Analyzing Ole Miss’ Quarterback Room Ahead of Fall Camp
Excitement and enthusiasm have arisen over an extremely competitive quarterback room in Oxford, garnering speculation as to who will be crowned the starter for the Ole Miss Rebels in 2023.
Lane Kiffin and Charlie Weis Jr. have some serious decisions to make with four touted QBs in Jaxson Dart, Spencer Sanders, Walker Howard and Austin Simons
Pro Football Focus dropped its top 10 quarterback rooms in college football, where Ole Miss came ranking in at No. 4
Here's what PFF had to say:
"Incumbent starter Jaxson Dart returned for his junior season and led all SEC quarterbacks in 2022 with a 6.4% big-time throw rate. Spencer Sanders transfers in after starting for Oklahoma State in each of the last four seasons. In 2021, his 84.5 grade ranked third among Big 12 signal-callers. Walker Howard comes in from LSU and was a top-50 recruit in the 2022 class. To top it all off, four-star recruit Austin Simmons just flipped his commitment from Florida to Ole Miss and will be joining the Rebels this summer after reclassifying from 2025."
With many speculating that Dart will be the returning starter, it raises questions about what Oklahoma State's four-year starter Spencer Sanders will do in his last year of eligibility. Personally, it looks like Dart will take the first snap week one against Mercer, but Kiffin has not publicly made it official and most likely won't until August.
A question mark that has left some concerned is the interception problems between the two seasoned quarterbacks.
Sanders had thrown 40 interceptions in his last four years starting in Stillwater while Dart threw 11 last season with 10 of them coming in his last five games.
With a program that has aspirations to make the College Football Playoff in the near future, double-digit interceptions in a season simply won't get the job done. On a positive note, Matt Corral threw 14 interceptions in 2022 before leading Ole Miss to a 10-2 season which ranked them No. 8 nationally.
There has been recent conjecture that Dart has shown similar offseason improvement like Corral did. Dart threw just one interception during the spring season according to head coach Lane Kiffin.
Walker Howard and recent signee Austin Simmons round out the rest of the QB room. Howard was a top-five transferring QB in this year’s portal cycle and was a top-50 recruit in the class of 2022. Howard has yet to prove himself at the collegiate level, but he is one of the more promising youngsters in the country and looks to be the future for Ole Miss at the position.
Austin Simmons recently flipped from the Florida Gators and has reclassified to 2023 thanks to "accelerated learning” available in the state. The coveted four-star recruit looks to gain experience alongside Howard.
As starting doesn't seem to be in the picture for the two in this upcoming season, it is more likely that they will compete for the job in 2024. With a powerful quarterback room, all four players look to benefit from the competitiveness and should be able to build off each other to stay sharp.
Ending the 2022 season with losses in four of the last five games, the Rebels look to right that ship in 2023, but, for now, the question remains surrounding who will lead the team under center.
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