Heisman hopeful
MSU quarterback Dak Prescott is a secret no more. With his 356-yard, five-touchdown performance against then-No. 6 Texas A&M coupled with a 373-yard, three touchdown showing at then-No. 8 LSU, Prescott is being mentioned as a Heisman Trophy contender. The discussions will become even more serious if the Haughton, Louisiana, native can lead No. 3 Mississippi State to a victory against No. 2 Auburn on Saturday.
But Prescott isn’t paying attention to all the Heisman talk.
“If winning the Heisman Trophy means our team wins all of our games, then that’s great,” Prescott said. “But I really only care about our team winning. Anything other than that doesn’t matter to me.”
While Prescott, who has 20 touchdowns in five games, said he isn’t keeping up with Heisman Trophy predictions, his teammates have no problem talking about their quarterback’s newfound fame.
“It’s cool to see him get all the attention because I know how hard he’s worked for it,” MSU offensive lineman Ben Beckwith said of Prescott. “We talk about it on the team, just not when he’s around. He doesn’t like us to talk about it, but we have definitely noticed.”
Asked if he’s worried about all the attention disrupting his junior quarterback, MSU coach Dan Mullen brushed off the suggestion.
“We talk to him about that stuff,” Mullen said. “When you have that deal with him, the talk is he got here being Dak Prescott. If he really likes kind of what’s going on with it all, continue to be Dak Prescott. If you don’t, then change and go be something else.”
Uncharted territory
In his sixth season in Starkville, Mullen is blazing new trails. Coming off back-to-back victories against top-10 teams for the first time in school history, Mullen has MSU at No. 3 in The Associated Press Top 25, the highest ranking in school history.
That means the game against No. 2 Auburn will be the first meeting between top-five teams in Davis Wade Stadium history. Asked about his team’s ranking, Mullen admitted the recognition is nice, but he added it isn’t MSU’s ultimate goal.
“I think all of our coaches on our staff, everybody is proud with what we’ve been able to build here,” Mullen said. “But this has nothing to do with our goal. Rankings and all are really cool. The only one I see is we’re 2-0 in the SEC with six games to go, so we haven’t accomplished all that much yet, but the rest of it is kind of cool.”
Back in business?
Prior to the 48-31 victory against Texas A&M, senior wide receiver Jameon Lewis and sophomore punter/kicker Devon Bell were scratched due to injuries. Lewis sat out due to a lingering leg injury suffered two weeks earlier in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, while Bell injured his groin in pregame warmups.
Mullen said both are expected back Saturday. On Thursday, Lewis took to Twitter to hint about his status, tweeting “THE RETURN!!!” early Thursday afternoon.
In the absence of Lewis, redshirt freshman Gabe Myles started at slot receiver and caught three passes for 35 yards. He also threw an 11-yard pass to Prescott.
GameDay arrives
One week after welcoming SEC Nation, the SEC Network’s weekly college football lead-in show, MSU will play host to ESPN’s lead-in show, College GameDay, at 8 a.m. Saturday.
GameDay is making its first appearance in Starkville. The show will broadcast from the same spot in The Junction that SEC Nation used last week.
“We’re really excited to have College GameDay here,” Mullen said. “It is really neat for our program. I think last week they saw the type of atmosphere we have here.”
Fab 15
With 63 players on its roster from the state of Mississippi, MSU is the Southeastern Conference’s second most homegrown program behind Texas A&M. But while the Bulldogs are stocked with talent from the Magnolia State, Mullen has shown the ability to go into the state of Alabama and recruit with great success, as 15 Bulldogs hail from Alabama. That includes sophomore wide receiver De’Runnya Wilson, who leads MSU with five touchdown catches.
Wilson, from Birmingham, chose MSU over a scholarship offer from Auburn.
“I grew up an Alabama fan,” Wilson said. “I always disliked Auburn, but when I got the offer from there, it was huge.”
Other Bulldogs from Alabama include sophomore linebacker Beniquez Brown, starting left tackle Blaine Clausell, and safety Kivon Coman.
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