Mississippi St. football coach Dan Mullen announced Monday that is still an open competition between Bulldog quarterbacks this spring, despite senior Chris Relf’s best Cam Newton impersonations down the stretch last year (1,789 passing yards, 19 TD’s, 713 rushing yards, 5 TD’s). Just stoking competition for a more productive spring…or is there a certain famous nephew on Mullen’s mind?
Re-printed below is my article from last January about St. Stanislaus High School QB Dylan Favre and his decision to attend Mississippi St. Favre redshirted last season, but it looks like he’ll have a chance to compete for the starting job this fall.
________
As the playoffs surge into the stretch run, a record-holding, championship-winning quarterback named Favre is once again dominating the headlines.
Thing is, to followers of high school football in Mississippi, it’s not the one who’ll be wearing a purple No. 4 against the Cowboys on Sunday.
It’s 17-year-old Dylan Favre, the quarterback from St. Stanislaus High School in Bay St. Louis – and Mississippi’s all-time leader in total yards and touchdowns – who committed to Mississippi St. earlier this month.
Yes, he’s related to the future Hall of Famer – Dylan is Brett’s nephew, by way of Brett’s younger brother Jeff.
No, he doesn’t do Wrangler commercials, but man, can he sling it.
While Uncle Brett was flip-flopping his way to redemption in Minneapolis, his nephew was amassing a season never before seen in Mississippi high school football.
Favre threw for 5,590 yards and 63 touchdowns en route to a 14-1 season and the Rockachaws’ first-ever 4A state championship. He rushed for 1,228 yards and another 18 scores. He also led his team in tackles, including 17 stops and an interception in the title game.
It’s this astronomical production that landed Favre a scholarship offer from Mississippi St. and head coach Dan Mullen, despite the fact that Favre is only 5-10 and 185 pounds, with aspirations to play in a conference where the defenses are closer to the NFC than the FCS.
“Coach Mullen told me he fully expects me to lead (Mississippi St.) to SEC championships,” Favre told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger after verbally committing on Jan. 2.
Coach Mullen, Favre, and a few thousand Bulldog fans may be the only ones who believe that.
In addition to his short stature, Favre’s 40-yard-dash time is just 4.75, according to Rivals.com. In the SEC, those measurements translate to a lot of a time spent on the turf. Or the bench.
At Mississippi St., a historically offensively-challenged program trying to turn the corner under Mullen and his spread offense, the pressure to secure a quality quarterback is greater than ever.
It’s led some to assert that the Bulldogs’ courtship of Favre was merely a shot in the dark at tapping into the lineage of one of the NFL’s all-time greats. Or worse, an outright publicity stunt from a program struggling to keep pace with the financial behemoths of the SEC West.
Favre’s high school coach Forrest Williams says that’s just plain lunacy.
“There’s a lot of naysayers out there that say that he’s just been successful and received notoriety because of his last name, but that doesn’t make you a successful player. If that were so, everybody would name their kid Favre,” Williams said. “As a coach, I don’t care what your last name is, if you can make plays, I’m gonna sign you up.”
It certainly holds that no program, least of all one fighting the losing battle of climbing into the SEC’s elite, can afford to waste a quarterback scholarship on a publicity stunt.
Mullen, a longtime offensive assistant at Utah and Florida under head coach Urban Meyer, also knows a thing or two about recruiting college quarterbacks (see: Smith, Alex and Tebow, Tim). Just seconds after his school lost out to Auburn in the recruiting war over JUCO star and ex-Florida QB Cam Newton, Mullen reportedly called Favre and offered the diminutive signal-caller a scholarship to Mississippi St.
Until that point, Favre hadn’t received an offer from an SEC or even BCS school. Southern Miss, Marshall and Memphis of the C-USA were knocking, but that was about it. Favre even had a visit scheduled to Division I-AA Northwestern (La.) State.
“He’s had to just be patient and take care of what he could take care of. It was surprising and frustrating at times, but his height was a big drawback: if he were 6-3, every coach in the nation would be lined up at the door,” Williams said.
Favre’s story is reminiscent of a season 24 years ago, when another rocket-armed quarterback from southern Mississippi struggled to attract the attention of major college programs despite his obvious skills.
He could make every throw on the field, buy time as if it were sold at Wal-Mart, and had an uncanny knack for making the seemingly impossible play.
But he primarily ran the run-heavy Wishbone in high school, and all the big schools figured him too small, too slow and not gifted enough to play major college football.
He settled for a second-tier football university just 45 minutes from home.
The school? Southern Miss. The quarterback? Brett Favre.
It’s no wonder coach Mullen and the folks in Starkville decided to recruit Dylan Favre.
No one wants to make the same mistake twice.
Every Favre Sucks.
Every Favre Sucks.