While Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin abdicated his “Portal King” throne to Southern California head coach Lincoln Riley on Twitter, looking at Ole Miss’s depth chart, especially at the quarterback position makes one wonder if Kiffin poached his crown back from Riley.
While Kiffin wasn’t intending to regain the crown from Riley, the major issue Kiffin was trying to address was the late-season collapse that marred what could have been a New Year’s Six bowl game for the Rebels.
Ole Miss entered their game against No. 10 Alabama ranked No. 11 and with an 8-1 record, a win would have eliminated Alabama from any SEC Championship or New Year’s Six bowl consideration and put Ole Miss in the driver’s seat for a potential berth in the Sugar Bowl, SEC Championship Game, and if the stars aligned potentially the College Football Playoff.
With the game tied at 24 in the fourth quarter, the Ole Miss offense seemingly did not have any response to Alabama quarterback Bryce Young who seemingly willed the Crimson Tide to victory leading scoring drives on four consecutive positions in the second and third quarters and positioning kicker Will Reichard to hit two field goals in the fourth quarter that was the difference.
Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart, didn’t have time to throw as he was pressured and sacked twice in two critical junctions in the game, the second sack came on a third and 10 on the Alabama 14 with under a minute to go.
When Dart had time to pass, he wasn’t as effective, completing five of 10 passes in the fourth quarter and only one 19-yard strike to wide receiver Jonathan Mingo was the only pass completed of 10 yards or more Dart had in the fourth quarter against the Crimson Tide.
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The loss to the Crimson Tide began a tailspin of four consecutive defeats for the Rebels that derailed a potential special season.
The play of Dart seemed to fall apart after the Alabama game, he entered the game averaging 265.5 yards of total offense per game and a QBR of 79.2. After Alabama in the final three regular season games, Dart still managed 259 yards of total offense per game but wasn’t as efficient only achieving a QBR of 54.9.
While Dart played an inspiring Texas Bowl against Texas Tech, passing for 361 yards, rushing for 66 yards, and having three total touchdowns (2 passing, 1 rushing), it was the four total turnovers (3 interceptions, and 1 fumble) committed by Dart that doomed the Rebels.
“I think Jaxson did a lot of great things last year,” Kiffin said in review of Dart’s first season as starter at Ole Miss. “I know Jaxson, when he initially played versus the middle and end, dramatically improved for a young quarterback. We’re very excited about continuing that.”
One of the more intriguing transfers during this offseason was the transfer of former Oklahoma State quarterback Spencer Sanders.
Sanders finished his time at Oklahoma State as the second-winningest quarterback in program history, the third quarterback under Mike Gundy to secure a win in the Bedlam Series against Oklahoma, and secured the first New Year’s Six bowl win in over a decade with a win against Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.
Statistically, Sanders finished with over 10,000 yards of total offense with 9,553 yards coming through the air and 1,956 yards on the ground. He has 85 total touchdowns (67 pass 18 rush) and was named First-Team All-Big XII quarterback in 2021, and led Oklahoma State to the Big XII Conference Championship Game.
Spencer Sanders has 5 total touchdowns in the first half pic.twitter.com/CbE3svEZba
— Saturday Gameday (@SaturdayGameday) September 2, 2022
When Sanders decided to transfer, most felt he would seek an opportunity where he could start right away and a lot of indicators had Auburn with new head coach Hugh Freeze as the most likely destination for Sanders.
Instead, Sanders opted to compete for the starting job at Ole Miss.
During an interview with 247 Sports, Sanders emphasized repeatedly he isn’t afraid to compete, a manufactured issue Sanders felt the media read too much into thinking he did not want to compete with former four-star Garret Rangel from Frisco, Texas at Oklahoma State.
“I’m going to come in and work my tail off either way, whether the room is packed or not,” Sanders told 247Sports. “That’s just my mindset. I’ve always had a mindset of competing, driving, and striving for better. I’ve never shied away from competition. I’m not going to start now.”
Sanders then described why he chose Ole Miss, “I like Lane Kiffin a lot, I like how he schemes his offense. I like how he runs his offense, and how he spreads the ball out. He’s got tempo in the SEC as well. I love the play-action shots as well. They’ve got a really good running back flow, a great running game. All in all, too, I feel like it’s a good team. I’ve been watching the SEC for quite some time now, and I feel like that’s not a bad spot to be in, especially for competing. I just want to compete and do the best I can and show the world what I can do at a different level.”
If the quarterback room didn’t have enough competition, former LSU quarterback Walker Howard added to the complexity when he transferred to Ole Miss on January 18 of this year.
Walker Howard delivers a 60-yard bomb to Kyren Lacy, capping off a productive scrimmage in today’s #LSU spring practice. pic.twitter.com/Tqpw7rII9t
— Zack Nagy (@znagy20) April 9, 2022
The former four-star No. 3 dual-threat quarterback in the Class of 2022 followed head coach Brian Kelly from Notre Dame to LSU.
When it became clear that Jayden Daniels had the starters role and Garrett Nussmeier had the backup role, Howard decided to relocate.
Howard commented he really loved to compete and described what attracted him to Ole Miss, “I really love the offense at Ole Miss, it kind of reminds me of the offense I ran in high school. A lot of tempo, spreading the ball and slinging it around. The offense did it, and the coaches around me also did a great job when I came to visit. I really fell in love with Oxford.”
Speaking publicly recently of the competition between Dart, Sanders, and himself, “We all get along pretty well, we do a lot of throwing outside of workouts together. Me, Spencer [Sanders], and Jaxson [Dart] have gotten along really well. They both help me a lot just because their older guys who have played a lot of years in college. It’s been great so far.”
Overall, Kiffin has indeed upgraded the quarterback room and he recently commented, “The quarterback room is dramatically in a much better position than it was a year ago,” Kiffin said. “That’s really our goal with our whole roster and every position every year is to continue to improve what goes out versus what comes in and continue to win that battle. That will be very exciting to see those guys develop.”
Ole Miss made a long-term commitment announcing that $9 million per season commitment prior to last season’s Egg Bowl.
Last season Kiffin saw the potential of how good Ole Miss can be but the flirtation and ultimate demise left a sour taste in his mouth that he wanted to create a hyper-competitive environment, something he partakes in at Southern California under Pete Carroll, whose mantra was to “always compete.”
What a design for Jaxson Dart and Zach Evans. Looked like QB power all the way until the last second, and it's a walk-in TD. pic.twitter.com/7rI7NLjzNN
— Chris Hummer (@chris_hummer) October 15, 2022
Dart had a very up-and-down season last year. While he has the advantage of having a year of experience under his belt, the competition Kiffin created demonstrates it won’t be easy or comfortable for Dart to retain his job, nor should be it easy for him.
While Sanders comes into the fold with a very highly regarded resume, Sanders has also inconsistent play that has cost Oklahoma State dearly. Sanders has 40 career interceptions at Oklahoma State and four of the most costly ones came in the 2021 Big XII Championship Game, a game that was still winnable for the Cowboys but one Sanders couldn’t elevate his play enough over his mistakes to win them that game.
I wouldn’t count out Howard, he wasn’t willing to sit as the third string at LSU, and even with all the eligibility he has left, Howard will force the issue to take the starting job.
To make sense of all of this, Kiffin reclaimed his “Portal King” crown because he saw a season where he could have gotten Ole Miss to the heights they haven’t experienced in generations disintegrate before his eyes because of the inconsistent play from the quarterback position.
Kiffin feels the three men vying for the starting job will push each other further that which will have an effect on the rest of the team that may get Ole Miss to Atlanta vying for an SEC Championship or flirting with the College Football Playoff.
Through all this, he has a plan to at minimum have a starter for the present in either Dart or Sanders along with a starter for the future with the potential to be present in Howard.
Either way, the quarterback competition goes, the ways of Kiffin will have fans screaming “Hotty Toddy” soon enough because it looks like the Rebels will benefit from all of this.
