A lot is being put on the broad shoulders of Nick Fitzgerald.
Part of that is due to whose footsteps he is following in at Mississippi State
Dak Prescott is now the standard at MSU for anyone who plays quarterback. Whether that’s fair, Fitzgerald will be compared to Prescott, the Dallas Cowboys’ starter and the guy he replaced at MSU.
“It’s tough to be the guy who comes after Dak Prescott,” Fitzgerald said. “He was Mississippi State football. He was the guy who changed the mindset of the program. It was built on hard work. It was built on relentless effort. He came in and just embodied that.”
The good news is many experts believe Fitzgerald has the talent to do what it takes to handle the pressure.
ESPN college football analyst Tom Luginbill thinks Fitzgerald has a bright future — like “first-round NFL draft pick” bright. No doubt the MSU junior has the physical tools.
He is 6-5, 230 pounds with good speed and a cannon for an arm. But he must boost his passing accuracy because good defenses can eliminate him as a runner. Alabama did that last year, holding him to 36 yards on nine non-sack carries.
Fitzgerald led the SEC in total offense last season. He threw for 2,658 yards and ran for 1,502 more. He also was responsible for 37 TDs — 21 passing and 16 rushing. The only SEC quarterbacks who have rushed for more yards than Fitzgerald did last year (1,375) were Cam Newton in ’10 and Johnny Manziel in ’12. Each of those two won that season’s Heisman Trophy.
But Fitzgerald will have to make defenses respect his arm more this season to take the next step in the progression that Dak made under Mullen.
And history tells us Mullen is as good as anyone in the SEC at grooming quarterbacks. He expects to see a more polished passer in 2017.
“You’re only going to be so prepared in year one as a starter,” said the MSU coach. “You didn’t even know what you were preparing for. Now you get into year two, and you know what you’re preparing for. I go back to Dak. He went from competing to being the guy for the first time to coming into the next year.
“I think Nick, at this stage of his career, has more potential than Dak did, but we’ve got to see does he have that mindset, that demeanor, that grind. Dak is one of the hardest-working guys I’ve ever been around in my life.”
To me, though, it’s the leadership department where Fitzgerald must grow the most to catch up with Prescott. Dak was the ultimate teammate and a natural born leader. People were just drawn to him.
That’s something Fitzgerald is working on. The sky could be the limit once he gets there.
SWAC football
The league is abandoning its championship game to focus on the Celebration Bowl, but what it really boils down to is money — money for fans traveling, money to play in a fancy stadium with all the bells and whistles.
Here is a solution: play the games on a campus site. Conference USA has been using that system for years, and the Sun Belt is adopting it this season.
Grambling State coach Brodderick Fobbs hopes the SWAC can eventually bring its championship game back. He gets it — any league is better with a championship game.
nContact Bill Burrus at 581-7237 or bburrus@gwcommonwealth.com.
