Even if he might not know much about Star Wars, Lane Kiffin is strong with The Force. At least, that’s what his star quarterback believes.
Ole Miss senior Jaxson Dart has long spoken of his admiration for the Star Wars franchise — if you’ve seen his face on game days, by now you likely know his eye black design is an homage to Anakin Skywalker. At SEC Media Days on Monday, Dart told reporters that Kiffin — who the signal caller said probably isn’t much of a Star Wars guy himself — reminded him a bit of Master Yoda.
“I don’t know what (Kiffin’s) into on that side of things,” Dart said with a laugh.
Yoda, of course, is one of the key characters in the Star Wars saga, which began all the way back in 1977 and saw its most recent feature film released in 2019. Yoda, a small, green alien, is the head of the Jedi and among the most powerful figures in the franchise’s expanded universe. He is lauded for his wisdom — unsurprising since he was 900 years old when he died in “Return of the Jedi” — and has been a voice of reason and knowledge through the franchise’s different mediums.
Wisdom and life experience are what Dart feels separate Kiffin, despite his relatively young age, in the college football coaching ecosystem. The trials and tribulations Kiffin has gone through before hitting 50 make him an apt comparison to the Jedi master in Dart’s eyes.
“I think it’s just somebody who has a ton of wisdom and knowledge. A lot of people forget he was the youngest head coach to coach in the NFL back in his day,” Dart said. “So, he’s coached at the highest level, he’s been successful at every level. He’s had times in life where he’s had to face and overcome adversity. And he’s done that. And he’s put himself in a great situation where he is today.”
Kiffin was named head coach by the Oakland Raiders in 2007 following his stint as USC’s offensive coordinator. He was the then-youngest coach in NFL history at 31. He was fired part way through his second season and was then named the head coach at Tennessee. After a year at Tennessee he became USC’s head coach before being fired after five games into his fourth season. He was then Alabama’s offensive coordinator for three seasons, was head coach at FAU for another three and has been the Rebels’ head coach since December of 2019.
Kiffin has led Ole Miss to a pair of double-digit win seasons in the last three years, including a 2023 campaign where the Rebels won 11 games for the first time in program history. Ole Miss is a near-lock for the preseason top-10 polls and is a trendy pick for the 12-team College Football Playoff in 2024 with its returning cast of stars — including Dart — and a top-ranked transfer portal class.
The Force may very well be strong with the Rebels as a whole this season.
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