COLUMN: No Need to Panic About Rebel QB Situation as 2021 Season Closes
As of Monday night, the 2021 college football season is officially over.
The next plays run in college football will come months from now after Georgia put the finishing touches on its first national championship since 1980, and Ole Miss is looking to build on its historic 2021 season come September.
For Ole Miss fans, while basketball and baseball seasons will hold their attention for a while, the questions for the 2022 football season continue to evolve for Rebel football. Namely, who will be the quarterback when Ole Miss opens its season against Troy this fall?
Ole Miss may have an option currently on its roster in Luke Altmyer, but it has also been tied to numerous names in the transfer portal as well, including Cam Ward (who announced his commitment to Washington State Monday night) and Caleb Williams.
Jaxson Dart from USC also entered the transfer portal on Monday while Caleb Williams is in Los Angeles, leading many to speculate that the former Oklahoma quarterback may follow his old head coach Lincoln Riley to USC after all. Dart could be a potential fit in Oxford along with his teammate in tight end Michael Trigg who entered the portal with him, but whether or not he will visit Oxford or consider the Rebels remains to be seen.
UCLA and BYU were both in on Dart during his high school recruitment along with USC, but former USC assistant and current Ole Miss passing game coordinator John David Baker has ties to Dart, and that may wind up paying off for the Rebels in the end.
Jaxson Dart
© Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
For now, however, the waiting game is on. Will Ole Miss stick with Altmyer, or will it find an answer out of the transfer portal? Or, perhaps, will it enter the fall with an open quarterback competition?
Much of the Ole Miss fan base's consciousness has been centered on finding Matt Corral's replacement in recent days, due in large part to his early exit thanks to an injury sustained during the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1. On one hand, Corral's replacement Altmyer showed flashes of why he was considered a high-level recruit out of Starkville High School (Miss.), but on the other, growing pains from the freshman quarterback were evident in his first full action since he signed with Ole Miss.
Either way, an offseason as QB1 in Oxford paired with a relatively-easy beginning to the 2022 schedule could be what Altmyer needs to come into form for the Rebels. Ole Miss' first six games this fall are as follows:
Sept. 3 -- vs. Troy
Sept. 10 -- vs. Central Arkansas
Sept. 17 -- at Georgia Tech
Sept. 24 -- vs. Tulsa
Oct. 1 -- vs. Kentucky
Oct. 8 -- at Vanderbilt
Based on returns from the 2021 season, the matchup against Kentucky would appear to be the most daunting, but the Rebels also get them at home. If all goes according to plan, far from a certainty in college football, Ole Miss could start its season 5-1 or 6-0. That schedule before the Rebels hit the annual meat-grinder that is the SEC West would allow a sophomore Altmyer to find his groove before the back half of the campaign.
It is uncertain what direction Ole Miss will go at the quarterbacking position next season, but now is not the time to panic if you're an Ole Miss fan. There was always going to be a period of change after Matt Corral's storied career came to an end in Oxford, but regardless of the player taking snaps for the Rebels next season, there is still potential to have a successful 2022 season in Kiffin's third year at the program's helm.
In short, let it play out and trust that Kiffin's offensive mind can make it work next season, regardless of who he chooses as his quarterback. Until then, we've reached the offseason in college football, and we'll have to satisfy our hunger with conversations such as this in the coming months.
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