HOOVER, Ala. – There is no doubt in Ryan Brown’s mind who the most competitive player on the current Mississippi State roster is.
Quarterback Dak Prescott.
Many other Bulldogs probably have similar feelings that the senior defensive lineman has.
But Brown has seen it up close and in person in the locker room this summer.
“A couple of weeks ago we were just throwing away trash and he just decided to take a shot 20 feet,” Brown recalls. “He wasn’t leaving downstairs until he was going to hit that shot. It was like 7 o’clock and I was like, ‘Come on, let’s go.’ But he just continued to shoot. And then when he made that one, he wanted to scoot back. We had to take him out and say it’s time to go home.”
That competitive spirit is a direct result of Prescott’s upbringing. With two older brothers, Prescott had to scrap and claw in his youth to gain recognition and be victorious at anything.
“It was hard to do everything. I lost a lot growing up,” said Prescott who lost his mother to cancer during the 2013 season. “You can imagine being five or six years younger than them, I rarely won. That’s just in my blood.
“I was always fighting with them and competing with them until the end, until I got close to winning or I was dead tired and couldn’t go anymore.”
He showed his competitive side this past season and that’s what helped drive Prescott to have one of the best seasons ever by a Bulldog quarterback. The Haughton, Louisiana, native broke 12 single-season records – most notably 4,435 total yards of offense – and lead his team to a No. 1 ranking for five weeks. He also finished eighth in the Heisman Trophy voting and was the first finalist in school history for the Maxwell, Davey O’Brien and Johnny Unitas Awards.
He flew under the radar last year, but that won’t be the case this year, as everybody is well aware of Prescott. With all the accolades he earned last season and all the preseason ones that have and will come his way, there is still room for improvement.
Head coach Dan Mullen has seen him take the proper steps to improve his game this offseason.
“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,” said Mullen, who also coached Tim Tebow to a Heisman Trophy at Florida. “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 check down 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.”
It never really dawned on Prescott that his last season was nearly here until he was running up and down steps at Davis Wade Stadium this summer. It has been a long and winding journey for Prescott these last four years, and he is wanting to go out with a bang in his fifth.
“We were running at 3 o’clock in the afternoon last Monday and that sun was hitting me every time you get to the top of that stadium. I stopped and I took a deep breath and I said this is my last time. I just finished the stadium run and everything I do, I just know I’ve got one more shot at it and I’m going to give everything I have to make sure I do it the right way,” said Prescott.
Ben Wait is a sports writer for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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