Expectations are high for Jaxson Dart at Ole Miss. That pressure seemed to get to Dart early during a rough start to the Grove Bowl.

As Saturday Down South’s Keith Farner pointed out in his takeaways from Saturday, Dart began the spring game by going 4-for-19. That stretch included an early interception and getting sacked twice for the former USC QB.

After the action ended, head coach Lane Kiffin addressed that rough first half from Dart. According to Kiffin, Dart was “trying to win the job” as opposed to settling in and just playing QB.

“Not a very good first half. I thought he was trying to win the job instead of just playing QB and forced some balls and not being very consistent,” Kiffin explained. “Just talked to him before the half, calmed him down before the half about taking it one play at a time, and thought he did some better stuff in the second half.”

On the other hand, Kiffin expressed some positive thoughts on the work of QB Luke Altmyer. It will be interesting to see how that QB battle shapes up over the summer and into the fall.