Ole Miss Rebels Quarterback Room Among Top 5 in the Country

The Ole Miss Rebels enter the 2023 season with one of the most talented quarterback rooms in the nation, according to Pro Football Focus.

OXFORD, Miss. -- The Ole Miss Rebels already had one of the top quarterback rooms in the nation following spring practices, but the rich got richer over the weekend. 2025 four-star quarterback Austin Simmons flipped his commitment from the Florida Gators to Ole Miss on Saturday and, in the process, reclassified to the 2023 recruitment cycle thanks to "accelerated learning" in Florida. 

The 17-year-old signal-caller joins a room crowded by three other former four-star quarterbacks including Jaxson Dart, Spencer Sanders, and Walker Howard. Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin now has one of the deepest and most-talented quarterback rooms in the nation, at least Pro Football Focus believes he does. 

PFF released its top 10 quarterback rooms in the country entering the 2023 season on Tuesday and Ole Miss came in at No. 4.

The USC Trojans lead the way with the No. 1 group in college football, followed by the LSU Tigers (No. 2), Texas Longhorns (No. 3), Oregon Ducks (No. 5), Washington Huskies (No. 6), Tennessee Volunteers (No. 7), Georgia Bulldogs (No. 8), Oklahoma Sooners (No. 9), and North Carolina Tarheels (No. 10).

Here is the full excerpt on the Rebels cracking the top five.

4. OLE MISS REBELS

Lane Kiffin has a dilemma over who his starting quarterback will be this season, but not for a lack of options.

Incumbent starter Jaxson Dart returns 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.

Kiffin has a difficult decision to make this fall, but this is a good problem to have. Dart, Ole Miss' returning starter, showed great improvement this offseason as he only recorded one interception during the entirety of spring practices. Sanders, on the other hand, transferred to Ole Miss in January after starting for the Oklahoma State Cowboys for the last four seasons and only has one year remaining of eligibility. The dual-threat quarterback would not have come to Oxford if he did not think he had a good shot at starting this fall. 

Howard also transferred to Ole Miss in January but was only with LSU for the 2022 season. The Lafayette, La., native has four more years of eligibility remaining so it is likely he and Simmons will compete for the starting job in 2024, but crazier things have happened. 

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You can follow Ben King on Twitter at @BKing_2023.

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