on our team who’ve played a lots of football, who are going to press each other.

“And quite honestly, I seem like our expectations of ourselves are higher than anyone else’s. We’re not going to get too far ahead of ourselves.”