Jaxson Dart: When it came down to the transfer portal it was ‘Ole Miss and Oklahoma for me’

Two and a half years ago Jaxson Dart made the decision to come to Ole Miss from Southern California becoming one of the first of many big transfer portal splashes Lane Kiffin would make.

Though it could have gone much difference and Dart could have been wearing crimson red and yelling ‘Boomer Sooner!’ as an opposing quarterback coming to Oxford this October.

In Winter 2022 Kiffin was working hard to land Dart out of the portal in an effort to beef up the Rebels quarterback room after Matt Corral had moved on to begin his professional career. Ole Miss won out, landing Dart but earlier this week the senior quarterback revealed it was down to two major programs vying for his services.

“To be honest, when it came down to the portal, it was Ole Miss and Oklahoma for me, when I had to make the decision,” Dart said on Monday in Dallas at the Southeastern Conference Media Days.

Dart’s statement was the beginning of his answer to a reporter’s question about the Sooners and how familiar he was with them team. Turns out he was one different decision away from knowing a lot about Oklahoma.

The Sooners hired then-defensive coordinator Brent Venables as it’s latest head coach December 2021, a month prior to Dart making his decision in the portal.

“I have great respect for Coach Venables,” Dart added. “I think he’s going to do a tremendous job there with his transition into the SEC. Oklahoma has always been an elite program. They’ve always played at the highest, and they’ve been very successful. So I think that they’ll do a really good job of transitioning into this year.

“I’m just happy that we’re able to get (Oklahoma) and Texas in, because I feel like that even proves more why SEC is the very best conference in college football. I’m excited to play against the best and it will be fun when we get to play them in Oxford and have that game kickoff.”

Ole Miss hosts Oklahoma on October 26 after its first of two open dates in the final seven weeks of the season.

Last month there was a little bit of a rivalry brewing via social media between the two teams as a clip of Dart throwing at the Manning Passing Academy caught the attention of Sooners defensive back Billy Bowman, Jr.

Bowman saw the post on X (formerly Twitter) and quoted it by saying, “pick six.” That caught Dart’s attention and he rebutted with, “yeah okay buddy we gon see.”

Tuesday it was Oklahoma’s turn at its first SEC Media Days and Bowman, who had three interceptions for touchdowns last season, was asked about his tweet and playing Ole Miss this season.

“I’m excited about every team in the SEC,” Bowman said. “Ole Miss will be a game on the schedule. It’s a road game. We go down there, and we’re going to do all we do to keep them points off the board.”

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