Only Lane Kiffin.

Only Kiffin, AKA “The Portal King,” would sign a highly regarded transfer from USC, start him for an entire season … only to dip into the portal again to sign not 1, but 2 more highly regarded quarterback transfers a few weeks after the season ended.

Unique? Sure. Kiffin is 1 of 1.

We knew that Ole Miss was likely going to need to add depth to a quarterback room that featured just 1 scholarship quarterback after Luke Altmyer transferred and 2023 verbal pledge Marcel Reed flipped to A&M the week of the Early Signing Period. That lone scholarship quarterback was, of course, Dart.

It wasn’t necessarily a stunner that Kiffin landed LSU’s Walker Howard, AKA the second-year player who went viral a year earlier as the guy dancing with Brian Kelly in his commitment video. Howard could step in and take the backup role as the quarterback of the future. On the heels of an inconsistent Year 1 as Ole Miss’ starter, Dart could still be considered the front-runner to be Kiffin’s QB1, albeit with a short leash knowing that the talented Howard lurked.

Then the Spencer Sanders news dropped Thursday and it changed everything.

Sanders’ commitment to Ole Miss, just a day after Howard’s commitment, suddenly turned Ole Miss’ quarterback room into a crowded one. In a matter of days, Dart went from being the unquestioned incumbent starter without any competition to possibly being the odd man out.

Consider that one of many takeaways from Kiffin’s splashy quarterback additions.

If you disagree with that, remember that Sanders has 1 year of eligibility left after 4 years as a starter at Oklahoma State. A dude with 85 total touchdowns at the Power 5 level isn’t picking a school where he’s expected to be the backup. Kiffin can say whatever he wants publicly. Privately, I’d be stunned if Kiffin didn’t give Sanders some sort of sign that it would be his job to lose if he came to Oxford.

After all, Sanders is a 23-year-old guy who was a Fiesta Bowl MVP after he earned first-team All-Big 12 honors in 2021. He couldn’t stay healthy down the stretch in 2022, but he still had 25 touchdowns (17 passing, 8 rushing) and over 3,000 scrimmage yards in 10 games. He was in search of a bigger opportunity. He’ll have that in the SEC.

Dart, meanwhile, had some solid raw numbers (8.2 yards per attempt, over 3,500 total yards), but he accounted for just 8 total touchdowns and he threw 7 interceptions in the 7 games Ole Miss played against FBS programs with a winning record.

It’s hard to put to much into body language, but if you watched Kiffin in 2022, there was a much different vibe with Dart compared to Matt Corral, who had some disastrous 5-interception games in his first year as a starter but wasn’t benched. Kiffin saw enough promise with Corral to let him work through his mistakes. There were no splashy portal additions at quarterback that offseason. Corral was the unquestioned QB1 heading into Year 2 with Kiffin.

We know that won’t be the case with Dart. Adding Howard and Sanders is an obvious sign that Kiffin isn’t sold on Dart. You don’t make multiple moves like that just to “motivate” a guy through camp. One could’ve spun that narrative if Howard was the lone addition. By adding Sanders, Kiffin essentially is saying Ole Miss could lose Dart and be OK.

It’s also worth remembering that Dart already used his 1-time exemption for immediate eligibility as an undergraduate transfer. If he wanted to transfer after the spring, it’s not like he can just go to another Power 5 school and start immediately. At least not without a waiver. I’m not sure what case Dart would have to transfer twice before the start of his 3rd college season.

Kiffin positioned himself to no longer be dependent on Dart’s development. If Dart wants to stay at Ole Miss and compete, I’m sure Kiffin would welcome that. If Dart wants to transfer to his 3rd school in as many years, Kiffin doesn’t need to beg him to stay.

In an ideal world for Ole Miss, here’s how this plays out.

Sanders, Howard and Dart all battle it out through spring, but instead of Dart transferring when the portal opens again after camp, he stays. Sanders wins the job, Ole Miss has an ideal complement to the Quinshon Judkins-led ground game and it yields a 10-win season. Sanders heads to the NFL after a decorated year in Oxford and then the spring 2024 battle is between Dart and Howard.

Will that happen? Probably not. It’s at least a possibility, though.

That scenario depends on how Dart views the recent additions. I can’t imagine he views them as a positive, no matter what Kiffin told him. Welcome to life as a Power 5 quarterback in the transfer portal era. Jobs are never etched in stone.

I suppose we should also apply that logic to Sanders. While I believe there’s an overwhelming possibility that he starts, it’s Kiffin. For all we know, he’ll be blown away by Howard and a pair of veterans will be on the bench. We should never assume we know exactly what Kiffin is thinking.

Well, I suppose there’s a prevailing thought that anyone could deduce from Ole Miss’ new quarterback additions.

Dart’s path to keeping his starting job just got a whole lot steeper.