WATCH: Will Rogers becomes Mississippi State's all-time leader in touchdown passes, shattering Dak Prescott's record
Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers has plastered his name all over the record books already and he’s just a junior. The prolific signal-caller has thrived in Mike Leach’s famed Air Raid aerial attack and a few weeks back against Arkansas, he set the SEC career completions record. In the first quarter of Mississippi States Saturday night matchup against Auburn, Rogers became the Bulldogs all-time leader in passing touchdowns and passing yards. Both records were previously held by Dak Prescott.
Three weeks ago, against the Kentucky Wildcats, Rogers broke the Mississippi State record for the most passing touchdowns in career, further cementing his legacy as one of the greatest players in program history.
He tied former Bulldog legend Dak Prescott’s school record for the most passing touchdowns in a career against Kentucky, when he fired his 70th touchdown toss to put Mississippi State in the lead in that one, 10-6. The record-tying touchdown toss came in the third quarter of the Kentucky game when he threw a one-yard strike to receiver Austin Williams with 8:28 remaining. Then on Saturday night against Auburn, he broke the record when he threw a touchdown strike to .
The gifted quarterback continues to fly under the radar nationally, but that hasn’t stopped him from continuing his assault on the record books. Of course, it should be noted the football flies in the air quite often in head coach Mike Leach’s Air Raid offensive attack.
But that shouldn’t diminish not only how impressive it is that he broke the record, but the amount of time that he broke it in. He completed his 922nd pass since joining the Bulldogs against Arkansas — passing the previous record set by former Georgia Bulldog great Aaron Murray in 2013. It only took Rogers 28 games to break that record, whereas Murray took 58 games, according to ESPN Stats & Info. With plenty of time to spare in his career, he’s got the chance to put that record in a spot where it’s going to be really, really hard to break.
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The surgically accurate signal-caller could end up being one of the best quarterbacks that Mike Leach has ever coached and that’s saying something, considering the number of top-flight quarterbacks that have been developed in his Air Raid scheme over the past two decades. His gaudy stats speak for themselves.
Rogers posted some mind-boggling stats last year as a sophomore for the Bulldogs, throwing for 4,739 passing yards (third most in SEC single-season history) in his second year as the starting quarterback in Starkville. A few months ago, heading into his junior season, ESPN’s Greg McElroy broke down the uber-talented signal-caller on his podcast, “Always College Football” and he mentioned another really impressive stat on Rogers from the 2021 season.
Before the 2022 season, Greg McElroy noted an impressive stat from Will Rogers’ 2021-2022 campaign
“And if you look, too, at his adjusted completion percentage. I referenced the fact that he completed nearly at least 74 percent of his passes. But when you take out the drops. You take out the balls batted at the line of scrimmage. That adjusted completion percentage was just above 81 percent. That’s the third highest in the SEC since 2014. The other two that were above that–Mac Jones in 2020. He was just over 84 percent and Joe Burrow, who was just under 82 percent in 2019. Obviously, both those two guys both Heisman finalists. Those two guys ran a little bit different offensive style. But either way, adjusted completion percentage over 81 percent,” McElroy said.