Who is Ole Miss' Backup Quarterback? Rebel Coaches Give Insight Into Position Battle

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. feel confident in multiple options to back up starting quarterback Jaxson Dart.

Ole Miss Rebels quarterback Austin Simmons during fall camp. / Ole Miss Athletics | Austin Simmons on X

If you're hoping for Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin to name an "official" backup quarterback this preseason, you may be out of luck. Or, perhaps, he's actually named three.

Jaxson Dart is, without a doubt, the starter at quarterback for Ole Miss this season and a key leader on this roster full of veterans and transfers alike. But should Dart go down with an injury at some point during the year, who would step in to fill his shoes?

The Rebels have plenty of options to choose from, in that scenario. There's redshirt freshman Austin Simmons, former LSU transfer Walker Howard, and new high school signee AJ Maddox out of Oak Grove (Hattiesburg, Miss.) High School. That gives Kiffin the luxury of not needing a set answer at the backup position, unless, of course, he has to make a decision in-game.

"I have confidence in all of them," Kiffin said on Monday, "and they've done really good things, specifically Austin and Walker as guys who have been here longer. Would feel confident playing with both those guys."

Offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. went a step further at Monday's "Grove Collection Day" event sponsored by The Grove Collective NIL campaign. He thinks that each of the three "primary" backups on Ole Miss' roster bring something unique to the table, and that is a good problem to have, in the event of an injury to your starter.

"Walker and Austin, I think, are both really, really talented players that have bright futures," Weis said. "They'll continue to compete and go as time goes on, and both have their strengths. Walker does a great job of operating the system, knowing exactly where to go, and a big arm to make throws down the field.

"Austin has a very quick release, and he's on-point. He's got a long stride so he can run. We've got two guys behind [Dart] that this is their second year in the system, so they know what we're doing. They've both got talent, so thats been a fun competition to watch throughout the course of camp."

But don't forget about the Magnolia State's AJ Maddox. Weis believes he might outshine the other two options in one key area, at least so far during camp.

"AJ Maddox, he's come in here, and he may have the strongest arm of all of them," Weis said. "He's been doing a great job for us. He's just got to continue to learn and progress. There's plenty of arm talent in that room."

If Ole Miss has its way, it won't need any of these three names during critical minutes this season, but injuries do happen, and Dart has taken his fair share of blows since transferring to Oxford from USC. Still, if the Rebels do have to run a younger arm out to lead the offense, they at least seem to feel confident that they have three guys who could feasibly get the job done in that situation.