A scar, an inch long, is next to Dak Prescott’s right eye. It’s an unwanted reminder of his newfound fame.
Four months ago Prescott, the Mississippi State quarterback who finished eighth in the Heisman Trophy voting, was jumped by a group of men in Panama City. At one point Prescott, laying defenseless on the ground, was kicked in the head.
It’s still not clear what provoked the attack, which came during a Wocka Flack Flame concert, and Prescott said he didn’t want to file charges. (“It would’ve been nothing but a distraction, it would have lingered into the season, maybe after the season.”) But the attackers appeared to know who Prescott was, or at least that he and his two friends were Mississippi State football players.
Prescott, the reigning All-SEC first-team quarterback, could have spent most of his time at SEC media days talking about a run at the Heisman. Instead much of his session with print media revolved around the perils of fame and off-field problems in college football.
Prescott was happy to discuss it.
“The world we live in now, everyone wants to be successful, everyone wants to be at the top,” Prescott said. “Some people are going to take the ones down, some people are gonna do whatever they can to get there. I just have to be careful in what I do, a lot more observant, the people I’m around, the crowds I’m around. It’s a learning experience for me, and I think every college athlete can take that as a learning experience.”
The past few weeks have seen a series of incidents with Florida State players, with now-former quarterback D’Andre Johnson caught on video punching a woman, and now-suspended tailback Dalvin Cook charged with battery, allegedly for striking a woman.
Prescott was by all accounts an innocent in his situation. Still, it’s led him to alter some things.
“I try to stay in more controlled environments,” he said. “Especially with the way things we have going on now, the kids in Florida, stuff like that, clubs, nightclubs, being around people, alcohol, things like that, it’s not a good mix obviously at the age of 22. … You’ve just gotta be smart, be a lot more observant and cautious in the things you do.”
The SEC has passed a rule preventing transfers who have been subjected to charges of domestic violence. Prescott likes the rule, and sounded willing to take it further.
“I’m not going to be shy to say that maybe you shouldn’t play college football again with a domestic violence issue,” Prescott said. “We shouldn’t have things like that to this day and time. But we still do. And we need to, as men, get better and get past that.”
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