The Day 1 Recap: Pair of Ole Miss Football Stars Selected in Round 1 of NFL Draft

The Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels made history on Thursday night in Green Bay (Wisc.) after having two selections in round one for the first time since 2016.

The night started with multiple questions on where the two Rebels would fall, but the first player to officially depart from Oxford to the NFL was Walter Nolen as he was selected with the No. 16 overall pick to the Arizona Cardinals.

Heading into the draft, Nolen was widely regarded as a consensus first rounder, but with some twists and turns through the earlier picks in the draft, he slid a few spots from his original projection.

Nolen wreaks havoc in the middle of the defensive line. In just one season as a Rebel, he recorded career highs in almost every statistical category as he finished with 48 total tackles, 14 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks from the nose tackle spot.

Nolen is a force in both the pass and the rush game and looks to be bound for a big impact on the Cardinals defense.

The Rebels' other first round draft pick was none other than Jaxson Dart.

The now former Rebels quarterback also had question marks on where he was going to land in the draft, but when the New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers both went lineman on offense and defense, the New York Giants saw an opportunity and pounced.

The Giants traded a group of picks to the Houston Texans to aquire the 25th pick in the NFL Draft where Dart received the call that his new home stadium would be Metlife Stadium.

Dart became the third Ole Miss quarterback ever to be drafted in the first round joining Archie and Eli Manning.

Dart has a great opportunity in New York as he now shares a quarterback room with Russel Wilson and Jameis Winston, two true veterans of the league to learn from.

Wilson and Winston are also competitive for the starting role, therefore if Dart were to win that role over his improvement from college to the NFL would be instant, but that room also gives him time to learn and develop before being tossed into action potentially.

In Darts three seasons with Ole Miss, he cemented himself as on of the best quarterbacks in program history as he holds the passing yards record for a career, single season and single game.

He logged 10,617 yards in his career, and in 2024, threw for 4,279 total yards with 515 of those coming against Arkansas for the single game record.

In all of those yards, Dart finished second all-time behind Eli Manning for most career touchdowns. Dart compiled 72 career touchdown tosses and tied the record for single game touchdown passes at 6 putting him with Manning and Matt Coral.

Dart is also a threat on the ground as he finished his Ole Miss career with 1,498 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns while turning into a true dual-threat quarterback.

Dart and Nolen now have their new homes set and look to begin their long awaited NFL journey's while multiple former Rebels are looking to join them over the next few days as rounds 2-7 transpire.

More Ole Miss News:

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Top-10 Quarterback in America Locks in Ole Miss Visit

Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss Rebels Confirm Spring Game Plans in April

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