MSU Offense: Can Dak Avoid the Infamous MSU Senior Year Slump
Dak Prescott enters his senior season holding at least 10 individual records at Mississippi State, and is coming off the third best season all-time in SEC history in terms of total yards. He was picked as the preseason 1st team all-SEC quarterback and will enter the season on everyone’s Heisman watch list.
It’s safe to say there has never been a quarterback like Dak Prescott in MSU history, but we have seen winning QBs who have held many school records fall flat in their senior seasons. It’s getting pretty disturbing, honestly, because it seems to repeatedly happen over and over.
You have to go back, all the way back, to before Jackie Sherrill to find a quarterback (Tony Shell) who was a productive starter previously and didn’t either have a significant drop in production or have a terrible team season (really bad record).
1992: Sleepy Robinson – after a successful 1991 season as the starting QB, leading the Bulldogs to their first bowl game in 10 years, he fell from 1,167 passing yards to just 319 and only played in six games.
1996: Derrick Taite – 1994 and 1995 were really good years for Taite with a little over 4,000 passing yards in those seasons combined. Then in his final year he dropped off significantly with less than half the usual amount of completions and TD passes, 10% worse completion percentage and just barely got over 1,000 yards passing.
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1999: Matt Wyatt – he actually lost his starting job as a junior in 1998, but he didn’t get it back as a senior. He earns somewhat of a reprieve considering his late game heroics against Auburn and Kentucky that year, but nevertheless his final year produced less than half the numbers he had as a starter in 1997.
2001: Wayne Madkin – after just three years at State, Madkin held the record as the school’s all-time leading passer. But as we all know the 2001 team absolutely fell apart and Kevin Fant actually passed for more yards that season. He was slightly over half his usual production that year, but still a very big disappointment.
2003: Kevin Fant – he actually did not experience a significant drop in production his senior year as he threw for a career high 2,151 yards and 14 touchdowns, but this team was a disaster going 2-10; the worst season since “Tech and 10” in 1988.
2006: Omarr Conner – like Matt Wyatt, Conner lost his job during his junior year of 2005 to Michael Henig. After Henig broke his collarbone in 2006 Conner had a second chance but couldn’t do much so he went back to the bench upon Henig’s return. In his defense, MSU never really won with him at QB because Croom was too stubborn to use his skills correctly.
2007: Michael Henig – this was his junior season but it was his senior year academically and his last season of football. After a minor injury took him out of the Auburn game, Wesley Carroll took over and never let go. Henig did have a few chances to get back in games in key spots but he couldn’t seem to stop throwing interceptions….nine for the year with just one TD.
2009: Tyson Lee – to a degree, Lee is an exception because his numbers were basically the same in 2008 and 2009 with respect to completion percentage and yards. He was, however, significantly worse in TD:INT ratio, and he needed Chris Relf to relieve him to get the emphatic Egg Bowl victory that put Dan Mullen on the map.
2011: Chris Relf – after being the unquestioned starter in 2010, Relf was over-taken by Tyler Russell on several occasions, most notably the UAB game which was followed by the South Carolina game in which he did not play. Relf did regain his starting position towards the end of the year, and beat Ole Miss and Wake Forest to close the season.
2013: Tyler Russell – he set numerous passing records in 2012 but 2013 didn’t go nearly as well. A concussion in the opener cost him three full games, and when he got back Dak Prescott had a foothold on QB1. He threw for over 2,000 less yards and 19 less touchdowns than the previous season.
As you can see, nearly every quarterback from the Jackie Sherrill, Sylvester Croom and Dan Mullen eras has suffered a big decline their senior years. If anyone can overcome this trend, it’s Dak Prescott – he’s overcome the loss of his mother, a bum shoulder to win the 2013 Egg Bowl, and a horrible spring break fight; all the while being a big time local (and sometimes national) celebrity.