Mississippi State has found itself back in the spotlight, and this time the attention is landing on Kamario Taylor.
The freshman quarterback has been electric to start the season, giving Starkville a burst of energy that naturally brings back memories of the last time a dual-threat passer turned Mississippi State into must-watch TV: Dak Prescott.
That comparison is easy to make, but the two arrived in different places as recruits. Prescott came out of Haughton, Louisiana, in the 2011 class and was rated by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 20 dual-threat quarterback and No. 22 player in Louisiana.
He committed to Mississippi State after getting an offer in July before his senior year, and according to The Advocate, no other major schools were really in the mix at the time. LSU was looking at him at safety.
Prescott’s stock changed fast after a huge senior year. He threw for 3,500 yards and 56 touchdowns, and LSU pushed hard late.
He even took an official visit to Baton Rouge when the Tigers beat Alabama 24-21. As reported by the newspaper, Coach Les Miles visited the Prescotts and delivered a message: “Dak isn’t the same quarterback when we started recruiting him,” Miles told the family, according to Tad.
“They came on pretty hard there at the end,” Dak said. “They recruited my mom almost more than they recruited me.”
“For a while, we thought he’d de-commit from State and end up in Baton Rouge,” Tad said.
Prescott stayed with Mississippi State.
Taylor’s path had its own late twist. The Macon, Mississippi, native is from just over 30 miles south of Starkville, and 247 ranked him as the No. 11 quarterback in the 2025 class and the No. 4 player in Mississippi. Georgia made a late push after Taylor put together a big senior season at Noxubee County High School, and the Bulldogs’ interest complicated things even more while Mississippi State was going through a coaching change and hiring Jeff Lebby after Zach Arnett’s firing.
In the end, Lebby kept the Bulldogs’ offer intact, and Taylor signed with Mississippi State in December 2024.
The bigger parallel between the two comes from how they reached their breakout moments. Neither quarterback was handed the job right away.
Prescott redshirted in 2011 and spent 2012 backing up Tyler Russell. In 2013, he opened the year behind Russell again, but a concussion pushed him into the lineup.
That season gave a clear preview of what was coming. In 11 games, Prescott threw for 1,940 yards with 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions, while adding 829 rushing yards and 13 scores on the ground.
Then came 2014, when everything exploded. In his first full season as the starter, Prescott broke school records for passing yards in a season with 3,449, total offense with 4,435, passing touchdowns with 27, and total touchdowns with 41.
Mississippi State rolled through its first nine games unbeaten and reached No. 1 in the national rankings for the first time in school history. The Bulldogs finished the regular season 10-2, with losses to Alabama and Mississippi State, hit 10 wins for only the second time in program history, and earned an Orange Bowl trip before falling 49-34 to Georgia Tech.
In Other News...
Kamario Taylors Basketball Backstory Shows Why Mississippi State Fans Are So Intrigued
Before he ever became a quarterback prospect, Kamario Taylor was the kind of high school athlete who seemed to do a little bit of everything. He played football, basketball, baseball and track before eventually narrowing his focus to football, and that all-around background helps explain why Mississippi State fans have been so intrigued by him since he arrived in Starkville.
Jeff Lebby first crossed paths with Taylor on a basketball court, then nudged him toward football as the sport where his future belonged. Taylors basketball resume at the college level has been brief, with limited action in the 2021-22 season and no game appearances since, but the backstory still adds another layer to a player Bulldogs supporters are eager to watch develop. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Fans Will Notice What Saban Is Saying Before Alabama
Nick Saban knows exactly what Alabama is walking into when it heads to Starkville, and he made clear this week that Mississippi State is never the kind of stop a team can treat lightly. He pointed to the cowbells, the setting and the challenge of playing in that environment, while also giving the Bulldogs credit for how theyve been competing with Kamario Taylor at quarterback.
Georgia fans listening closely will notice the bigger picture in Sabans comments, because Alabamas trip to Mississippi State comes before a much larger showdown on the calendar. For the Bulldogs, it is another sign that opponents are taking the current team seriously, and for everyone else it is a reminder that Starkville can still turn a routine week into a difficult one. [Read more 🡒]
Mississippi State Plays In College Footballs Brightest Spotlight
Septembers television numbers only reinforced what Mississippi State already knows about life in the SEC: every week can feel like a prime-time event, whether the Bulldogs are the headliner or part of the backdrop. The conference drew 41% of total minutes watched in college football despite playing fewer games than other leagues, and SEC matchups averaged 4.8 million viewers while generating 22.6 billion minutes watched. Nine of the 10 highest-rated games during the month included at least one SEC team, which is the kind of reach that turns even routine Saturdays into national storylines.
For Mississippi State, that spotlight is part opportunity and part pressure. The SEC remains the sports biggest draw, and the Bulldogs are competing in a league where the most-watched games are rarely isolated from the rest of the conversation, especially when neighboring rivals are pulling huge audiences of their own. Texas-Ohio State topped the months ratings, while Ole Misss win over LSU came in second, another reminder that the conferences biggest stages tend to magnify everything around them, including the road Mississippi State is trying to carve out. [Read more 🡒]