Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart makes NIL history, signs with private jet company
Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart has made NIL history, becoming the first college athlete to sign with a private jet company.
Through the agreement with Nicholas Air, Dart can use the company's fleet of jets for "travel, training and philanthropy."
The deal, which was done by sports marketing agency ESM, is the first of its kind.
Founded in 1997, Nicholas Air is a small private aviation company with an exclusive fleet of Pilatus PC-12s, Phenom 100, Citation CJ3+, Phenom 300, Citation Latitude, Challenger 350, and Gulfstream G600 jets, per the company's website. The company is headquartered in Oxford, Mississippi but has regional offices in Atlanta, Dallas, Charlotte and San Francisco.
Nicholas Air offers four tiers of their membership club: Jet Card (15 to 100 hours of flying per year), Jet Lease (100 to 200 hours), Jet Share (100 to 300 hours) or Aircraft Management (200-plus hours). Memberships start at $75,000.
Dart appeared in six games (three starts) as a true freshman at USC before transferring to Ole Miss in 2022. He started in 12 of 13 games as a sophomore, cashing in for 2,974 passing yards, 614 rushing yards and 21 total touchdowns.
As a junior, Dart finished the 2023 college football season with career highs in completions (233), completion percentage (65.1), passing yards (3,364) and touchdowns (23) across 13 games. He capped off the season by leading the No. 11-ranked Rebels to a double-digit win over No. 10 Penn State and its third-ranked passing defense in the Peach Bowl, securing the team's first 11-win season in program history and first New Year's Six bowl win since 2015.
Dart broke his own Ole Miss bowl record with 379 passing yards during that game after setting the previous record (361 yards) in the Texas Bowl the year prior against Texas Tech. Dart is the only Rebel QB to throw for 350 yards in a bowl, a feat he has now accomplished twice heading into his senior year.
Dart announced on Jan. 1 that he was returning to Ole Miss for the 2024 season.