Former Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott was only a 3-star recruit from Haughton (La.) High School in 2011.

According to the composite rankings at 247Sports, Prescott was just the No. 43 QB nationally for his recruiting class, yet he left Starkville arguably the top player in Bulldogs history and was amazing for the Dallas Cowboys last season as a rookie.

In the SEC alone, Prescott was ranked behind Jeff Driskel (Florida), Kiehl Frazier (Auburn), Christian LeMay (Georgia), Jacoby Brissett (Florida), Jerrard Randall (LSU), Brandon Allen (Arkansas), Lafonte Thourogood (Vanderbilt), Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M), Corbin Berkstresser (Missouri), Phillip Ely (Alabama), Stephen Rivers (LSU) and Justin Worley (Tennessee).

It's not like Prescott just landed in Mullen's lap and assumed monster status.

Of those 12 signal callers, only Allen and Manziel had success in the conference. None have made any impact in the NFL.

Prescott, on the other hand, took MSU to No. 1 in the country for the first time in school history back in 2015 and elevated a team largely known in league circles for its doormat status to heights never seen previously.

So what did everyone get wrong? While recruiting is far from an exact science, the experts tend to be right more often than not. Why was Prescott ignored by so many premier programs and asked to switch positions by others? Surely, there are other factors beyond star rankings that weren’t taken into consideration originally.

The coaching of Dan Mullen was indisputably one of them. Without him, the Prescott we know today may have never existed.

This was no fluke, either. It’s not like Prescott just landed in Mullen’s lap and assumed monster status. If his home-state Bayou Bengals had lined him up under center, like results were far from guaranteed.

Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Never forget that Mullen was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Florida from 2005-08. He turned Chris Leak into the MVP of the BCS National Championship Game and Tim Tebow into a Heisman Trophy winner. Leak never threw a pass in the NFL, and Tebow’s success on Sunday was abbreviated to say the least.

That being said, Leak and Tebow were both 5-star signees out of high school. Theoretically, each had more potential than Prescott.

Prescott, conversely, got a late bump in the rankings to go from a forgotten-about 2-stars to a run-of-the-mill 3-stars. But Mullen morphed him into one of the more celebrated field generals in recent conference memory.

Without a doubt, he slowly but surely improved throughout his tenure in maroon in white. As his skills matured, Mullen opened up the playbook wider to start incorporating more pro-style reads and throws in the passing game. In hindsight, it shouldn’t have been so much of a shock that Prescott thrived in Big D immediately.

To be fair, Fitzgerald last year looked a lot like Prescott as a younger player. The question is whether or not he can reach a similar ceiling.

He wasn’t just a read-option guy playing for Mullen. In particular, from junior year to senior year, Prescott became a complete passer.

Which brings us to his successor at Mississippi State, rising junior Nick Fitzgerald. Statistically, he filled up the box score as a first-year starter with 21 touchdowns through the air and 16 more on the ground in 2016.

However, Mullen unquestionably had to dumb down his system a bit. Not that Fitzgerald couldn’t handle what Prescott was asked to do mentally, but his skills are still in the embryonic stage. To be fair, Fitzgerald last year looked a lot like Prescott as a younger player. The question is whether or not he can reach a similar ceiling.

Fortunately for Fitzgerald, he has the right coach. Additionally, he has a Prescott-like out-of-nowhere story on the recruiting trail.

Amazingly enough, for the class of 2014, Fitzgerald was ranked 108th in the land among QBs. Former teammate Elijah Staley, another dual-threat prospect, was actually 70th the same year and generated some early buzz as the next Prescott.

Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

No other program in the SEC offered Fitzgerald a scholarship. As a matter of fact, there wasn’t another Power 5 school that gave him a chance. Mullen only had to fight off Middle Tennessee State for Fitzgerald’s signature. Signal callers with comparable evaluations were on their way to the likes of Murray State and FAU.

However, three short years later, Fitzgerald may be the single most intriguing player in the best conference in America.

It’s not like Mullen surrounded Prescott with elusive running backs, explosive wide receivers and a sturdy offensive line. The Bulldogs tend to have more 3-star recruits and junior-college transfers on their roster than 4- and 5-star studs.

Whatever Fitzgerald turns into as a finished product, Mullen will have a lot to do with it.

The situation will be the same for Fitzgerald. Maybe Aeris Williams becomes a 1,000-yard back. Perhaps Donald Gray makes the transition from deep threat to primary target. Martinas Rankins, one of those JUCO additions, is a first-round possibility at left tackle. Still, the ‘Dogs will go as far as Fitzgerald takes them.

That being said, Fitzgerald shot down some of the excitement surrounding him with 4 interceptions in the spring game last month.

To state the obvious, a spring game isn’t the right setting for a physical force like Fitzgerald. The two-hand-touch nature takes away his legs for the most part, which isn’t indicative of what we see on Saturdays in the fall.

Whatever Fitzgerald turns into as a finished product, Mullen will have a lot to do with it. Expecting him to be another Prescott isn’t realistic, neither for Fitzgerald nor Mullen. But if the 6-foot-5, 230-pounder can be noticeably more accurate with his arm and increasingly more sound with his head, this offense could be scary in 2017.

In the West, you can’t beat resident bully Alabama without a dominant performance at quarterback. And Fitzgerald is capable of being more dominant than most.