Ole Miss, LSU lead banner year for SEC transfers with 14 each

Quarterback Jaxson Dart didn’t know exactly where he wanted to go upon deciding to leave USC, just that the SEC was a preferred destination. Dart wound up landing at Mississippi and in the SEC, along with a number of other top players in the transfer portal.

In some cases, such as Alabama, the rich got richer. Other teams may have picked up a new starting quarterback, runner, pass rusher or receiver.

“I knew when I was going into the portal, I wanted to go to the SEC,” Dart said this spring. “Because it gets you developed to play in the NFL.”

First, the SEC swept the top three spots in the recruiting rankings, according to 247Sports. Then, the league that had Georgia and Alabama in the national championship game added to those prospects with a number of transfer portal pickups who could have huge impacts this fall.

Dart was one of 14 transfers for Ole Miss, which had 247Sports’ top portal class. LSU also nabbed 14 additions from other schools to rank third. The web site ranked Alabama’s transfer class fifth, South Carolina’s seventh and Arkansas’s ninth.

Dart is among at least seven transfer quarterbacks at six SEC programs, including former Oklahoma starter Spencer Rattler at South Carolina, Arizona State’s Jayden Daniels at LSU and former LSU starter Max Johnson at Texas A&M.

Auburn signed both Zach Calzada (Texas A&M) and Robby Ashford (Oregon) to compete with T.J. Finley, who arrived from LSU last spring.

Ole Miss and LSU appeared to be two of the big winners nationally in the portal lottery, but other SEC teams stocked up as well:

■ Lane Kiffin and the Rebels mined the portal for a potential starting backfield, edge rushers and players such as EX-USC tight end and Dart’s friend Michael Trigg. Dart is a former Gatorade National player of the year who played in six games as a Trojans freshman after suffering a knee injury in his debut. He is competing to replace potential NFL firstround pick Matt Corral.

■ Alabama landed potential starters at running back ( Jahmyr Gibbs, Georgia Tech), cornerback (Eli Ricks, LSU), wide receiver ( Jermaine Burton, Georgia; Tyler Harrell, Louisville) and on the offensive line (Tyler Steen, Vanderbilt).

■ Rattler appears to be the favorite to start at quarterback for South Carolina, but he’s not alone in potential impact transfers. The Gamecocks are also banking on help from Wake Forest leading rusher Christian Beal-smith, former Sooners tight end Austin Stogner, James Madison record-setting receiver Antwane Wells Jr. and North Carolina State defensive end Terrell Dawkins.

■ Arkansas built on the momentum of a 9-4 season with a strong group of transfers. The group includes linebacker Drew Sanders, a former five-star prospect who spent two seasons at Alabama.

■ On the flip side, Auburn had 15 players enter the portal while the Tigers signed five.

ROGELIO V. SOLIS/ASSOCIATED PRESS Mississippi, whose additions include QB Jaxson Dart, tops 247Sports’ transfer portal class. Other SEC teams ranked in the top 10 were LSU, Alabama, South Carolina and Arkansas.