STARKVILLE — There’s an adage in college football that goes something like, “If a team has two quarterbacks, it really doesn’t have a quarterback.”
That’s not the case at Mississippi State. The Bulldogs have a good quarterback in junior Dak Prescott. Through two games, Prescott leads the Southeastern Conference and is tied for the national lead with eight touchdown passes. He also has rushed for 150 yards and a score, so its’ easy to say the Haughton, Louisiana native is living up to the hype he received in the offseason.
Despite Prescott’s success, backup quarterback Damian Williams has been thrown into key situations early and often. The sophomore played two first-half possessions in the season opener against Southern Mississippi and in four early possessions against Alabama-Birmingham.
So why is MSU coach Dan Mullen playing two quarterbacks?
“We are one snap away from Damian Williams being our starting quarterback,” Mullen said Thursday in his weekly call-in show.
Mullen’s early substitutions of Williams at quarterback have been a part of a strategy that has featured liberal substitutions. On both sides of the ball, Mullen and his staff have used rotations to get multiple players on the field. Quarterback is no exception.
“I think people notice it more because it’s the quarterback,” Mullen said. “But we have been getting guys as many reps as possible, and we will continue to do that.”
The movement of players has led to balanced numbers. Twelve Bulldogs have receptions, while no defender played more than 32 snaps against Southern Mississippi. At quarterback, Williams hasn’t produced. While Prescott has engineered scoring drives of 80 and 87 yards to open the first two games, those drives have been the team’s offensive touchdown drives in the first quarter. Williams, a sophomore from New Orleans, is 7 of 14 and has fumbled twice. He has engineered one scoring drive while Prescott has led 11.
Still, Mullen said the quarterback rotation “will continue this weekend” for his team’s game against South Alabama at 3 p.m. Saturday (ESPNEWS).
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