Should Rebels fans really get excited about Dart coming back?

OXFORD, Miss. — When Lane Kiffin made what most folks thought was a joke after a 52-20 win over Duke in the Gator Bowl, nobody really appeared to take it seriously. After all, quarterback Jaxson Dart had declared for the NFL Draft.

You can probably forget all those old rules about not contacting an agent to keep that hope alive. With all of the stuff going on in college football these days, it’s hard to see that would be a problem. Now the NCAA is even close to approving a fifth year of eligibility for players.

If Kiffin can pull this off, you probably can’t rule out much of anything else. Dart didn’t have any time left, but now could have an extra year to add to his 30-plus wins as a Rebel quarterback and set even more school records.

A story by Jared Redding at Inside the Rebels indicated it may not be as far-fetched as some folks initially thought.

Lane Kiffin just took a shot at Diego Pavia!

The smile to the camera after 😂 pic.twitter.com/Nq5MJZ7lSO

— Adam Spencer (@AdamSpencer4) January 3, 2025

At the time it was considered a snide remark about Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia. We should have figured at the time something might be cooking. He probably knew about the NCAA considering adding a fifth year of eligibility before the report surfaced last week.

Dart has already put his name in Ole Miss lore among the legendary ones. Dart has completed 66 percent of his passes for a 10,617 yards (breaking Eli Manning’s program record). He has 72 touchdowns to 22 interceptions and a ridiculous quarterback ratig of 162.8. Just for the fun of it, Dart has totaled 1,498 yards and 12 scores, averaging four yards per rushing attempt.

Considering the Rebels had the No. 2-ranked transfer class in the country last year, they have one almost as highly-ranked lined up for next year. Getting Dart back for a season nobody was even considering in August would launch expectations maybe higher than they were last year.

That’s for Ole Miss. It might be more interesting to see where Dart would be projected in the Heisman candidates.