New York Giants trade back into first round to select Jaxson Dart in NFL Draft

Ole Miss quarterback was a National High School Player of the Year at Corner Canyon in Draper, Utah

Mississippi quarterback Jaxson Dart competes during the 2025 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

High School On SI tells high school stories, the tales of top athletes during their raw, untapped and formative years, before transitioning to the college and professional ranks. 

This week we look back at the prep days of many football players predicted to be taken in the first couple of rounds of the NFL Draft (April 24-26) at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. 

Among those are Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart, projected by Bleacher Report to be the 24th pick of the first round.

Here is the early prep path of Jaxson Dart: 

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Besides a big arm and body, Jaxson Dart, who was selected with the No 25 overall pick of the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft by the New York Giants, always had excellent feet. The Giants traded back into the fist round to select Dart.

Even as a high school kid at Corner Canyon in Draper, Utah (population 51,000), the then 6-foot-3, 210-pounder always knew where he wanted those feet to take him — to the biggest stage. 

That’s why he trained in the offseason at 3DQB, an elite Southern California performance facility headed by Tom House, who helped develop dozens of the NFL’s best quarterbacks past and present, including current stars Dak Prescott and Jared Goff, along with perhaps the position's greatest, Dart’s ultimate idol, Tom Brady. 

House also trained then BYU QB and Heisman hopeful Zach Wilson, who played at Corner Canyon for rising head coach Eric Kjar, a quarterback whisperer of sorts. 

Dart was doing better than fine at Roy High School, 50 miles north of Draper, where he had thrown for nearly 6,000 yards and 50 touchdowns as a three-year starter.

Mississippi Rebels quarterback Jaxson Dart (2) calls a play during the first quarter of the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union] / Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

But with a strong ambition to be the best, and just four college offers, Dart left the safe confines of his family in January of his junior year to move in with extended family living in Draper. It was three months before the pandemic hit.

Dart knew Kjar and Chargers could move those fast feet — figuratively and literally — to the next level.  He advanced several levels higher.

With monstrous numbers and gobs of extra exposure, Dart earned 2020 National Player of the Year honors by both Gatorade and MaxPreps while leading his 14-0 team to a 6A state championship. 

His magical senior season of 4,691 passing yards while completing 70 percent of his passes (240 of 345) for 67 touchdowns (just four interceptions) while rushing for 1,195 yards and 12 more scores not only vaulted him into the national spotlight, but it landed him eight more scholarship offers, including the one he took at USC. 

"I knew (Dart) was a really good player," said Kjar, whose son Noah, a record-breaking receiver at Corner Canyon, played with Dart on 7-on-7 teams. "I'd seen him work out and throw some pretty passes. I figured this could work out pretty good (before the season). But not quite like this."

Beyond the pinpoint throws and elusive runs, Dart's leadership and enthusiasm impressed Kjar.

"You never know how a kid will respond to coaching, so I guess I was a little surprised just how coachable Jaxson has been and how much he loves football," Kjar told us heading into the 2020 postseason. "Any kid who has played the position for us knows I'm going to coach them very hard, but Jaxson loves to compete and soak in all the information. It's part of the deal. It's obvious he just wants to get better."

Winning, Dart said at the time, was his No. 1 objective, but "I worked my butt off and felt super confident that coming into the new program and offensive system would showcase all my skill sets."

Oddly, the pandemic helped with the exposure.

More than half the country didn’t play games that fall, but Utah was the leader in getting back to play. Many of Corner Canyon’s games were broadcast regionally and nationally, including a 42-20 win over Bingham when Dart completed 16 of 23 for 279 yards and six touchdowns and rushed 11 times for 132 more. 

"Because the Pac-12 wasn't playing or practicing, all the coaches were able to watch that game," Dart told us at the time. "Everything kind of blew up after that. I've always felt like I was a kid who has flown under the radar. It's been really cool to be recognized and get some offers."

Ole Miss wasn’t one of them to make an offer when Dart was a senior.

Nov 27, 2021; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans quarterback Jaxson Dart (2) throws the ball against the BYU Cougars in the first half at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

But after USC didn’t work out in his one season there — then coach Clay Helton ultimately went with Kedon Slovis — Dart transferred to Mississippi and had three highly productive seasons under Lane Kiffin, accounting for 12,115 total yards and 82 touchdowns.

Kiffin has lauded Dart’s personal and athletic traits, and even gone as far to views him as “another son.” 

But Dart's toughness, athleticism and smarts are derived from his actual parents, a pair of college athletes from Utah. Brandon was a strong safety in college and in high school played baseball, basketball and ran track.

His mother Kara (then Campbell) was a two-time all-state basketball player at Weber High School, where she also played volleyball and ran track.

"I started out as a strong safety like my dad, but transitioned into quarterback by the time I was 9 or 10," Dart told us in 2020. "I love the position and being in control, touching the ball every play and the mental side of the game. Learning the playbook and understanding the coverages, you get a bit of everything in the position. That's why it's the hardest position to play in all of sports."

Especially in the NFL.

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