Juice Wells and Jaxson Dart only spent one season as teammates with the Ole Miss Rebels, but quickly developed a bond.
Wells significantly credited Dart shortly following his transfer decision to the Rebels, and continued praise for his quarterback well into their senior seasons. Now the duo is reunited in East Rutherford, New Jersey, suiting up for the New York Giants this summer.
After not being selected in the 2025 NFL Draft, Dart's connection to Wells helped bring him to the Giants' radar.
The cross-country transition in and out of the organization's facility has been a little more comfortable for the former Ole Miss duo.
"It's like a sense of comfortability, being around (Dart)," Wells said in a recent interview with RG. "You are kind of at home a little bit. You can kind of relax a little bit, things are not as intense. You got that one friend from home — we can go out to get dinner sometimes, and we go just to kick it and just talk about our day."
"It also helps learn the playbook, because he wants to go through walk-throughs and stuff like that, and we're both learning at the same time. So it helps us out a lot, we're learning the plays together. We are all in the hotel, chilling, just laid back; It's nice."
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Juice Wells and Jaxson Dart before a New York Yankees game
During the 2024 college football season, the duo accounted for 553 yards through the air and six touchdowns on 29 completions.
"A guy like Dart —- coaches pretty freely on letting him check things that he sees. If he sees anything, he's going to check it and a guy like him makes it efficient just because of the way he prepares himself day in and day out. It's wonderful. You got a guy who's always in the building, calling us to come up here and meet with him," Wells said of Dart last September. "Anything like that, a guy like that — it just shows his type of commitment to the game."
Dart and Wells connected on the game-sealing touchdown, on a 3rd-and-6, in Ole Miss' signature win over No. 2 Georgia during the 2024 season.
"Of course, (Dart's) strong arm, his ability to scramble around the pocket and make explosive plays…His toughness to run through defenders and jump over people and all that type of stuff," Wells said of Dart's play style.
Wells summed up his quarterback off the field for those just getting to know him.
(Photo: Ole Miss Athletics )
"(Dart's) just a great guy," he explained. "He's really big on building relationships, and his attitude — that's the definition of a guy that hates losing more than he loves to win, I promise you that."
Wells will be pushing for a roster spot during Giants training camp, starting later this month, and knows it will be an uphill battle. Still, everything he wants is right in front of him.
"I'm gonna go out there and just earn everything that I want. Everything that I see myself accomplishing and everything that I want is right in front of me," Wells added. "I have to just go out there and get it"
The Giants are scheduled to play on the road against the Buffalo Bills (Aug. 9), then will host the New York Jets (Aug. 16) and New England Patriots (Aug. 21) during the Preseason.