Favorite Bulldog Moments of 2016: No. 6 - Nick Fitzgerald’s Development

Nick Fitzgerald could break a record today during the St. Petersburg Bowl. He could end up breaking the SEC record for rushing yards by a quarterback if he can put together another monster game like he did against Ole Miss. The quarterback who holds that record currently is one of the most reviled in Mississippi State history, Cam Newton.

Remember, Cam Newton needed 14 games to reach 1,473 yards. Nick Fitzgerald has accumulated 1,243 in basically 11 games because he only played sparingly against South Alabama. If he had played the entire game, it isn’t unreasonable to think he would be a lot closer to breaking that record if he had.

I say all this to say Nick Fitzgerald has done a lot to challenge one of the best seasons ever by an SEC quarterback. He still has a lot to learn and he needs to develop more accuracy on his throws, but his career arc is trending in the right direction.

Fitzgerald was the SEC leader in total offense. Nick Fitzgerald is making a name for himself while following in the footsteps of the greatest quarterback in school history. Doing something like that is not easy to do.

This isn’t to say Fitzgerald can do what he did this year and see the Mississippi St. Bulldogs succeed in the future. He still has a lot of development needed, but he showed the world this year that he has the tools needed to be a great quarteback in the SEC. If he can continue to get better, he’ll make the Bulldogs a really tough out in 2017 and 2018.