Former Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart spent three seasons with the Rebels. He came to the Rebels after one season with the USC Trojans in 2021. After joining the Rebels, he had immediate success and steadily improved over his three seasons as the team's starter.
Part of the reason Dart was able to succeed was because of the leadership of head coach Lane Kiffin. Kiffin has been the head coach at Ole Miss since 2020, and as a result, coached Dart for all three of his seasons with the Rebels.
The two cultivated a strong relationship on and off the field. This could be seen on Friday when Jaxson Dart wished his former coach a happy birthday on his Instagram story.

"Happy birthday."

Friday was a significant birthday for Kiffin as he turned 50 years old. Despite only being 50, Kiffin has already had a prolific coaching career. He has been a head coach at the NFL level, coaching the Oakland Raiders in 2007 and 2008. However, he is far better known for his college coaching career.
Kiffin got his first head coaching opportunity in college in 2009 with Tennessee. He then went to USC a year later and stayed with them until 2013. Then, after a few years when he was not a head coach, he took over at Florida Atlantic from 2017 to 2019. Kiffin was then hired by Ole Miss before the 2020 season and has been the team's head coach ever since.
Jaxson Dart is already showing leadership with the New York Giants
Jaxson Dart was selected by the New York Giants in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft. They even traded up to acquire him, showing their faith in him as a QB. The move was surprising to many draft experts, as he was not projected to be a first-round pick by many pundits. However, the move already appears to be working out for the Giants.
Jaxson Dart is already showing his leadership skills, making sure all of his teammates were on the same page before a 7-on-7 session on Friday. He spoke to each player when they received the script on Thursday. Dart spoke about his responsibility as a leader to the media on Friday.
"As a quarterback, you’re the one that runs the ship when you’re out there. If you don’t know the ins and outs of everything, you’re not going to have everybody around you prepared. I think that’s super important."
It will be interesting to see how Dart performs in his rookie season.
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