OXFORD — The quarterback carousel for No. 20 Ole Miss keeps on spinning.
Head coach Lane Kiffin told reporters Monday that a decision on whether sophomore Jaxson Dart or sophomore Luke Altmyer would start the Rebels’ (2-0) game at Georgia Tech would be made later in the week.
Dart — a five-star transfer from USC — started the season opener against Troy and had 194 total yards, one touchdown and an interception. Altmyer started the Rebels’ (2-0) win against Central Arkansas but was injured in the second quarter. He was 6 of 7 for 90 yards with three total touchdowns (two passing) in the first quarter before suffering an upper-body injury in the second. He missed his remaining six pass attempts of the game.
Dart played one drive in the second quarter and the entire second half, finishing 10 of 15 for 182 yards and two touchdowns.
Kiffin said Altmyer was “out there” at practice Monday and “think(s) he’ll be alright.”
“We’re just going to push forward the way that we’ve been going, and we’re 2-0,” Kiffin said. “We’ll figure out who goes first at some point later in the week probably.”
Dart and Altmyer have been locked in a tight battle all offseason to take over for star Matt Corral, who led Ole Miss to its first 10-win regular season and a Sugar Bowl berth in 2021. The race between the two has been so close Kiffin only thought it fair to give each a chance to be the first quarterback under center and, subsequently, come off the bench.
“There’s some things where they could have done better read-wise, and then you always analyze — or I do, as a coach — what could we have done better, and a few of the things were maybe in two minute, that we hadn’t had a lot of reps at, they hadn’t seen all the different looks that happen,” he said. “When you’re a young quarterback, you don’t have any storage space, years playing before of things happening.”
Kiffin praised both quarterbacks for their ability to relay signals and call the offense, a skill that is often overlooked.
“ … You have to have tempo; you have to memorize things from the signal to give to the line that aren’t in the signal. People think it’s really easy to play in up-tempo systems, and some probably are, where you signal to everybody what to do. We’ve done that before, but we don’t do that nowadays. So, there is a lot on the quarterback, and they’ve done well with that.”
Ole Miss and the Yellow Jackets (1-1) kick off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The game will be broadcasted on ABC.
Kiffin praises Jayden Williams
One of the surprises of the early season has been redshirt freshman tackle Jayden Williams’ working his way into the Rebels’ starting lineup. He has started the first two games of 2022 and is listed atop the depth chart this week for the matchup with the Yellow Jackets.
The offensive line seemed fairly set in stone in the spring with junior Jeremy James at left tackle, senior Nick Broeker at left guard, junior Caleb Warren at center, sophomore Eli Acker at right guard and senior Western Kentucky transfer Mason Brooks at right tackle.
But Williams’ strong play this fall has made it hard for coaches to ignore him, despite suffering an injury against Troy.
“He’s just had a great camp. (He) got hurt in that first game and so hasn’t played probably as well as he would have otherwise, so he’s been a little up and down through two games since that injury. But he’s been a great surprise, because he had such an awesome offseason that he changed himself physically a lot,” Kiffin said. “And I think that speaks to how we run our program. You guys have been here. It doesn’t matter how old you are, where you’re from, if you transferred, if you didn’t, how many stars, whatever.
“We look to find the best players that help us win over the course of the season, even if that means you may struggle a little early playing a young guy. It’s the best thing for the entire season.”
Kickoff time for Tulsa game announced
Ole Miss’ Sept. 24 matchup against Tulsa will kick off at 3 p.m. The game will be broadcasted on the SEC Network.
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