Dan Mullen believes former Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott can be more than an extra-point holder in the NFL. The Bulldogs coach thinks Prescott can be the heir apparent to current Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo.
Of course, Mullen is supposed to say that about his former quarterback, but the praise isn’t empty. Mullen has a track record of coaching and knowing quarterbacks, including 2005 No. 1 pick Alex Smith at Utah and Heisman winner Tim Tebow at Florida.
“I think it’s a great fit for him,” Mullen told Saturday Down South during the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Golf Challenge. “It’s the opportunity for him to go learn from a guy like Tony Romo. Dak has come into a situation with an older guy. He’ll learn from him and have the opportunity to potentially take over a couple of years down the road.”
Prescott was drafted by Dallas in the fourth round of last week’s draft. He became a Heisman candidate under Mullen and left Starkville owning 38 school records.
Romo has started for the Cowboys for nine years but is also 36 years old and coming off a season cut short by a third fracture in his non-throwing shoulder.
“There couldn’t be a better situation, a better fit for him,” Mullen said. “His leadership qualities, he’s going to come in and bring unbelievable work ethic and leadership to the organization while he’s learning the position from a guy that’s played a lot of football.”
DAK LEAVING A VOID
Prescott has played a lot of football, too, and his decision to stay in school was a major reason he continued to improve.
His departure no doubt leaves a void at Mississippi State but also in the SEC, where not-so-arguably he and Ole Miss QB Chad Kelly were the best in the league.
Perception outside the SEC sees the conference as down in quarterback play. That may be true. With Arkansas’ Brandon Allen as the other exception, there were no big-ticket guys, not even for national champ Alabama.
“We’ve had some pretty good quarterbacks over the last couple of years,” Mullen said. “One of the things that makes our league tougher on quarterbacks is the quality of defense they face week in and week out. It’s not an offensively based league like some of the leagues are. You’ve got to play different levels of defenses every single week.”
The years following quarterbacks of Prescott’s stature have been tough on teams. After Tim Tebow and Cam Newton left Auburn and Florida, respectively, both schools had paltry quarterbacking in 2010 and 2011.
Mississippi State has four players vying to replace Dak. “Replace” though is probably not a fair word.
“When you have a special player, not just a quarterback, chances are you’re not going to have another guy to replace him right away,” Mullen said. “What you’ve got to do is not try to replace him right away. Do what’s best for the program. Do what guys do well. To duplicate, that’s not really going to happen.”
