Jaxson Dart and Shedeur Sanders praise their college coaches, Joe Judge and Pat Shurmur

INDIANAPOLIS — Two possible Giants quarterbacks of the immediate future have surprisingly strong ties with two head coach ghosts from the Giants’ recent past.

Jaxson Dart played at Ole Miss, where Joe Judge served as a senior analyst in 2024. Shedeur Sanders was at Colorado, where Pat Shurmur was on the staff for two years and the offensive coordinator this past season. Both players figure to be first-round picks and are among the top three quarterbacks in this draft class.

“He was huge for me this year in game prep and at the same time breaking down little fundamentals and trying to hone in and improve on those,” Dart said of Judge at the NFL Combine on Friday. “He knows every part of the game, he’s coached every part of the game, even in special teams. He knows what it looks like. He knows how to break down tape.”

Sanders said of Shurmur: “He’s amazing, he’s great. I’m truly thankful and glad he was my offensive coordinator.”

Those names may not carry a lot of positive vibes with Giants fans. Shurmur and Judge, the two coaches who preceded Brian Daboll’s arrival in 2022, were a combined 19-46, never made the playoffs, never had a winning record at any point during their tenures, and were fired after two seasons each.

But what they did give their quarterbacks this year — and potentially the Giants’ quarterback in the years to come — was an awareness of NFL-style offenses and expectations. They also will be helpful resources to the Giants as the team sorts through analyzing the players away from the field, including their personalities, leadership traits and study habits.

Dart also has another former Giant whom he has learned from in fellow Ole Miss product Eli Manning.

“Eli has been great, a huge role model for me, somebody who has shed a lot of wisdom throughout my time at Ole Miss,” Dart said. “He’s someone I really look up to.”

Dart said the two have discussed what it takes not just to play quarterback in the NFL but in the metropolitan area for the Giants.

“We’ve definitely had those conversations,” he said. “He’s a legend. Any time you are around that, a Hall of Fame-style player, you want to take little pieces and learn as much as you can.”

Day-to-day, though, it was Judge who had a bigger hand in Dart’s development this past season.

“I had an elite coaching staff this year,” Dart said of those who helped elevate his game. “We brought in Coach Judge, who won multiple Super Bowls and was also an NFL head coach . . .  He’s going to be an NFL head coach again one day at another great spot and have a ton of success wherever he goes, but he was huge for me this year.”

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.