After a pair of seasons serving as the understudy to the program’s all-time leading passer, Ole Miss quarterback Austin Simmons is ready to take the reins.
The redshirt sophomore takes over for Jaxson Dart — now a member of the New York Giants — ahead of No. 21 Ole Miss’ season opener against Georgia State on Saturday in Oxford, Mississippi.
Simmons, 19, isn’t thinking about catching up to Dart’s 10,617 passing yards and record 28 program wins. So far, he’s just focusing on the new duties.
“The biggest thing I’ve learned is just accepting everything that comes with the role,” Simmons said. “Definitely a lot of adversity, a lot of media talking about me — just a lot of outside noise that comes with being in this type of position. Really just learning how to handle it over time. Not being the backup, but molding into being the guy.”
In limited action a year ago, Simmons completed 19 of 32 passes for 282 yards and two touchdowns.
Sixth-year Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin has his team ranked in the Preseason AP Top 25 for the fifth straight season. With a new face under center, Kiffin feels the program is in good hands.
“I think Austin’s doing a really good job,” Kiffin said. “We continue to emphasize one of the reasons we’ve had a really good record, performed really well – it’s not just the offensive stats, those passing yards and all that. It’s been taking care of the football at that position and doing a really good job of that. Especially with a first-time starter, making sure that that’s the No. 1 emphasis for him. He studies really hard. He spends a lot of time up here. He had a really good mentor, an example in Jaxson. We’re excited.”
Ole Miss enters the season coming off consecutive bowl wins for the first time since 2012-13. The Rebels were predicted to finish seventh in the SEC Preseason poll.
The visiting Panthers will make their first trip to Oxford on Saturday as heavy underdogs. Under second-year head coach Dell McGee, the Panthers received just 23 votes in the Sun Belt preseason poll, placing them last in the 14-team conference.
Georgia State, which finished 3-9 overall and 1-7 in league play a season ago, added 77 new players during the offseason – 34 high school signees and walk-ons and 43 transfers from the transfer portal.
A rarity for a Group of Five head coach in this era of college football, McGee has the fortune of returning a pair of offensive leaders from 2024. Starting quarterback Christian Veilleux, who threw for 2,047 yards in 10 games, returns to the Panthers for his fifth year, while leading receiver Ted Hurst (961 yards, nine touchdowns in ‘24) looks to open up the field for Georgia State’s offense.
“It’s all about decision making,” McGee said. “We’ve got to make sure we’re playing clean football on the offensive side of the ball. As coaches, we’ve got to help with that. We’ve got to make sure we don’t have too much in or are asking too much of our quarterback.”
Georgia State boasts a pair of SEC victories in its short program history, having beaten Tennessee in 2019 and Vanderbilt last season.
