Lane Kiffin compares Austin Simmons’ academic background to Doogie Howser
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Austin Simmons has had a unique college experience. Plenty of quarterbacks don’t become the starter until Year 3, but not many can say they have already graduated from college at the age of 19.
Simmons graduated from Ole Miss in May. His coach, Lane Kiffin, was reminded of that fact during an interview at SEC Media Days.
“Yeah, I actually forget that you just said that, that he is 19. He just, he’s amazing that way. He’s so smart,” Kiffin said of his QB. “Kind of like, these guys won’t remember this, but like Doogie Howser.”
Simmons isn’t a teenage physician, but his academic background has grabbed a few headlines over the years. He reclassified by 2 years when he made the switch from Class of 2023 to Class of 2025 to join the Rebels 2 years ago. Simmons was able to do so because he had already completed his core high school work as a homeschooled student at the age of 16 and begun taking college courses online.
With Simmons’ established smarts, Kiffin isn’t worried about his QB grasping Xs and Os. But the Ole Miss coach wants to make sure Simmons isn’t overwhelmed by the situation.
“I worry about like the outside pressure and thinking he’s got to be Jaxson Dart,” Kiffin told SiriusXM. “Well, Jaxson Dart started for 3 years. And then we saw at the end 3 years of starting Jaxson Dart. That’s not what he was at the beginning, so I just got to get (Simmons) not to worry about all that pressure to be him. He’s got to be himself.”
@OleMissFB HC @Lane_Kiffin is ALWAYS himself and is working getting his new starting QB @austnsimmons to be himself ahead of the '25 football season@JacobHester18 | @CoachNeuheisel | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/GDDJ0pafkZ
— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) July 19, 2025
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
