The Athletic Ranks Ole Miss' Jaxson Dart In Tier 5 Of FBS QBs
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The Athletic has called the Ole Miss Rebels' quarterback battle.
Bruce Feldman and Stewart Mandel put together a ranking of Football Bowl Subdivision quarterbacks among five tiers. The top tier — also known as only USC's Caleb Williams, according to The Athletic — represents the cream of the crop of the upper echelon of FBS signal-callers, as Ole Miss' Jaxson Dart ranks among one of the 13 quarterbacks listed in the fifth tier.
"The common theme here is big names who have been inconsistent," Mandel wrote.
Other quarterbacks listed alongside Dart in tier five are Texas' Quinn Ewers, Kansas State's Will Howard, Tennessee's Joe Milton, South Carolina's Spencer Rattler, Arizona's Jayden de Laura, Duke's Riley Leonard, Mississippi State's Will Rogers, BYU's Kedon Slovis, Auburn's Payton Thorne, Oregon State's D.J. Uiagalelei, Miami's Tyler Van Dyke and Washington State's Cam Ward.
Among Ole Miss' No. 5 transfer portal class this offseason, according to 247Sports, were quarterbacks Oklahoma State's Spencer Sanders and LSU's Walker Howard, as the former stepped up to compete with the Rebels' 2022 starter in Dart.
Last season in his first season as the Rebels' starter, Dart completed 62 percent of his passes with 2,974 yards and 20 touchdowns to 11 interceptions — a number that will need to decrease in 2023.
With the Cowboys, Sanders missed two games with an injury and in 10 games, threw for 2,642 yards, 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He completed 57.6 percent of his passes in 2022.
Head coach Lane Kiffin hasn't officially announced a starter yet, but whoever wins the job will have no shortage of options to throw to. In addition to returning receivers Jordan Watkins and Dayton Wade, Ole Miss will welcome four-stars class of 2023 commit Ayden Williams and transfers Tre Harris and Zakhari Franklin.
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