Another year of Jaxson Dart at Ole Miss? It almost became an option for Lane Kiffin

The era of college athletes playing four years, five at the most, and moving on to the professional level or something else altogether are days of the past. Ole Miss nearly benefited from this new era trying to see if Jaxson Dart could stick around Oxford a little longer.

When Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia successfully sued the NCAA and granted another year of eligibility, citing NCAA rules that counted his JUCO years counting against his eligiblity, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin decided to see if he could keep his quarterback another year.

This was the report, anyway, by the Ole Miss Spirit and others and in a podcast interview released on Tuesday Kiffin confirmed he tried to get Dart another year of eligibility.

“We tried. We didn’t win it,” Kiffin told Theo Von on the “This Past Weekend” podcast. “Jaxson Dart actually tried to get another year, or at least see if the option was there.”

Dart wrapped up this third season with Ole Miss in January after the Gator Bowl win over Duke. He then handed the keys of the Rebels offense to Austin Simmons who is next year’s starting quarterback as Spring practices wind down this week.

There was never any serious or major discussion of Dart coming back for a fourth year at Ole Miss and a fifth year overall. The NFL was calling and Dart answered, now trending towards a potential first round pick next week in Green Bay.

Simmons is the guy Dart and other former Ole Miss players believe in to lead the program into 2025 and beyond.

“They’re going to pick up where we left off,” Dart said after last month’s Pro Day. “They got the big transfer portal class. Was actually able to see (spring) practice for about 30 minutes and kind of see the talent they have. I kind of knew that (from) just following along with the class that they were brining in.”

As for Dart? He is trending to becoming the first Ole Miss quarterback to be a first round selection since Eli Manning.

Since wrapping up with the Rebels in Jacksonville Dart went straight to work on his NFL Draft preparations.

Strong showings during Senior Bowl week in Mobile and then the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis helped propel Dart up the mock draft boards and into a potential high first round pick.

Chatter of a Top 10 pick to the New Orleans, who might be in serious need of a quarterback now, or another team has Dart sitting in a pretty enviable spot ahead of next week’s draft.

“I’ve got Jaxson Dart just slightly ahead of Shedeur,” ESPN draft expert Todd McShay told the NFL Network. “I think it’s more of just the physical traits and what he can be. And I think it’s more appealing to a multitude of NFL teams.”

Dart is one of what could be a historic number of Ole Miss players to get selected over the course of next week’s three-day draft. There could be a double-digit number of Rebels seeing their name flash on the screen.

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