Clay Helton and Lane Kiffin’s careers are intertwined as is Helton’s with Jaxson Dart.
Helton and Kiffin share the distinction of both having been head coaches at Southern Cal who were fired in-season and Helton, now at Georgia Southern, recruited Dart, now the Ole Miss quarterback and a Heisman Trophy candidate, to USC.
Kiffin, who has built the Rebel football program into a legitimate challenger for the national championship, Helton and Dart will reunite Saturday, in Oxford, Miss., when the teams square off at 7:45 p.m. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.
“Coach Kiff changed my life,” Helton said at his weekly press conference. “I had an opportunity to come to USC and not only to come to USC but really learn a lot of football from him. He’s one of the most brilliant offensive minds in college football right now.
“He does a tremendous job being able to not only to recruit personnel to fit his system but to get those players matched up where they can be productive. He taught me a lot about the game and about recruiting in my time with him.”
Kiffin hired Helton to be his quarterbacks coach in 2010. He was the first of three head coaches Helton worked for at USC. When Kiffin was fired in 2013 and replaced by Ed Orgeron he remained on staff and was the interim coach for the Las Vegas Bowl game when Orgeron abruptly quit after being passed over for Steve Sarkisian.
Sarkisian kept Helton on staff as his offensive coordinator and when he was fired in-season in 2015 he was once again interim before being hired as the team's official head coach. That gig lasted until September 2023 when the Trojans got off to a 1-1 start.
One of the players Helton recruited before he was let go was Dart who is now one of the top players in the country.
“Jaxson is near and dear to my heart,” Helton said. “I had an opportunity to sign him out of high school in Utah. He’s an unbelievable young man, a great family. It’s no surprise how well he’s playing.
“He’s a Heisman Trophy candidate. He’s always had that ‘it’ factor about him, winning state championships in the state of Utah.,” Helton said. “Now he’s carrying over that championship attitude into what I think is Coach Kiff’s best team in year 5.
“He (Dart) is leading the way. I’m proud of both men. They’ve both obviously been family to me at one point and I still consider them family. Sometimes family has to compete against one another and this is one of those times.”
No coach has done a better job of utilizing the transfer portal than Kiffin—he’s earned the King of Portal sobriquet—and the last two years the Ole Miss portal transfer recruit class has been ranked No. 1. This year’s team boasts 23 transfers, four of whom were ranked among the top 50 players available.
Kiffin landed Dart after Helton was let go at Southern Cal and he has proven to be worth every penny of his NIL money. Last year the Rebels won a school record 11 games as Dart threw for 3,364 yards for 23 touchdowns with only five interceptions.
This year with no Alabama, Texas, Auburn, Oklahoma or Tennessee on the schedule the path to the playoffs got a little smoother.
Dart is off to a sizzling start as are the Rebels who are having the most dominant start to a season in SEC history. Ole Miss is averaging 56 points per game and has given up only nine points, all on field goals. It is the first time since 1961 the Rebels have not given up a touchdown in their first three games.
Dart, who threw for 377 yards in last week’s 40-6 win at Wake Forest, now has 1,172 on the season. Wide
receiver Tre Harris caught 11 passes for 127 yards and leads the SEC in receiving with 27 receptions for 403 yards
While Kiffin is known for his offenses the Rebels are showing they can also play defense.
Ole Miss leads the nation in total offense (692.0 ypg), passing offense (434.3 ypg), first downs (34.7 per game) and long plays from scrimmage (81). However, the defense is also excelling as the Rebels lead the nation in scoring defense (3.0 ppg) and rushing defense (33.3 ypg).
