Lane Kiffin is well-versed enough in the world of the transfer portal that he’s aware that his quarterback competition is directly related Jaxson Dart coming in from Southern Cal. That move, however, doesn’t dictate his decision on the starting quarterback, as he explained on Tuesday.

“That’s a fair question, that absolutely would have nothing to do with how we play players here,” Kiffin said. “We’ve got tons of examples over time. We don’t care how many stars you are, where you’re from, whether you’re from the state, whether you’re not. When I got here, I was dumb for playing the other quarterback. So we don’t look at anything that way, so doesn’t matter where he came from, or whether he played, or how many stars he is, it’s got to do with the way he plays. But fair question.”

All quarterback competitions are heavily scrutinized, and this is another wrinkle in the discussion whenever the competition is decided.