STARKVILLE — Dak Prescott.
That’s who Mississippi State football quarterback Nick Fitzgerald had to replace this season. Prescott, who is now the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, broke 38 school records from 2012-15 at MSU. He is so loved by MSU fans that whenever he was shown on the jumbotron this year, he usually got one of the biggest cheers of the day.
Former Richmond Hill (Georgia) coach Lyman Guy knew the Bulldogs had the right man in line as his replacement.
Fitzgerald served as the starting quarterback as a senior at Richmond Hill in 2013. He was a wide receiver and the backup quarterback in 2012. As a junior, he had 18 catches for 321 yards and four touchdowns and had 334 yards rushing and six touchdowns. As a senior, Fitzgerald had 778 yards passing and 12 touchdowns and 1,429 yards rushing and 25 touchdowns.
Guy said Fitzgerald was too athletic to sit on the bench as a junior. Although he served as quarterback Dominique Allen’s backup, Guy wanted Fitzgerald on the field. Guy said they split repetitions equally in practice during Fitzgerald’s junior year.
Along with Allen, who spent one year at Air Force Academy Prep School and is currently the starting quarterback for the The Citadel, Guy coached quarterbacks Parker Welch (former Georgia backup) and Greyson Lambert (current Georgia backup).
“I felt like Nick had the biggest upside of any of those quarterbacks because of his athleticism along with his size and his big arm,” Guy said. “He’s still got a lot of upsize because once he gets his touch back on ball placement I think he’ll be a great prospect for the NFL. I think he’s got a chance to go to the next level.”
Guy said he has talked to Fitzgerald throughout this season. They talked about Prescott a little bit, but early on it was about the quarterback battle and Fitzgerald trying to earn the respect of his teammates.
MSU coach Dan Mullen decided to go with Fitzgerald at the end of training camp. Fitzgerald started every game this season and helped MSU beat in-state rival Ole Miss 55-20 last Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford in the Battle For the Golden Egg. Fitzgerald had 367 yards of total offense (an MSU single-game record 258 yards rushing and 109 yards passing) and five touchdowns (three passing and two rushing) to earn Southeastern Conference co-Offensive Player of the Week honors for the second time. Linebacker Leo Lewis was named SEC Freshman of the Week after having six tackles (1.5 for loss) and one sack.
“He’s really come a long way and developed as a quarterback,” Mullen said after the win over the Rebels. “‘I always told Nick, ‘Let’s just worry about who you are. We’re going to build around you and what you do well. Don’t worry about who you’re not.’ I think all year too many people were worried about who he was not instead of who he was. He’s a pretty darn good quarterback.”
Prescott started as a junior in 2014 and was a big reason the Bulldogs started 9-0 and were ranked No. 1 for five-straight weeks. He decided to return for his senior year and was taken in the fourth round (135th overall) of the National Football League Draft in April by the Cowboys.
Fitzgerald is 183 of 335 for 2,287 yards, 21 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He leads the team with 1,243 yards rushing, the most by a quarterback in school history, on 177 carries and 14 touchdowns. He is just the third SEC quarterback (Auburn’s Cam Newton and Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel) to rush for more than 1,100 yards in a season.
Fitzgerald’s 3,539 yards of total offense are the third-most in school history. Prescott had 4,470 yards in 2014 and 4,381 yards in 2015.
“It’s hard replacing someone like Dak,” Fitzgerald said after beating Texas A&M 35-28 on Nov. 5. “With all he did and all the attributes that he had, he’s obviously a great leader. I knew, myself, I wasn’t that kind of guy, so I was going to be how I am and just make it work for myself and flex when I need to flex to kind of be like him in certain ways. A lot, I learned from him as a leader. He instilled a lot in me and I use that, but still I don’t get out of my own personality.”
Fitzgerald redshirted in 2014 and served as Prescott’s backup last season. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound Fitzgerald played in eight games and had 235 yards and three touchdowns and 127 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
He entered spring drills as one of four quarterbacks that were competing for the starting job. Junior Damian Williams, who redshirted last season, had the most experience. Sophomore Elijah Staley, who transferred to Tyler (Texas) Junior College in the middle of August, and redshirt freshman Nick Tiano were the other two Fitzgerald beat out.
“As the season is going, I’ve gotten more experience as a starter and I’m feeling more and more comfortable,” Fitzgerald said. “Me and my teammates are learning from each other every day, like knowing exact tendencies and things like that.”
In the opener against South Alabama, Fitzgerald played the first two series. Both were three-and-outs and totaled 13 yards. He was replaced by Williams and played one more series to take a knee to end the first half. Fitzgerald was 0 of 3 and had 11 yards rushing on two carries in the 21-20 loss to the Jaguars.
But Mullen said they were going to move forward with Fitzgerald as the starter.
“He’s grown up so much from him playing that first game,” senior wide receiver Fred Ross said. “The experience he got, just playing through the whole year, he’s grown so much. He’s done a great job.”
Prescott was not only a great quarterback, he was the leader of the team. Being a new starter, Fitzgerald was transitioning into a leadership role. Mullen believes that Fitzgerald is about to face his biggest challenge as he goes into his second year as the starter and tries to become a leader like Prescott.
“He’s had some success, but now I think he knows what to expect,” Mullen said. “If you’re going to be the guy, go be the guy and act like it. You’re not learning anymore, the learning curve’s done.
“He was around a guy that learned how to become the guy, learned how to improve, to improve drastically from one year to the next. To do that, a lot of national leadership’s going to occur. If he’s not out there leading the way with our receivers, making sure our timing’s right, making sure our offense is clicking when the coaches can’t be around, make sure that he’s working and other players are working at the level they need to do to be successful then he’s not going to improve.”
Fitzgerald and the Bulldogs might get to play in a bowl game with a 5-7 record and that will give Fitzgerald a couple more weeks of practice.
Mullen said Fitzgerald’s process to become that Prescott-type leader started soon after the final seconds ticked off the clock in the Egg Bowl. Mullen said numerous times that Prescott had the “it-factor” and he hopes that Fitzgerald will develop that trait.
“He’s working on it,” Mullen said. “I’m convinced he’s a great quarterback. People think the it-factor shows up on Saturday. The it-factor shows up in February. The it-factor shows up on a hot July afternoon, that’s when the it-factor really shows up for a lot of guys.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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