History lesson: How QBs have fared under Mullen's tutelage

Florida hired Dan Mullen to be its next head coach on Sunday, bringing the longtime Mississippi State head man and former Gators offensive coordinator back to Gainesville. One of Mullen’s first tasks will be working to fix the Gators' offense, which has struggled mightily over the tenures of the past two head coaches, Jim McElwain and Will Muschamp. That effort will start at the quarterback position, where Mullen has been known to develop stars. Today, we take a look at some of the college quarterbacks who have flourished under his tutelage.

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Mullen’s first major job as a college football assistant was at Utah under then-head coach Urban Meyer. Mullen served as the quarterbacks coach at the school, where he was tasked with helping develop Smith, a two-star recruit who played in just two games as a true freshman in 2002. During their time together, Smith blossomed into a star, helping lead the Utes to an undefeated season in 2004 while throwing for nearly 3,000 yards and 32 touchdowns. Smith finished fourth in that year’s Heisman Trophy balloting and went on to be selected No. 1 overall in the 2005 NFL Draft by San Francisco.

Mullen followed Meyer to Florida and inherited a talented passer in former Rivals100 prospect Chris Leak. Leak had already thrown for more than 3,000 yards in the season prior to Mullen’s arrival, but increased his completion percentage and cut his interceptions in half in Mullen’s first year in Gainesville. As a senior in 2006, Leak helped lead Florida to a national championship while completing nearly 64 percent of his passes.

One of the first major quarterback signees of Mullen’s era as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in Gainesville, the five-star Tebow represented a major recruiting victory for the Gators. But he still had to be used in the proper way, and Meyer and Mullen found a way to manage Tebow perfectly. In his first year on campus he was used primarily as a runner to spell Leak, rushing for 469 yards and eight touchdowns as a true freshman while also throwing for 358 yards and five scores in the team’s national championship season in 2006. Tebow took over as the starter in 2007 and had his most prolific college season as a passer, completing 66.9 percent of his passes while throwing for 3,286 yards and 32 touchdowns. Tebow won the Heisman Trophy in 2007. In Mullen’s last year in Gainesville (2008), Tebow had another huge season, completing 64.4. percent of his passes and throwing for 30 touchdowns with just four interceptions while leading Florida to a national championship. Tebow finished third in Heisman voting that season, marking the third time in five seasons that Mullen had coached a quarterback who finished in the top five in Heisman voting.

Mullen left for Mississippi State following the 2008 season and had a number of quarterbacks during his first few years in Starkville. While each had varying degrees of success (the Bulldogs went 21-17 in his first three years on campus), it wasn’t until Prescott arrived on campus that Mullen had his next NFL-caliber prospect. Ranked as a three-star prospect coming out of high school, Prescott redshirted in 2011 before playing as a backup in 2012. After then-starter Tyler Russell went down early in the 2013 season, Prescott stepped in and never looked back. After showing signs of his promise in his first season as a starter, he took a huge leap forward in 2014, throwing for 3,449 yards while completing 61.6 percent of his passes. Prescott helped the Bulldogs to the first No. 1 ranking in school history and set 10 school records during the 2014 campaign, including passing yards, passing touchdowns and total touchdowns. In 2015 Prescott was even better as a passer, setting new school records for passing yards (3,793) and touchdowns (29) while completing 66.2 percent of his passes. Prescott went on to be a fourth-round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys in 2016 and was the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year in his first year in the NFL.

A two-star recruit out of Georgia, Fitzgerald might be one of Mullen’s best developmental jobs to date. After waiting his turn behind Prescott during his first two years on campus, Fitzgerald stepped into the starting role in 2016. The former option quarterback showed tremendous growth in his first year as a starter, passing for 2,423 yards and 21 touchdowns while also leading the SEC in rushing with 1,385 yards and 13 scores. In 2017, Fitzgerald led the Bulldogs back into the Top 25 and improved his completion percentage while still being one of the conference's most dangerous running quarterbacks. Fitzgerald has one year of eligibility remaining.