Ole Miss Legend Eli Manning 'Excited' For QB Jaxson Dart
When you're getting praise from an Ole Miss Rebels legend, you got to be doing something right.
At the Manning Passing Academy, former Rebels quarterback Eli Manning said he thought current Ole Miss gunslinger Jaxson Dart "did a great job" in 2022, that he's "rooting for him" and looking forward to how he can grow in the season to come.
“He’s getting better each game, had some big games, had some tough games and you learn from it. That’s part of playing college football," Manning said. "He hasn’t played a ton of football, so we’re gonna go through his experiences. Seems like he had a great spring camp and really kind of elevated his play. So excited for him.”
Dart was supposed to be a counselor at the Manning Passing Academy and participate in the Friday Night Lights skills competition against other college-level quarterbacks, but missed the event with what On3 described as a "minor injury."
Dart transferred to Oxford from USC and, in his first season in head coach Lane Kiffin's explosive offensive system, he didn't have to be Superman with Quinshon Judkins carrying the ball but still showed flashes of excellence exhibited by his predecessor Matt Corral.
His season-best performance came in a 52-28 victory against Vanderbilt where he completed 78.1 percent of his passes for 448 yards and three touchdowns. Dart also turned in a solid, efficient performance against Texas A&M where he was 13-of-20 for 140 yards and three scores.
Kiffin didn't want Dart getting comfortable with his near-3,000-yard season last year and so he turned to the transfer portal and brought in Oklahoma State's Spencer Sanders and LSU's Walker Howard to create a quarterback competition this spring.
While Dart looks to be pulling ahead of Sanders and Howard, he isn't a shoo-in for the starting job in 2023 as the Grove Bowl left questions surrounding the position.
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