Ole Miss’ Grove Collective recently had a great Monday night event at the Manning Center. The actual amount of tickets made available for fans to purchase is unknown, but The Grove Collective’s Evening with Eli Manning and Jaxson Dart was a sellout.
The two high-profile Ole Miss quarterbacks discussed Oxford, fans, and, of course, football. Manning is widely considered as football royalty and Ole Miss’ best overall quarterback in program history. Dart is aiming to put himself in the same light as Manning, but he still has a huge senior season ahead of him.
Though Manning is 20 years removed from his playing days at Oxford, he has recently had more time to keep up with the team. So far, Manning is impressed with Lane Kiffin’s curriculum.
The two-time Super Bowl MVP also expressed his hopes for Ole Miss’ current starter to surpass his records that still stand at the top in the Rebel history books.
“I’m a fan of Ole Miss, I’ve been a fan since I was little…It’s been great watching Coach Kiffin and Coach Weis and the crew in what they’re doing. And Jaxson. I’m rooting for them. I want (Dart) to break – he’s probably broken all my records – I want him to break all of them. I want him to go have a big year and go get that SEC Championship,” Manning said Monday evening.
How many records can Dart possibly break of Manning’s in 2024? At least a handful.
Dart needs 3,782 passing yards in 2024 to surpass Manning’s program record of 10,119 career passing yards. If Dart were to reach that mark, he would also break Manning’s (personal) record for passing yards (3,600) in a season.
As far as passing touchdowns go, Ole Miss’ third-year quarterback would need to throw 42 touchdown passes to break Manning’s record (84) of a single Rebel career. If he were to accomplish that impressive feat with his talented batch of pass catchers, that would also set a fresh Ole Miss record, surpassing the record held by Manning for touchdown passes thrown (31) in a single season.
Blast from the past
Back when No. 10 finally went up with No. 18 and No. 38 against LSU in the 2021 season, Kiffin expressed his thoughts of Manning.
“I’ve always had great respect for them (the Manning family)…I mean I would think this would be a very hot ticket, I get to go see Eli Manning and Matt Corral. It’ll be a pretty cool thing Saturday,” Kiffin previously said of Manning’s jersey retirement during the 2021 season.
The day of Manning’s jersey number retirement at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Kiffin made his way to the stadium through The Walk of Champions in a royal blue Manning New York Giants jersey.
Eli played all four seasons for the Rebels (2000-2003), however he did not start until his sophomore season. In his senior season, Manning led Ole Miss to a 10-3 record, including a 31-28 Cotton Bowl victory over the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Eli also received the 2003 Maxwell Award, which is presented to the finest all-around athlete in college football. During his time at Ole Miss, the native of New Orleans, Louisiana, established or tied 47 single-game, season, and career records.
