Uncle Buck

Let me start this off by making a confession to you guys. When I was a teenager I was the furthest thing from a ladies’ man. I know that might come as a shock to many of you but I am being nothing but honest here. All my friends seemed to have long-term girlfriends and I was the friend that was not opposed to hanging out with the couple friends, if they would have me. One of those couple friends, Chris and Sara, have been married now for going on eight years and the four of us (including my wife, now) remain great friends to this day. In high school I can remember saying to them one night something that now 30 year old me thinks sounds pathetic but hold on because I have a point to make. I told them, “most people don’t like being the 3rd wheel but if it weren’t for the 3rd wheel, we wouldn’t have tricycles.”

I know that’s pathetic looking back because what didn’t click for me at the time was that no respectable adult would ever own a tricycle. Plus, I am sure that there were several times where they would just like to be a bicycle and ditch the 3rd wheel that probably got in the way of some alone time. Alone time that no one seems to be able to get when they’re still living with their folks.

I relay you this awkward high school story to you all because I have found that the same situation is going on in the Ole Miss quarterbacks room right now.

Thursday morning former Oklahoma State Cowboy quarterback Spencer Sanders announced that he will be transferring to Ole Miss to finish his college career. Sanders was a four year starter for the Pokes and has been recognized in his conference as an extremely productive quarterback. As a freshman, Sanders was the Big 12 freshman of the year, the next season he won the Big 12 offensive player of the year and in the two years that followed he has led the Cowboys to really solid seasons. In fact, when Sanders got injured this season OSU was 6-2 (3-2) in the conference with one of the 2 losses being in double OT against the CFB playoff runners up, TCU. Sanders’ decision on where he was going to spend his last year of eligibility came down to Ole Miss and Auburn. As a die hard Rebel, I wanted to get him just so that Auburn and Hugh Freeze couldn’t. Aside from that, he is a solid option but more about that later.

Lets go back to Wednesday morning. At 8 AM on January 18th, Ole Miss only had one quarterback on scholarship to play next season, Jaxson Dart. Kinkead Dent, a walk-on, is rumored to be entering the transfer portal soon, as well. Jaxson Dart, the starter for Ole Miss last year showed flashes of tremendous upside at the quarterback position but struggled in many situations with decision making. On the podcast after the Ole Miss loss to Texas Tech I told my co-host, Buckets, that Dart has a lot of work to do when it comes to seeing the defenses and making the right reads. However, I love his grit. Dart was a sophomore and this was his first season as a starter, I expected him to have some trouble with decision making. What I did not see coming was how tough he was. Dart blew me away with how he would lay his body on the line on every play and continue to get up. I like him and I could see a future with him, if Lane were willing to wait on him. However, with only one quarterback in the room, Lane had to get a backup for Dart.

In comes Walker Howard. Walker Howard announced Wednesday morning at 8:30 that he will be transferring from LSU to Ole Miss. Howard is a former 5 star STUD quarterback recruit from Louisiana. Like most highly ranked prospects from Lousisiana, Walker signed to play at LSU. When he was making his decision there was an open competition for the QB job in Baton Rouge. That job that went to Arizona State transfer Jayden Daniels. Daniels went on to have an incredible season at LSU and announced that he will be returning to the team next season. Howard found himself at 3rd on the depth chart behind Daniels and fellow freshman Garrett Nussmeier. The former 5 star decided to see where he could go to have a shot of moving up the depth chart.

I am not an insider, I am just a fan so when I speak on Ole Miss please don’t mistake my opinion for a sourced piece of news. In my opinion, as a fan of college football and Ole Miss, I do not believe that Spencer Sanders nor Walker Howard commit to transfer to Ole Miss without being assured that they have the opportunity to compete for the job. So where does that leave Jaxson Dart?

Here is where the tricycle analogy finally ties in. The Rebels have 3 “tires”. Dart and Howard are young, highly talented, highly ranked prospects. Spencer Sanders is a grizzly, married veteran. I would be shocked if this is how the quarterback room looks when fall camp starts.

The new age of college football has empowered kids to look for situations that fit their desires and allows them a couple of chances to find the correct situation. More athletes looking for greener pastures means that more coaches are looking to beef up their own rosters with transfers. No one has done that better than Lane Kiffin. Many people think that NIL is deciding where elite prospects sign out of high school. I don’t think that I can argue with that. However, when we are talking about the transfer portal, playing time is on par with NIL, at a minimum. Texas A&M is not losing their #1 recruiting class from 2022 because the checks didn’t clear, they are leaving because they also want to be on the football field. Personally, I think that Lane Kiffin offered an open QB competition and time will tell if Jaxson Dart will be here to participate.