STARKVILLE — The path that led Nick Schuessler to become the newest signal caller at Mississippi State was anything but direct.
The Bulldogs, who through most of the fall had junior Tyler Russell, redshirt freshman Dak Prescott and recently transferred Dylan Favre on the roster, signed one of the best in Georgia Wednesday when they inked the 6-foot-4, 190-pound quarterback from state champion Grayson High School in Loganville, Ga.
“For a simple $35 fee and a tank of gas, Nick came to our camp and wowed us this past summer,” MSU offensive coordinator Les Koenning said. “He comes from a winning program and can really throw the deep ball extremely well.”
The MSU coaching staff went from not wanting another scholarship quarterback — violating the traditional theory of signing one each year to balance the depth chart — to desperately needing another quarterback to have three in camp.
“We’d like to sign a quarterback every year,” Florida head coach Will Muschamp said Wednesday. “I certainly think that’s important to program development.”
For the fourth straight year, MSU coach Dan Mullen signed a quarterback and one that on signing day was named the Georgia offensive player of the year in Schuessler. He is likely to immediately compete for practice snaps with Russell and Prescott when he arrives on campus this fall.
“It’s very tricky because I’m very picky in quarterbacks,” Mullen explained, “because what I look for in a quarterback, you can’t see on film. When you get to Nick, the first thing everybody at his high school described him as was the ultimate winner. Physically, (Schuessler) reminds me of a guy I coached a long time ago in (current San Francisco 49ers quarterback) Alex Smith, who was a guy that didn’t put up huge stats but led his team to state championships. Then, (Smith) filled out his body, and I see a lot of (the same) characteristics in Nick.”
Favre made the decision to transfer during bowl preparations and ended up signing with Pearl River Community College. The unexpected move forced the MSU staff to speed up the process to find another signal caller.
That search seemingly began with East Mississippi Community College quarterback Bo Wallace after the junior college All-American helped EMCC to the NJCAA championship. Wallace set NJCAA single-season records for passing yards (4,604), total offense (4,810) and most touchdowns thrown (53).
The problem for MSU in landing Wallace was EMCC coach Buddy Stephens getting notified before Christmas that the Bulldogs wouldn’t be interested in offering his quarterback a scholarship. Of course, MSU changed its mind when Favre left.
Wallace eventually reunited with former Arkansas State coach Hugh Freeze by signing Wednesday with the University of Mississippi.
“We look for Bo Wallace to compete, or at least bring great competition to that quarterback room, along with the kids we already have here,” Freeze said. “We expect him to raise the competition level there and the expectations of that room.”
Another option for MSU was in-state prospect Jeremy Liggins from Lafayette High School. The 270-pounder had offers from the Bulldogs, Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss and Louisiana State University.
The three-star prospect was rated the 19th-best quarterback in the nation by Scout.com picked LSU in a ceremony on the square in Oxford the night before signing day.
“I recommended he not stand up in the square at Oxford and tell everybody he was going (to LSU),” Miles said at his national signing day press conference Wednesday.
“He said ‘I enjoy these people. These people are my home. I want to make my announcement there.’ I felt that was a big-chested, straightforward way to conduct business. He became a better prospect to me the way he handled his business.”
Mullen attempted to clarify Wednesday, saying MSU got the prospect they were longing for all along in Schuessler.
“It was actually funny,” Mullen said. “During that whole weekend when we were sitting there with Nick, I kind of came to the conclusion Nick was the better quarterback. Then it kind of became real heavy that he was the much better quarterback.”
Before Schuessler arrives on campus, Mullen only will have Russell and Prescott available for spring practices that began in little over a month.
The Bulldogs fourth-year coach joked Wednesday the two players with red jerseys would certainly “not be touched” during the spring saying that other ideas with the positions could be experimented thoroughly in that time as well.
“Honestly, everybody has been wondering for the last couple of years if we’re going to snap the ball to (wide receivers) Chad Bumphis or Jameon Lewis (out of the Wildcat formation),” Mullen said.
“One of the hard parts is, as you script and do things, you have to make sure you get a certain number of reps doing it. I think this will give us the opportunity to really force us to develop that package we want to develop.”
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