Nation's leading passer at the high school level has close connection with BYU Heisman Trophy candidate.
Dart is racking up yards and touchdowns for the nation's No. 9 team at the same time former Corner Canyon signal caller
Zach Wilson is doing the same on the college level just 30 miles due south at Brigham Young University in Provo.
Beyond playing for the same high school coach in Eric Kjar, both train with 3DQB, the elite Southern California performance facility headed by Tom House, who has worked with the likes of Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Alex Smith.
And beyond that, the dads of Dart (Brandon) and Wilson (Mike) were football teammates at the University of Utah. They knew each other growing up.
But now they talk, text and throw the ball around regularly. They wish each other good luck before and send congratulations after games. And they are both candidates to win the top individual honor at their level of play — the Heisman Trophy for Wilson and MaxPreps National Player of the Year for Dart.
Jaxson Dart has helped Corner Canyon extend one of high school football's longest winning streaks this season. The Chargers have won 36 in a row heading into Friday's playoff matchup with Westlake.
Photo by Dave Argyle
"He's awesome," Dart said of Wilson. "We're kind of similar in personality and get along really well. I'm constantly picking his brain and asking questions and he's been super helpful to me."
The two got much closer once Dart transferred to Corner Canyon in January after starting three seasons at Roy High School.
Dart loved his three seasons with the Royals, where he threw for 5,997 yards and 50 touchdowns for longtime coach Fred Fernandes.
"I made a lot of great relationships at Roy and it was super hard leaving," Dart said.
But he made the move 50 miles south to Draper, where Kjar, considered a quarterback whisperer before even coaching Wilson, has helped turn Dart into a legitimate dual threat, top recruit and a national standout. Kjar knew about Dart from watching a Roy playoff game right before Corner Canyon, plus his son
Noah Kjar, had played with Jaxson on travel 7-on-7 teams.
"I knew (Dart) was a really good player," Eric Kjar said. "I'd seen him work out and throw some pretty passes. I figured this could work out pretty good. But not quite like this."
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Dart has thrown for a national-best 3,334 yards and 48 touchdowns, completing 68 percent of his throws (162 of 239) with just two interceptions. With top running back
Austin Bell out most of the year with an injury, Dart has picked up the slack by rushing for 916 yards and nine touchdowns.
In three seasons at Roy, he totaled just 151 total rushing yards (including sacks).
Dart has broken virtually every school record. Wilson threw for 2,986 yards and 24 touchdowns in 2017 (Kjar's first season) as a senior at Corner Canyon and rushed for 752 yards and eight TDs. He's on pace to set the state single-season touchdown pass record of 58.
With upwards of four games remaining — the 10-0 Chargers open the 6A playoffs 4 p.m. Friday at home against 4-7 Westlake (Saratoga Springs) — Dart (9,342 career passing yards, 98 passing touchdowns) should move into top five in both categories in state history.
Beyond the pinpoint throws or elusive runs, coach Kjar has been surprised and pleased by Dart's makeup.
"You never know how a kid will respond to coaching so I guess I was a little surprised just how coachable Jaxson has been and how much he loves football," Kjar said. "Any kid who has played the position for us knows I'm going to coach them very hard, but Jaxson loves to compete and soak in all the information. It's part of the deal. It's obvious he just wants to get better."
He's helped his teammates get better also, including Noah Kjar, who has already broken the state's career reception mark with 263, resulting in 4,549 yards and 47 touchdowns. He's fourth in the country in receptions this season (75) for a national-best by far 1,516 yards and 19 touchdowns.
"Noah, like Jaxson, is extremely competitive and they mix it up at practice," coach Kjar said. "Those guys practice hard. We have a lot of guys who do. It rubs off on everyone."
Dart's three other main receivers
Cody Hagen,
Talmage Handley and
Jett Meine have combined for 71 catches, 1,623 yards and 28 touchdowns. Center
Jackson Light (6-3, 284) is the No. 2 senior recruit in the state and headed to Oregon. Fellow linemen
Brennan Mangum and
Luke Sampson also have FBS offers.
Corner Canyon senior receiver Noah Kjar is the career reception leader in Utah state history.
Photo by Dave Argyle
Needless to say, the transition for Dart and his first-year teammates has been seamless. The Chargers average 45.3 points and 489 yards per game.
"We did a lot of 7-on-7 and developed great team chemistry in the offseason even with the COVID," Dart said. "We really got our timing down. What we run in 7-on-7 we run now and it's translated so well to the field."
Part of that immediate cohesion was Dart's personality: "He fit right in," coach Kjar said. "It wasn't all about him. His personality lent itself to build a really good camaraderie. He's very social."
Dart had high individual hopes coming into the season.
"I worked my butt off and felt super confident that coming into the new program and offensive system would showcase all my skill sets," Dart said. "We have a lot of talented players and some amazing schemes. I'm super grateful for it all and just hope it all leads to a state championship. Thus far, every experience has been amazing."
His recruiting trajectory changed almost instantly during the team's third game, a 42-20 win at Bingham televised by ESPNU.
Dart completed 16 of 23 for 279 yards and six touchdowns while rushing 11 times for 132 more yards.
Before the game he had college offers from BYU, Yale, Penn and Louisiana-Lafayette. Now he has 13 offers, including four from the Pac-12 Conference — Arizona State, USC, UCLA and this week from Washington State.
He hasn't listed his top five choices yet, but most figure it will be either BYU or a Southern California school. Dart said he might be making his decision as early as next month.
"Because the Pac-12 wasn't playing or practicing, all the coaches were able to watch that game," Dart said. "Everything kind of blew up after that. I've always felt like I was a kid who has flown under the radar. It's been really cool to be recognized and get some offers."
The underdog path was one his quarterback idol Tom Brady followed from high school to college to the pros. Brady, a sixth-round NFL pick by the Patriots, was largely seen as a baseball prospect in high school. Dart, too, is a standout baseball standout, twice being selected all-state.
MaxPreps national football editor Zack Poff can see the Tom Brady focus and toughness in Dart.
Corner Canyon quarterback Jaxson Dart leads the country with 48 touchdown passes in 2020 with just two interceptions.
Photo by Dave Argyle
"His game checks all the boxes — arm strength, instinct, making plays, throwing on the run — but his toughness is my favorite thing about his game," Poff said. "He most definitely is in the mix for player of the year. His numbers are off the charts and he's playing for one of the top teams in the country."
Dart's toughness, athleticism and smarts are derived from his parents, a pair of college athletes from Utah. Brandon was a strong safety in college and before that in high school at Union and Northridge, where he also played baseball, basketball and ran track.
His mother Kara (then Campbell) was a two-time all-state basketball player at Weber High School, where she also played volleyball and ran track.
"I started out as a strong safety like my dad, but transitioned into quarterback by the time I was 9 or 10," Dart said. "I love the position and being in control, touching the ball every play and the mental side of the game. Learning the playbook and understanding the coverages, you get a bit of everything in the position. That's why it's the hardest position to play in all of sports."
Though Brady was his first quarterback crush, he now is drawn to the playmaking of Patrick Mahomes and Wilson, who are superb at extending plays, moving the pocket and able to gain chunks of yards on the run.
"I like to do all those things too," Dart said. "And I really like to win."
So everyone wants to know these days: who was better as a senior, Dart or Wilson? Kjar had both players for one year on varsity, though he coached Wilson as a freshman at Jordan, where he coached for 13 seasons. This is Kjar's fourth season at Corner Canyon.
"First they have a lot of similarities," Kjar said. "They both can throw it a bunch of different ways, especially off platform. Moving right or moving left. Both are very effective as runners but in different ways. Both are elusive but Jaxson likes to mix it up a little more and Zach was a little faster. For a big guy, Jaxson makes a lot of people miss.
"Jaxson probably has bigger numbers because he has a more around him than Zach did. Noah was starting as a freshman and I don't think any freshman could be starting on this team. But Zach had the advantage of knowing the offense a little more considering he played under it as a freshman where Jaxson had to learn from scratch.
"So who is actually better? It's really hard to say. I think technically Jaxson has had a little more training than Zach did. But Zach had just so much raw talent, which he's certainly showing today. So is Jaxson. Both have extremely bright futures to say the least."
So does Corner Canyon. Backing up Dart this season is Wilson's freshman brother Isaac. "He's got a lot of promise," Kjar said with a smile. "A lot of promise."
Considered a top five candidate for the Heisman Trophy, Zach Wilson (pictured in action at Corner Canyon) has thrown for 1,928 yards and 16 touchdowns this season for unbeaten BYU.
File photo by Steve Carahan
