His mouth moved, words came out and Dak Prescott said less and less.
Even as his star was rising and he was being asked to do more and more interviews, Mississippi State’s quarterback pulled away. He retreated to cliches and talking points. He deflected. It wasn’t that he was combative or afraid to speak, rather, he wasn’t eager to play along.
The former mid-tier prospect wasn’t comfortable talking about himself. He enjoyed answering questions about the Heisman Trophy even less. Something about it felt ridiculous to him, and when he appeared on camera it often came off that way, like he was performing a chore.
“Of course I wanted to be in the race. I wanted to be No. 1 and win it,” he said. “But at the same time, I didn’t really care for people to talk about it. I’d rather just play my game and see what happens at the end of the year.
“There was no reason to even talk about it. It was what, months away?”
It was October and the Heisman Trophy presentation wasn’t until December.
When the finalists gathered in New York earlier this month, Prescott wasn’t there. He didn’t get an invite. After an up-and-down second half of the season, he finished with 2,996 yards passing and 37 total touchdowns. The former front-runner wound up eighth on the Heisman balloting with two first-place votes.
He didn’t know that. He wasn’t even watching.
When the Heisman ceremony was going on, he was out in Starkville getting a bite to eat. He’d just graduated with a degree in arts and sciences, and he and his family were busy celebrating.
“I think it was on TV at dinner,” he said, “but I didn’t pay attention to it.”
Through it all, Dan Mullen was proud of the way his quarterback handled the attention.
“He took it for what it is,” Mississippi State’s head coach said. “As he knows, it’s a whole season.”
In his first six games, Prescott completed 61.5 percent of his passes, threw for 1,478 yards, 14 touchdowns and four interceptions. His Adjusted QBR was 82.8, good enough for seventh nationally among those with four or more starts.
In his last six games, however, his completion percentage dropped to 60.8 as he threw for slightly more yards, only with four fewer touchdowns and two more interceptions. His Adjusted QBR in that time was 73.5, 26th nationally.
More importantly, against Alabama in what could have been his Heisman moment, he had his worst game of the year, throwing three interceptions in a 25-20 loss that was Mississippi State’s first of the season.
“If we had won the SEC championship, he might have won some of those awards,” Mullen said. “I’ll be honest with you, whatever his performance was, if we had won the championship, he might have because individual awards often come with team success. I think he always understood that.”
For now, though, Prescott is happy with the prospect of playing in the Capital One Orange Bowl.
“We actually watched the highlight film as a team that our media people had put together,” he said. “It was just the whole season. Afterward a bunch of guys were saying, ‘Man, it’s been a fun year. We’ve won some big time games.’ ... We’ve done a lot of good things, a school-record-breaking season.”
But that came with a caveat: “As long as we get this win, everybody calls this season a success, even though we didn’t finish exactly where we wanted to be.”
Mississippi State wanted to reach the playoff. Prescott wanted to make it to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony. Neither happened. Now all that’s left is fuel for next year and another chance to make both dreams come true.
“It’s motivation, no doubt about it,” Prescott said. “Everything is motivation, just going to the award ceremony, seeing the four teams and the four playoff coaches and hearing all about the playoffs.”
He later added, “I want to carry it into the bowl game and into my offseason and give it to the team, feed it to the team how I felt.”
Prescott wouldn’t predict a national championship in 2015. He’s not one for big talk, remember? He certainly wouldn’t come out and announce his upcoming Heisman candidacy either. But there was one thing he wasn’t bashful about.
“We actually should have a better team coming back than this year,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of guys.”
It wasn’t much, but it said a lot. By Dak Prescott standards, at least.
