What Star Wars Character Best Compares to Lane Kiffin? QB Jaxson Dart Reveals

Ole Miss Rebels quarterback Jaxson Dart is an avid Star Wars fan, and he recently drew a comparison between one of the franchise's characters and his head coach.

Oct 28, 2023; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin (right) talks with quarterback Jaxson Dart (2) during warm ups prior to the game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports / Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports

"You must unlearn what you have learned."

Perhaps Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin has shared some similar advice to quarterback Jaxson Dart, but that quote comes from Jedi Master Yoda in Star Wars' The Empire Strikes Back. Dart is an avid Star Wars fan in his own right, even modeling his eye black each week to mirror the scar sported by Anakin Skywalker in the series.

Dart's fandom has become widely known, but it led to an interesting question this week at SEC Media Days: which character from the franchise best compares to Lane Kiffin?

"Yoda, easily," Dart said. "His wisdom, knowledge.
Coach Kiffin has been through a lot throughout his
coaching career. Youngest head coach to ever coach in
the NFL during his time there. I feel he's coached at the
high level at every level and he's been somebody that I've
learned a lot from and has shed a lot of his wisdom off to me."

Kiffin may not have the same level of experience training quarterbacks as Yoda did with the Jedi (he lived to be 900 years old in the movies), but it makes sense that Dart would see his coach in such an influential light. Kiffin landed Dart out of the transfer portal prior to the 2022 season, and the two seem to share a close bond with the coach bragging on his quarterback's leadership ability on a team full of both returners and transfers this season.

"We're all trying to improve players,
obviously," Kiffin said at media days. "I think with Jaxon, there is not as much to point
to because he did finish the season really well and we've
had him now for a while. A lot of times we got to go work
on leadership things with someone and investing in their
team and players.

"In honor of [EA Sports College Football 25] coming out...makes me think if they had a rating of leadership of a
quarterback, he would be a 99, because he invests into the
players so much.
So a lot of times you got to work on that with them; he has
that nailed."

If Kiffin is to be viewed as a "Yoda-like" figure for Dart, it seems that the quarterback has graduated from padawan status to a full-fledged Jedi Knight. Now, it's just up to him to pilot the 2024 Rebels to a successful season, one many believe could end in a College Football Playoff berth.