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Ole Miss football: Taking a big-picture perspective on Jaxson Dart into back half of season
By Crissy Froyd
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The world of football, whether at the NFL or collegiate level, is very much a thing of “what have you done for me lately?”
It is also one in which a lot of pressure is put on the quarterback to be successful immediately, regardless of experience, background or other factors.
Of course, there have been phenoms like Joe Burrow and a select few others who got hot quickly after coming off the bench in college and then doing extremely well in their own right within a short period of time at the NFL level. But it’s important to understand that those instances are the exception rather than the norm and to remember the era in which it was quite normal for a quarterback to sit with a clipboard and learn for at least a year before going out there and trying to do it himself.
And even in those instances, there are sometimes still some growing pains involved.
Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart came to the Rebels program from USC with a total of just 6 games under his belt. In those games, he completed 61.9% of his passes for 1,353 yards with 9 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. There are things to like and things not to like within that small sample size, but the film tells the story rather than the numbers.
And within that film were some decision-making errors that have persisted to an extent, but also such an amount of upside and Matt Corral elements to his game that Dart both caught the attention of Ole Miss to ultimately land the starting job and garnered a good amount of Heisman Trophy attention before the season.
Going through the 2022 season, Dart has had really good and really bad moments. To an extent, it almost hasn’t mattered because the Rebels have the best rushing attack in the Southeastern Conference and the No. 3 ground game in the entire nation. Also note that Dart has played a role in that in several games, topping the century mark with 115 rushing yards in a 48-34 win over Auburn on Oct. 15. The other time he went over 100 rushing yards was against Tulsa in Week 4, when he had 116 yards in a 35-27 victory.
And while still raw, Dart has also shown upside as a passer with the ability to get the offense going in that aspect, too. That was on its strongest display when he threw for 448 yards, completing 78.1% of his throws with 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions in a 52-28 win at Vanderbilt on Oct. 8. Of course, once again, there were some throws he would’ve liked to have back, as has been the case in every game.
“Jaxson made a lot of really good plays,” Kiffin said after that game. “Usually, he’s made one really bad one. Today, he made two really bad ones in the same game. We’ve got to get out of those. We can’t get too comfortable when things are going well. On the second one, it’s an RPO and he could just hand the ball off.”
But there have also been several times when Dart has come up with some big chunk plays that show a glimpse into just how effective he can be on the deep ball and just in the passing offense generally speaking as he continues to develop as a true dual-threat quarterback. Take his first 2 scoring drives that included passing touchdowns at the beginning of the Auburn game and the 72-yard scoring pass to Jonathan Mingo against Vandy as just a few primary examples.
Dart has the potential and the makings of a player who can become a good and effective passer. It is simply going to take time and eliminating some decision-making errors at critical times that really are common among quarterbacks with his experience level. This is the case even though the dogs are out on Dart after he completed just 55.9% of his passes for 283 yards and an interception in last Saturday’s 45-20 loss at LSU.
“Those are hard. Sometimes you don’t expect to get hit when you throw,” Dart said after the game of an LSU pass rush that kept him plenty limited. “I just wasn’t able to get enough on it as I was expecting to. … It’s something I need to be better at, being able to respond better. I missed a big throw in the drive after that. Just something I’m going to learn.”
This is not a story about how Jaxson Dart will become the next Tom Brady or even that he’s a guarantee to become one of the best college quarterbacks in the country, as some once predicted. He’s got a high ceiling, and whether or not he ultimately hits it is something that is going to take time to find out.
Rather, this is a story about how we all need to get over this unrealistic desire for instant gratification. Ninety percent of the time it just doesn’t happen that quickly, and perhaps even more so when it comes to something as complicated and intricate as the quarterback position.
Crissy covers SEC football news for Saturday Down South.
