It’s nearly impossible to think of Mississippi State and not associate the school with former quarterback Dak Prescott. Now a national star, his initial claim to fame sparked during MSU’s banner 2014 season. Miraculously, Nick Fitzgerald seemingly did the impossible by the end of his first season as a team’s starting quarterback and made Bulldog fans eager for the future of the offense instead of yearning for the glory days of the Prescott era.

While those two signal-callers have proven to be special, neither signed on to play football in Starkville with much fanfare. The opposite is true of freshman and New Orleans native Keytaon Thompson.

Recruiting rankings
Dak Prescott: 3-star, No. 601 overall
Nick Fitzgerald: 3-star, No. 1,566 overall
Keytaon Thompson: 4-star, No. 171 overall

Rated as a 4-star prospect in the latest recruiting cycle, Thompson was ranked as the No. 3 dual-threat high school quarterback by 247Sports. Considering his ability to run and pass, he’s drawn favorable comparisons to both of Mississippi State’s last two starting quarterbacks.

Much like the recruitment of Prescott years ago, Thompson was courted by MSU well before LSU came knocking. Once Ed Orgeron landed the full-time gig in Baton Rouge, the Tigers put the full-court press on Thompson. Luckily for Mississippi State fans, the gesture by LSU was too little, too late — much like the recruitment of Prescott.

Aside from natural abilities and some shared interest from LSU, the similarities end there between Thompson and the preceding MSU quarterbacks. Prescott and Fitzgerald were redshirted as freshmen and able to be slowly worked into Dan Mullen’s system. Thompson earned backup duties in the spring after enrolling early in Starkville.

Now involved in his first fall camp, Fitzgerald is already seeing the progress from the true freshman.

“I think (Keytaon’s) doing well,” Fitzgerald said during a recent media availability. “Coming in the door this spring, he was leaps and bounds ahead of where I was when I came in. He has a lot more pressure on him than I did, being a true No. 2 and backing up somebody. I think he’s doing really well with it though. He works his butt off, he’s in here watching film with coaches, just trying to learn, make sure he’s going to be ready.”

While he’s impressed early quickly earning his place as the backup behind Fitzgerald, it should be noted that Mississippi State doesn’t have time to ease Thompson into the role — the program simply has no other viable options. That necessity has forced the acceleration of Thompson’s development.

That hasn’t been lost on Mullen, when asked about how such a young player can take command of the offense in his first year on campus.

“He’s just got to do it. He’s force-fed to do it,” Mullen told reporters. “The nice thing for him and his long-term development is he has to — he doesn’t have a growing curve. He’s the No. 2 and a lot of time I think you forget and he’s a true freshman because of the responsibility and the performance and caring and what our expectations of him are. You forget that he’s a true freshman, the guys on the team forget he’s a freshman.”

Fitzgerald can relate to the challenges of leading an offense and admitted that’s something that came to him in time.

“Coming in as a young guy, he’s been here a semester. It’s kinda hard to come out here and tell some dude that’s been here for four years, ‘Hey, snap down. Get ready, do this, do that.’ It takes a little bit of confidence,” Fitzgerald said. “I think with experience comes confidence. He’s been out there more and more, he’s made some plays, he’s gained some respect, and he’s going to be able to use that to grow into a leadership role.”

What really aided Fitzgerald during the process was being able to observe Prescott during his storied career in Starkville. Now entering the season as the unquestioned leader of the offense as a junior, Fitzgerald hopes to serve in the same capacity for Thompson.

“Watching Dak really helped me a lot, the way he did everything. So I had a really great guy to look up to,” he said. “Hopefully, he can learn a little bit from me.”

Cover photo courtesy of: Kelly Price, MSU Athletic Communications.