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Don’t expect Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen to name a starting quarterback before the Week 1 opener vs. South Alabama on Sept. 3. Heck, you probably shouldn’t expect a sure starter four games into the season, either.
A little over one week into the fall practice schedule, and four quarterbacks — Nick Fitzgerald, Damian Williams, Elijah Staley and Nick Tiano — are all splitting reps equally and playing rock, paper, scissors to determine who gets first-team snaps, according to The Clarion-Ledger.
“We’ve been very detailed in how we go about splitting reps,” quarterback coach Brian Johnson said. “A lot of work and thought goes into the amount of reps that each kids gets whether it’s with the ones, twos or threes.
“You put them in a number of adverse situations,” Johnson said. “You might get a rack with the third group and there might not be much blocking going on and you have to find a way to get the ball out and manage the offense and make other guys around you better.”
Mississippi State is taking the cautious route to replacing Dak Prescott, who is easily the most decorated quarterback in program history after breaking 38 school records in three years as the Bulldogs’ starter. Even with a September slate that features two conference matchups (vs. South Carolina and at LSU), Mullen was even quoted saying that the position battle “could spill into October.”
“I’d love to have it sorted by game week,” Mullen said. It’s doesn’t mean it’s going to stay that way.”
It’s not exactly ideal to have this wide open of a race at this point in the offseason, but it’s the hand that was dealt and all parties involved are expected to make the most of it.
“Ideally, you wouldn’t like that. You’d like to get it whittled down,” Johnson said. “But it’s hard to say exactly how it’s going to shake out. If we had a crystal ball to see how it would shake out, then we probably wouldn’t be here right now.”
Tyler Waddell is a member of the Saturday Down South news team. He brings over five years of professional journalism experience and is closing in on a Bachelor's in sports management. Follow him on Twitter (@Tyler_Waddell).
