2 weeks Ago By Dana Greene
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Sports) - There have been just two Utah high school quarterbacks ever selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. Toy High's Jim McMahon back in 1982, and Corner Canyon's Zach Wilson in 2021. Jaxson Dart is expected to be the third.
"This has been a dream for me since I was a little kid to be in this position that I'm in today," Dart said. "I'm really just trying to improve. I know that if I control things that I can control, everything's going to play out the right way.
So I'm not even too nervous about that at all."Dart started his high school career at Roy, then transferred to Corner Canyon, where he led the Chargers to the 2021 6A state championship and was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year. Devon Dampier shines in Utes Spring GameThen it was off to USC for a year, but it was at Ole Miss where he truly thrived, setting school records in wins (28) and passing yards (10,617) over the last three seasons.
Dart is considered to be the third best quarterback in the draft behind Miami's Cam Ward and Colorado's Shedeur Sanders. "I feel like I'm somebody who is a culture and an organization changer," he said. "I've had success at every level.
I've been been able to win at a rate that hadn't been done before at the school that I was just at. I think there's a lot of great quarterbacks out here, but for me, I feel like the intangibles and what I bring to the organization kind of set me apart."Dart knows there is a good chance he won't be an NFL starter right away, but he says that can be a good thing.
"You can go into a situation and learn as much as you can," he said. "A lot of times when you're in that situation, you're playing behind a veteran quarterback who's had a ton of success and and just knows a ton about the game. So you got to be a sponge.
"Dart found a mentor at Ole Miss in 2-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Eli Manning, who helped Dart get ready for this moment.Retzlaff poised for another big year at BYU"Eli has been great," Dart said. "He's been a huge role model for me, somebody who shed a lot of wisdom from my time at Ole Miss.
He's a legend. So I think any time that when you're around that, a Hall of Fame type quarterback, the style of a player you want to take, I just try to learn as much as I can."Known as an accurate passer, Dart has a fiery competitiveness about him, something he learned from his dad, Brandon.
"My dad played safety at the University of Utah," Dart said. "I think he kind of expected me to follow in his footsteps that way. So, I'm somebody who plays a lot of fire and is emotional on the field.
I often say that I'm the ultimate competitor."You can watch the NFL Draft Thursday through Saturday on ABC4..
