Ole Miss doesn’t appear to have much of a quarterback competition leading into next season. After the end of the Jaxson Dart era, it looks like redshirt sophomore Austin Simmons is set to be the guy moving forward for the Rebels. While he’s only seen limited snaps in two years in Oxford, he’s certainly impressed the coaching staff in that time. Proof of this seems to be in the fact that Lane Kiffin didn’t seem all that interested in looking for a transfer quarterback in this year’s portal. For a guy like Kiffin, that shows major trust in what he already has in the locker room. While he did add former Louisville backup Pierce Clarkson, it’s clear that they expect Simmons to be the starter.
So who is the new Ole Miss starter and what can we expect from him?
A New Era Begins at Ole Miss
Austin Simmons’ High School Career
Despite getting set to start his third year of college, Simmons is still only 19 years old. This is due to him reclassifying two full classes from 2025 to the 2023 class. At Pahokee High School, in six games as a freshman, he threw for 1,913 yards and 15 touchdowns. The next season, Simmons broke the school’s single-season passing record, with 3,253 yards through the air. Despite a smaller-than-usual sample size, he was ranked as a four-star prospect, according to 247Sports.
On top of being a star quarterback, he also proved to be a solid baseball player, as well. As a freshman, Simmons threw back-to-back no-hitters. He then hit .365 as a sophomore, which was good enough to garner attention from scouts as a potential baseball player at the next level. Upon his decision to reclassify, he ultimately committed to Ole Miss, expecting to be a two-sport athlete in Oxford.
Limited Playing Time So Far at Ole Miss
On the football field, playing time has been extremely rare, as he sat behind Dart. He was redshirted during his freshman season and didn’t see the field at all. During his second year in Oxford, he appeared in nine games, with decent success. For the season, he completed 19 of his 32 passes for 282 yards and two touchdowns. He also carried the ball five times, picking up only 14 yards.
The defining moment for Simmons up to this point is without a doubt his one drive against Georgia, when Dart went down with an injury. On that drive, he completed five of his six passes for 64 yards and led Ole Miss to a touchdown. That scoring drive was a vital moment in what would eventually prove to be one of the biggest wins in program history.
On the diamond, Simmons appeared as a relief pitcher in 13 games. In a total of 14 innings, he put up good numbers, including being the team leader in opponents’ batting average, at .173. Additionally, he only gave up five earned runs on the season and struck out 20 batters along the way.
However, despite the success on the diamond, he has since become only a one-sport athlete, as he announced he was stepping away from baseball in order to focus on football and likely being the starting quarterback. Whether that decision came solely from Simmons, or whether there may have been urging from Kiffin and company, remains unclear.
Is Simmons Ready to be QB1?
Ready or not, Rebel fans better hope he’s ready to lead the way. Based on his limited snaps, there’s plenty of reason for optimism. Following a tough outing in backup duty during last season’s opener against Furman, Simmons closed the year completing 12 of his final 16 passes. If he can keep up that type of efficiency, he’ll be just fine as the signal caller for Ole Miss. Arguably more important though, is the fact that he didn’t turn the ball over at all. From a young quarterback, even during mop-up duty, ball security is key, and he’s done a great job with that.
The other plus for Simmons is his ability to get out of the pocket. While he doesn’t want to be a scrambler, he does have enough athleticism to make plays with his legs if necessary. And with what is typically a shaky Ole Miss offensive line, the need tends to arise more than it probably should.
Lastly are the pieces he’ll have around him. Despite losing a lot of production at the receiver position, Kiffin has done a good job of rebuilding with plenty of talent on the perimeter. It also looks as if he’ll have plenty of guys to lean on in the rushing game as well, including Missouri transfer Kewan Lacy, Logan Diggs, who missed virtually all of last year due to injury, and true freshman Shekai Mills-Knight.
Given a full offseason to improve, it should come as no surprise that expectations for Simmons are high. With the Ole Miss offensive scheme, there’s no question that he should put up good numbers. But if the offensive line can play a bit better than currently expected, he may just end up being an elite quarterback for the Rebels.
Main Image: Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports
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