“Having gotten to meet you over the years and watch your career, I’m happy that it’s someone like you,” said Manning, who wore No. 10 in college after his father, Archie, was No. 18. “Congratulations again, and keep up the great work.”
Dart finished out his Ole Miss career with program records in wins (28) and winning percentage (.737) by a starting quarterback (28), total offense (12,115), passing yards (10,617), passing efficiency (162.8), 300-yard passing games (15), rushing yards by a quarterback (1,498), and total offense per play (8.14).
“He’s been a huge role model for me,” Dart said at the NFL Scouting Combine. “Somebody who has shed a lot of wisdom throughout my time at Ole Miss. … [He’s someone] I’ve really looked up to. We’ve definitely had those conversations. He’s a legend. Anytime when you’re around that Hall of Fame style of a player, you want to take little pieces and learn as much as you can.”
Two months later, Dart found out that he will once again wear the same uniform.
“It’s wild,” Dart said on draft night. “It’s wild to think about. (The Mannings) were just such an amazing asset for me when I was at Ole Miss. Obviously going down to the Manning Passing Academy and spending more time with them there, and then Archie just being consistent with texting me, and he made sure to give me a good luck today, and then Eli, I couldn’t ask for a better resource than that. … I’m going to continue to lean on them a little bit, and I couldn’t be more blessed to have them in my corner.”