Mississippi State Football: 2017 season preview, predictions

Offense

For as good as Dak Prescott was in college and proved to be in the NFL, it’s kind of remarkable there wasn’t more of a drop off in the offense. Mississippi State averaged 30.4 points per game, a four-point drop from the previous season.

The real difference is how the points were scored. Dan Mullen took the pressure off Nick Fitzgerald’s arm and put it on the running game. The Bulldogs averaged 231 rushing yards and 210 passing yards per game last season. In 2015, they averaged 144 rushing yards and 316 passing yards.

Mississippi State loses its top receiver from last year, Fred Ross, who had 72 catches for 917 yards and 12 touchdowns. The leading returner is senior Donald Gray who averaged 17.3 yards on his 41 catches and had five touchdowns.

Junior Aeris Williams will be the starting running back. He finished a distant second to his quarterback on the team in rushing last season but still racked up 720 yards while averaging 5.3 yards per carry.

Senior left tackle Martinas Rankin was named Second-Team Preseason All-SEC. He and junior Deion Calhoun are the two returning starters on an offensive line that appears to have improved more last year than they actually did. The sack number fell from 32 to 18 and the rushing yards increased. However, they threw the ball nearly 100 fewer times, and Fitzgerald was primed to tuck and run.

Can Nick Fitzgerald make the leap?

This season Nick Fitzgerald needs to make the crucial step from running back who can throw to quarterback. Dak Prescott is considered a mobile quarterback, but compared to Fitzgerald, he might as well be standing in the pocket in concrete.

Fitzgerald obliterated Prescott’s rushing numbers. Prescott never cracked 1,000 yards in a season. Fitzgerald rushed for 1,375 yards and 16 touchdowns. He finished third among quarterbacks in rushing yards—behind only Heisman Trophy winner, Lamar Jackson and USF’s Quinton Flowers. The then sophomore finished only 12 yards behind Darius Guice for the SEC rushing crown.

As a passer, Fitzgerald had more of a rough go of it. He threw for 2,423 yards with a 54.3 percent completion percentage, 21 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions.

The SEC Media is fairly confident he will improve as a passer as they named him to the Preseason All-SEC Second-Team. It seems somewhat inevitable Dan Mullen and more experience will have made him a better passer. The question is whether his receiving corps will get separation and his offensive line will give Fitzgerald time to find them.