What did Ole Miss QB Austin Simmons learn from sitting behind Jaxson Dart? 'Controlling the storm'

Monday was the official coronation, in a word, for Austin Simmons as the next starting quarterback for Ole Miss as he made the rounds in Atlanta for the Southeastern Conference Media Days.

Not that there was any doubt Simmons is the guy sixth-year head coach Lane Kiffin handed the keys to after Jaxson Dart headed off to the NFL. But for anyone who still wondered what the pecking order might be in the Rebels quarterback room can now put that to rest.

Once Simmons walked through the doors of the College Football Hall of Fame to kickoff the week-long talking season event, he was, and is, the guy.

One of the youngest starting quarterbacks, Simmons will be 19 for most of the 2025 season. He turns 20 on November 8. But this is also his third year of college football and he already earned his undergraduate degree at Ole Miss.

While hitting the books and a baseball season at Oxford-University Stadium Simmons was sitting under the learning tree of Kiffin, Dart and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, Jr. But in a month and a half he is no longer the pupil, instead he is now the teacher of that room, leading a group consisting of transfers that were not in an Ole Miss uniform a year ago.

With all of this to absorb there are things Simmons learned from Dart last season he will now implement in 2025.

“Definitely, like, controlling the storm,” Simmons said on Monday. “Seeing, adversity is going to strike in this conference. Each and every game is going to be competitive. Obviously seeing how Dart handled each and every type of adversity he faced throughout the game, like if he threw an interception, stuff like that, really just staying calm and not freaking out.”

Simmons got his first taste of controlling that storm last year in one drive against Georgia. The well-documented second possession of the game saw Dart go out with an injury and Simmons come in, leading the Rebels to a touchdown to tie the game and set the tone for the rest of the day.

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Ole Miss is in good hands with Simmons even with only that drive as the sample size.

Maybe there is a shadow Dart left behind in Oxford Simmons must step out of. Would be hard not to think there is when following up the program’s all-time leading passer.

Even Kiffin acknowledged as much, adding there in inherent pressure for anyone to follow up the career performance Dart gave over his three years at Ole Miss.

Regardless, Simmons is not showing any signs of that pressure or any worry of having to match the season Dart had a year ago.

“I don’t really put any pressure on myself,” Simmons said. “I just think that I just have to forge my own legacy rather than just keep on building off from what Jaxson did in his success. I just have to play my own game and just keep on going and growing as a player.”

Helping Simmons settle into this new role is wide receiver Cayden Lee. The leading returning pass catcher for the Rebels has been wherever Simmons has been around Oxford or other sporting events on the Ole Miss campus.

The pair has created a tight friendship and Lee has a front row seat to Simmons evolving into the role of starting quarterback over the Spring and the Summer offseason.

“We’ve just seen Austin just take a tremendous jump from being a ‘backup,’ just being able to to be that lead starting quarterback in the SEC is awesome,” Lee said on Monday. “We’ve seen him just learn after Dart. We saw him when he went into the Georgia game, and we really trusted what he was going to do. We knew he was going to be the player that he is today. And we really look for big things out of him this year.”