To Win the SEC, Mississippi State Needs More Than Just QB Dak Prescott

Mississippi State defensive lineman Ryan Brown described the scene from last month as just an ordinary day, with an ordinary trash bucket and an athlete who is anything but ordinary.

Dak Prescott was leaving the locker room with teammates when he picked up a piece of garbage and took a shot at the can from about 20 feet away. He missed.

Even though they all had places to go and things to do, Prescott kept going.

“I was like ‘Brother let’s go,’ but he just continued to shoot,” Brown said. “And when he made that, he wanted to scoot back.”

They eventually had to make him stop.

“I’ve never seen anyone who loves to compete like he does,” Brown added. “He didn’t want to let it go.”

With that in mind, try to imagine how the three losses from 2014—against No. 1 Alabama, rival Ole Miss and Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl—have been eating away at the quarterback since January.

Or how he took it when the Bulldogs, after spending more than a month at No. 1 last season, were recently predicted to finish last at SEC media days.

It also helps explain how Prescott made the decision to come back for his senior season instead of leaving school early for the National Football League. In addition to not wanting to sit on a bench this fall learning a new system, he wanted another shot.

“I remember one time that he said he wanted to be the best in everything,” cornerback Taveze Calhoun said. “Running sprints, dressing or maybe even sleeping, it doesn’t matter what it is. That gives him the edge that he has, and being a quarterback, I think he needs that.”

Usually, heading into a season, there’s a debate about who the best quarterback is in each conference, but this year in the SEC, there’s no doubt.

Prescott was first-team All-SEC and a finalist for essentially every national quarterback award in 2014. He placed eighth in voting for the Heisman Trophy, Mississippi State’s best finish ever.

John Bazemore/Associated Press

That designation is something Prescott’s going to have to get used to because previously the list of outstanding quarterbacks at Mississippi State pretty much started and ended with Jackie Parker (1952-53).

Twice named the SEC’s MVP, the All-American led the nation in scoring as a senior. He went on to have a prolific 14-year career in the Canadian Football League, during which he won the MVP award three times and was named All-Pro nine times.

Meanwhile, Prescott has been drawing comparisons to the other famous quarterback Dan Mullen used to coach while at Florida, Tim Tebow. With similar size (Tebow was 6’3”, 235 lbs, while Prescott is listed as 6’2”, 230 lbs), they’re both tall, strong, big, fast and tough for a defense to bring down.

With 10 more rushing touchdowns by Prescott, they’ll be the only two quarterbacks in SEC history to run for 40 touchdowns and throw for 40 in a career.

“I was a big Tebow fan,” said Prescott, who picked Tebow’s No. 15 to wear when his high school jersey number wasn’t available as a freshman. “That was cool.”

Even Tebow’s numbers from his Heisman Trophy year and Prescott’s from last season are comparable. The big difference is Tebow ran in more touchdowns and had fewer passes intercepted in 2007.

Player	Rushing	TDs	Passing	Yards	TDs	Int.	Rating
Prescott 2014	210-986	14	244-396	3,449	27	11	151.7
Tebow 2007	210-895	23	234-350	3,286	32	6	172.5

But that points to the one thing that Prescott has to be careful of this season—trying to do too much. Although the Bulldogs have some promising quarterbacks behind him, with Damian Williams, Nick Fitzgerald and Elijah Staley, Mississippi State’s hopes clearly ride with Prescott.

“Dak is a proven leader,” Calhoun said. “Everybody trusts him on the team. Everybody follows him. Just going on, knowing the kind of guy that he is, knowing that he’s going to be prepared and ready to lead the team, ready to step up in the leadership role, I think that gives up confidence as a player. You can always depend on him no matter what the situation in the game.”

However, Prescott’s one of just four returning starters on offense, with the others being prolific wide receiver De’Runnya Wilson, and linemen Justin Malone and Justin Senior. The rest of the line is a question mark going into training camp, while numerous playmakers also need to step up.

With the departure of Josh Robinson, none of the returning running backs had more than 294 rushing yards last season (Brandon Holloway), although Ashton Shumpert tallied 68 yards on 10 carries in the Egg Bowl. The team needs to find a replacement for slot receiver Jameon Lewis. The defense will have seven new starters.

It can’t just be Prescott alone, especially when considering Mississippi State’s schedule features an early showdown with LSU on Sept. 12 (9:15 p.m. ET, ESPN), back-to-back road games at Auburn and Texas A&M, and a brutal November against four teams all ranked in the preseason Amway Coaches Poll.

Mullen even touched upon it indirectly when talking about what his quarterback worked on the most this summer.

“I think the first thing that you see that Dak's really improved on this offseason is getting rid of the football in his hand,” Mullen said. “Understanding where he wants to go with the ball in any situation, getting to the third or fourth read in a progression, knowing where his checkdown is, knowing when to hold the ball for a second and take a shot down the field, or just get it out of my hands quick and let's worry about playing the next play.”

A quicker release will aid Prescott’s NFL draft status, but it will also help him take fewer hits and hopefully keep him on the field this season.

Tebow never really replicated his Heisman numbers, but he also didn’t have to while leading the Gators to the 2008 national championship.

That’s the goal for Prescott, who when running the Davis Wade Stadium stairs for the last time as part of the offseason conditioning program did something unusual: He stopped at the top.

“I sat for a second, took a deep breath and said ‘It’s my last time. I’m going to give everything I have to make sure I do it the right way,’” said Prescott, who didn’t want to have a legacy of losing three of his last four games. 

“There’s a lot of unfinished business.”

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Christopher Walsh is a lead SEC college football writer.

Follow Christopher on Twitter @WritingWalsh.