(Photo from Ole Miss Athletics)
- The C Spire Conerly Trophy is awarded to Mississippi’s top player.
Jaxson Dart’s regular season performance made him the best college football player in Mississippi.
Now he has the “receipt,” as the young folks say.
Dart, the Ole Miss quarterback, was named the winner of the C Spire Conerly Trophy, awarded to the state’s top player through a vote of media and NFL scouts.
It’s the 29th year the award has been presented and the 11th time it’s been won by an Ole Miss player.
The award is named after Charlie Conerly, a quarterback for the Rebels in 1942 and again in 1946-47. Conerly went on to a 13-year career with the New York Giants.
Dart, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound Kaysville, Utah, native, is in his third season with the Rebels after transferring from Southern Cal.
This season, with the Rebels ranked 13th in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, Dart leads the nation in total offense at 360.6 yards a game.
He’s second in passing efficiency, third in passing yards per completion and fourth in passing yards per game. He also passed Ole Miss royalty this season, eclipsing Eli Manning’s career passing yards record.
Mississippi’s 10 football-playing universities put forth nominations.
Dart outpaced finalists running back Irv Mulligan of Jackson State and defensive back Isaac Smith of Mississippi State.
“I’m extremely grateful for the state of Mississippi. People ask me all the time what’s so special about the state, and I say the people. There are tremendous individuals who have shown me the way. It’s a very unique place, and there’s nothing like it,” Dart said in his acceptance speech.
JSU coach T.C. Taylor presented his case for Mulligan to Jackson television station WJTV earlier Tuesday.
“I’d put him up against anybody. He’s a hard-nosed football player who loves the game, and he’s done it the right way, not only as a football player but on and off the field,” Taylor said.
As a football player Mulligan, a graduate student from Beaufort, S.C., was pretty dang good, leading the SWAC with 1,058 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns. He averaged 6.7 yards per carry.
Smith, of Fulton, led the SEC and ranked fourth nationally with 11.5 tackles a game. He broke up three passes and had a forced fumble too.
Delta State quarterback Patrick Shegog was last year’s winner with Ole Miss running back Quinshon Judkins before him.
In a modern game where players often transfer multiple times, Dart found a home at his second school, speaking with emotion about the importance of Ole Miss’ 26-14 in-state rivalry win over Mississippi State Saturday.
“I gave this place my all. I can firmly and confidently say that for the time that I was here. I wanted to leave it better than what I came in here with. When you take the time to look back on the wins, the successes and the adversity, I’m grateful for all of it,” he said.
Dart’s father Brandon expressed the same sentiment on social media late Saturday.
“To Ole Miss, and the City of Oxford, I think you from the bottom of my heart,” Brandon Dart wrote. “You loved my son, and made his dreams come true. We are Rebs for life! Hotty Toddy!”
Parrish Alford
