Bulldog offense centers on Fitzgerald
What do Cam Newton and Johnny Manziel have in common, other than being Heisman Trophy winners who defeated the University of Alabama?
They both topped 200 passing yards and 175 rushing yards in the same game.
Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald doesn't have Heisman hardware, but he joined Newton and Manziel in reaching those statistical marks last weekend in an upset of Texas A&M to become just the third SEC player to do so in the last two decades.
Now he gets his chance to also defeat Alabama when the Bulldogs visit the No. 1-ranked Crimson Tide on Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Fitzgerald, a redshirt sophomore, completed 18 of 31 attempts for 209 yards with two passing touchdowns and two interceptions against the Aggies. He ran for 182 yards and two more scores on 20 attempts.
"He's kind of the center of what they do," Alabama coach Nick Saban said, " in terms of how much he runs the ball and his effectiveness as a runner, as well as being a very effective passer."
Dan Mullen coached Tim Tebow while serving as offensive coordinator at Florida and Dak Prescott as head coach at MSU. Stature-wise, at 6-foot-5 and 230 pounds, Fitzgerald is built closer to those two or Newton than he is Manziel, who was markedly smaller.
He does share some qualities beyond size.
"He's got a really strong arm, he can throw the ball a mile," Mullen said, "and make some great throws on the run and some off-balance throws."
Fitzgerald is, however, still developing, according to his coach.
"One of the things that's the hardest to develop any quarterback to be is to be a great drop-back passer, to be able to stand in the pocket and go through your progressions and make your reads, stay on balance and accurately throw the ball," Mullen said. "That's going to take time, and he's working on it.
"He has the ability to do that, but I think the thing that helps him is he's got great athletic ability, which allows him to improvise and make things happen on the field while he's developing to be a passer."
Mississippi State is a decided underdog. These Bulldogs don't have the across-the-board talent that Florida had when Mullen was coaching Tebow there, but they're built to fully utilize Fitzgerald's abilities.
"For us when we started building this offense a long time ago, we wanted to make sure that defenses had to defend all 11 players that were out there on the field, sideline to sideline," Mullen said. "To make the quarterback a viable option that they have to defend just puts more stress on the defense and is another weapon for the offense."
Reach Tommy Deas at tommy@tidesports.com or at 205-722-0224.