Ole Miss Rebels quarterback Jaxson Dart signed an NIL endorsement deal with private jet company Nicholas Air.
This is NIL history as it is the first deal of its kind. The deal was made possible by Everett Sports Marketing and it allows Jaxson Dart to use the company’s planes for travel, philanthropy and training.
Ole Miss Rebels QB Jaxson Dart has a top-tier NIL valuation
Rebels QB Jaxson Dart had an NIL valuation of $1.4 million, according to On3. The former USC Trojans QB has the 11th-highest NIL valuation in the country.
The highest college athlete NIL valuation belongs to the son of NBA Legend Lebron James, Bronny James, who is valued at $5.8 million.
The college football player with the highest NIL valuation is Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who has a valuation of $4.7 million.
The founder of On3, Shannon Terry, explained the NIL landscape in one of their articles.
“Despite what some fans and media believe, there is not an unlimited amount of money being deployed to manage rosters,” said Shannon Terry, the founder and CEO of On3. “Any model – whether it’s today’s broken NCAA ‘student-athlete’ construct or media rights sharing through employment, which is almost a certainty in the near future – demands efficiency based on the athlete and school knowing the athlete’s respective market value.”
Ole Miss Rebels QB Jaxson Dart is a Heisman candidate for 2024
Dart decided to forego the 2024 NFL draft to play one more year with the Rebels and head coach Lane Kiffin.
Dart capped off the best season of his career thus far with a win in the Peach Bowl against the Penn State Nittany Lions. Penn State had one of the best defenses in college football, and the Rebels completely shattered the majority of their strong year-long statistics. Coming into the game, Penn State allowed:
- 223 yards per game (first)
- 11.4 points per game (third)
- 154 yards passing per game (third)
- 3.9 yards per play (first)
Dart and the rest of the Rebel’s offense blew these numbers out of the water by putting up 38 points on 540 total yards (394 passing) with 6.1 yards per play. While Penn State’s defensive coordinator Manny Diaz accepted a job with the Duke Blue Devils, the discrepancy in numbers speaks to the offensive efficiency of Dart and the Rebels.
Jaxson Dart in the first quarter:
• 6/13
• 109 yards
• 1 touchdownDart is dealing
pic.twitter.com/tYwlu1Y7kr— Ensign Gridiron (@EnsignGridiron) December 30, 2023
‘SEC’ chants raining down at the Peach Bowl after Jaxson Dart scores his 4th touchdown of the game pic.twitter.com/I803oxIoqk
— Ensign Gridiron (@EnsignGridiron) December 30, 2023
Dart’s yards, yards per play, passer rating, completions and completion percentage saw improvement in every season. Dart had just 43 yards on 22 carries his freshman year. Under Kiffin for two years, Dart has 1,005 yards rushing along with nine touchdowns. This means Dart hasn’t just improved, but he’s added a completely new wrinkle to his game.
Dart passed for 3,364 yards this season, which was the first time he eclipsed the 3,000-yard mark in his career. His 23 to five-touchdown to-interception ratio is also the best of his career. The only other time he threw five interceptions in a season was his rookie season in which he had just 189 pass attempts, compared to the average of 360 in the last two years.
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