Jaxson Dart of Ole Miss football knows what it's like to transfer. He's fought to be star QB his whole life
OXFORD — Jaxson Dart has been here before.
The crown jewel of Ole Miss football's 2022 transfer portal haul, Dart is competing for the starting quarterback job against fellow sophomore Luke Altmyer. Dart played in six games as a freshman for USC in 2021, throwing for 1,353 yards and nine touchdowns.
Dart, 18, is right at home being the new guy. There's not a game, play, practice or life event Dart doesn't think he can win.
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The Ole Miss quarterback competition is no different.
Jaxson Dart's early days
Dart's first word was "ball."
It was pretty clear why.
He grew up in Kaysville, Utah, playing football, basketball, baseball and soccer. There was also water skiing, wakeboarding and surfing. He had superior hand-eye coordination from a young age and honed those skills any way he could.
Dart's father Brandon — who played safety at Utah from 1994-2000 — encouraged his son's interests. Dart's elementary school operated in quarters. Instead of a summer break he'd get four three-week breaks throughout the year. Starting when Dart was in second grade, his dad would take him on business trips during the breaks. They traveled the country signing up for coaching clinics in any sport they could find.
"That became our thing," Brandon Dart said. "Time with dad was he'd go travel and train and I'd set up video cameras and I'd watch and I'd learn through that and be as much of a part of it as I could. We'd eat at good restaurants and spend a lot of time together. That was his life all the way through high school."
By the time Dart was ready to start high school, he'd been sharpening his athletic fundamentals for about six years. He'd apprenticed under quarterbacks coaches, sure, but also with speed and agility specialists, dribbling experts and baseball coaches who had him in the batting cage hours at a time.
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When Dart was in eighth grade, his mother met their local high school football coach at the gym. She floated the idea of Dart playing at Davis in ninth grade instead of playing another year of rec ball as was the custom in the area.
The coach balked. Brandon Dart said the coach told his family Davis was a school that doesn't breed Division I athletes or compete for state championships. Dart aspired for more than Davis could give him.
So, for the first time, Dart transferred.
The high school journey
Kaysville is about 30 minutes outside Salt Lake City. The family initially considered transferring Dart to a school in Salt Lake County, but the commute they determined would've been too much.
Luckily, Brandon Dart knew Fred Fernandes, the football coach at Roy, about 15 minutes north of Kaysville. Fernandes was the coach for Brandon's youngest brother when he was in high school and was building his alma mater back into a contender.
Dart arrived at Roy as a 13-year-old freshman. He hadn't hit his growth spurt yet. But Fernandes recognized Dart's talent and gave him every chance to compete for the starting quarterback job against a bigger, more experienced senior.
The senior had no chance.
"It wasn't close," Fernandes said. "Even back then as a freshman, I used to kid with him that he's a Sunday player. Truly believing that. I've had a few players that played for me that have made it to the NFL and lasted and he jumped out to me as a freshman. I thought 'You know what, this kid is going to be in the NFL some day.' "
Dart's body betrayed him in the state playoffs his freshman year. In the first quarter, the right-handed Dart heard a pop in his elbow after a throw. He came off the field and told Fernandes he was done. He didn't know what happened, but he knew it was bad.
He had a medial epicondyle fracture and needed surgery. The bone ruptured by the growth plate and there was a slight tear in the ulnar collateral ligament.
Dart was so devastated to miss the basketball season that he'd gloomily show up sporting a bulky cast to practice dribbling and shooting with his left hand.
He was determined not to miss Roy's baseball season, even if it meant being the designated hitter.
Dart batted .468 as a freshman before his elbow had fully healed.
Dart came back from the elbow injury an improved football player. He led Roy deep into the playoffs as a sophomore and junior, earning all-region honors both years. He accounted for 4,803 combined rushing and passing yards and 46 total touchdowns.
For as successful as Dart was on the field, colleges weren't noticing. Fernandes lobbied the coaching staff at Weber State, the FCS school 10 minutes down the road, to offer him a scholarship. Weber State wasn't convinced Dart deserved one.
The roller coaster
Dart needed a new plan. And a new team. It wasn't easy telling Fernandes.
"Honestly he bawled for an hour and 15 minutes telling me that he was leaving," Fernandes remembers. "I had to convince him that it was the right thing to do."
Dart left Roy to play at Corner Canyon, the same school former BYU standout and New York Jets starter Zach Wilson graduated from. Fernandes approved. Roy was graduating three offensive linemen and didn't have the personnel to throw the ball 30 or 40 times per game for Dart's senior season.
Corner Canyon coach Eric Kjar wasn't familiar with Dart, but he quickly realized the caliber of player he'd just had fall into his lap.
Dart was unreal in his one season. He led the Chargers to a 14-0 record and a state championship. He threw for 4,691 yards and 67 touchdowns. No one else in Utah high school football history has ever thrown for more than 60 touchdowns in a season. His 79 total scores are the second-most of any season in state history.
His coming out party came Week 3 against Bingham, a perennial state power with five alums active in the NFL. The game was televised nationally on ESPN.
"At that point he had 17 (Power 5) offensive staffs watching that game," Brandon Dart said. "All of his hard work and his efforts were going to be able to come down to one game and to be able to show and showcase what we and he have always felt like his talents were worthy of: some big-time offers."
Dart threw for 279 yards and six touchdowns and ran for another 132 yards. Corner Canyon won 42-20. Over the coming months, Dart reported scholarship offers from Utah State, Arizona State, Iowa State, TCU, UCLA, Washington State and USC.
It was hard to say no to the Trojans. He was headed to Los Angeles.
Another school, another competition
Dart signed with USC as the nation's No. 10 quarterback according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. In the same class, USC also signed Miller Moss, the No. 12 quarterback.
Junior Kedon Slovis was supposed to be USC's star quarterback in 2021 and the Trojans were ranked preseason No. 15. Dart edged out Moss as the backup. All was good. As often happens in Hollywood, though, there was a twist.
USC coach Clay Helton was fired two weeks into the season. Five days later, Slovis injured his neck on the opening drive against Washington State on Sept. 18. Dart was thrust into action.
Dart injured his right knee in the second quarter but it was a successful debut, throwing for 391 yards and four touchdowns in a 45-14 win.
The rest of the season wasn't as storybook. Dart missed four games reportedly undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus. Slovis bounced in and out of the lineup. The two quarterbacks shared reps before Dart took over completely for three-straight losses to end the season.
After the season ended, USC made the blockbuster move to get Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley, hiring college football's most renowned offensive mind.
Brandon Sosna, USC's athletics chief of staff, called Brandon Dart with the news.
"His impression was he just had made the hire that was going to make all of Jaxson's dreams come true," said Brandon Dart.
Dreams quickly gave way to reality when it became evident that Riley was interested in bringing five-star freshman Caleb Williams with him from Oklahoma.
On Jan. 3, Williams entered the transfer portal. Seven days later, Dart followed suit looking for a new home again.
Another competition at Ole Miss
Remember when Dart couldn't get an offer from the FCS school he could've walked to from his parents' house? That wasn't the case anymore.
"It was literally the second I got the email that I was going into the portal, I felt like I couldn't even look at my phone," Dart said. "I just needed space."
Brandon Dart estimates 40 schools reached out to his son within two hours. Some schools had two or three recruiters reach out, meaning the family had to juggle approximately 100 phone calls.
Dart made a list of 5-10 schools he could see himself playing at. All other offers were politely declined. He wanted to go somewhere that could prepare him for the NFL with a stable coaching staff.
Ole Miss checked every box. He visited Ole Miss along with USC teammate Michael Trigg. They were wowed by how fans in Oxford already knew who they were. Oxford isn't Los Angeles, but it's not that different from Kaysville. The chance to come somewhere without distractions appealed to Dart.
Now he's where he started. Just like at Roy, he's the out-of-towner who transferred to take the job of the quarterback who's been waiting his turn. Just like Corner Canyon, he's the prospect looking to transform from well-regarded into superstar. Just like USC, he's battling against a quarterback his own age for playing time.
Four years. Four schools. Same Jaxson Dart.
"I just want to go off of history," Fernandes says. "When he came here (to Roy) he had a quarterback competition with a kid that was a senior and he handled that. He went to SC and Miller Moss was one of the highest-ranked quarterbacks coming out of that class, Jaxson had beat out Miller for the backup spot and then he has the damn-near 400-yard game against Washington State and he did that on a torn ligament.
"I think he's going to go in with the same type of fire and go in and make plays. And he usually does. He usually gets it done."
Contact Nick Suss at 601-408-2674 or nsuss@gannett.com. Follow @nicksuss on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ole Miss football quarterback Jaxson Dart has transfer experience
