Nicholas Dylan Fitzgerald (born January 14, 1996) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Mississippi State Bulldogs Mississippi State Bulldogs is the name given to the college athletics, athletic teams of Mississippi State University, in Mississippi State, Mississippi. The university is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA D ...

Early life

Fitzgerald attended Richmond Hill High School in

Richmond Hill, Georgia Richmond Hill is a city in Bryan County, Georgia, United States. The population was 16,633 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, an increase of almost 80% from the 2010 population of 9,281. Richmond Hill is part of the Savannah, Ge ...

, where he played in a

triple option The triple option is an American football play used to offer six ways to move the football forward on the field of play. The triple option is based on the option run, but uses three players who might run with the ball instead of the two used in ...

system. Fitzgerald was rated as a three-star recruit by ''247sports.com'', and

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. He committed to

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

on June 23, 2013.

College career

Freshman season (2015)

Fitzgerald enrolled at Mississippi State in January 2014 and sat out the 2014 season as a

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Sports * Redshirt (college sports) Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically ...

. In

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, Fitzgerald served as the primary backup for

Dak Prescott Rayne Dakota Prescott (; born July 29, 1993) is an American professional football quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Mississippi State Bulldogs, twice earning first-team ...

, appearing in eight games and throwing and running for three touchdowns each. Fitzgerald saw his first action of the year in a 34–16 win over Southern Miss and accounted for three touchdowns in mop-up duty in a 62–13 blowout win over Northwestern State. After Prescott was sidelined with an illness, Fitzgerald played most of the game in a 45–17 win over

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

, accounting for three more touchdowns.

Sophomore season (2016)

Fitzgerald played sparingly in the Bulldogs' season opener against South Alabama, which they lost. Fitzgerald was named the starter for the Bulldogs' second game against

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

, this time playing the whole game and leading the Bulldogs to a 27–14 victory, running for 195 yards in the process. Against UMass, he threw for 299 yards and also ran for 110, leading the Bulldogs to a 47–35 win. Fitzgerald had a breakout game against Samford, throwing for 417 yards and 5 touchdowns, while rushing for 119 yards and 2 touchdowns. The 5 passing touchdowns and 7 total touchdowns tied school records set by

, and his 536 yards of

total offense Total offense, also called total yards, is a gridiron football statistic representing the total number of yards rushing and yards passing by a player or team. Total offense differs from yards from scrimmage, which gives credit for passing yardage ...

were the second most in school history. The following week, Fitzgerald led the Bulldogs to an upset win over No. 4

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

, recording 391 yards of total offense and scoring 4 total touchdowns, including a 74-yard touchdown run on the Bulldogs' first offensive play. In the

Egg Bowl The Egg Bowl (traditionally named the “Battle for the Golden Egg”) is the name given to the Mississippi State–Ole Miss football rivalry. It is an American college football college rivalry, rivalry game played annually between Southeastern ...

, the Bulldogs' annual season finale against in state rival Ole Miss, Fitzgerald led Mississippi State to a 55–20 victory and accounted for 5 total touchdowns (3 passing 2 rushing) while setting a Mississippi State single game rushing record with 258 yards.

Junior season (2017)

Nick Fitzgerald was 159 of 286 passing for 1782 yards and 15 passing touchdowns in the 2017 season. Fitzgerald had 162 carries for 984 yards and 14 rushing touchdowns. In the 2017 Egg Bowl on November 23rd, with 9:08 remaining in the first quarter, Fitzgerald suffered an ankle injury ending his 2017 season.

Senior season (2018)

Fitzgerald started the season with 313 yards of total offense against

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public inst ...

and 350 yards and six touchdowns against Louisiana–Lafayette. In an October 6, 2018 game against Auburn, Fitzgerald became the all time leader in rushing yards by an SEC QB gaining 195 yards on 28 carries. Late in the 4th quarter of a victory over

on October 27, 2018, Fitzgerald tied Anthony Dixon for the school record with his 42nd career rushing touchdown. He was also named the SEC player of the week for a school record sixth time.

College statistics

Professional career

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Fitzgerald signed with the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

as an undrafted free agent following the

2019 NFL draft The 2019 NFL draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville. The first round was held ...

. On August 31, 2019, Fitzgerald was waived by the Buccaneers and was signed to the practice squad the next day. He was released on October 8, 2019.

St. Louis BattleHawks

Fitzgerald signed with the St. Louis BattleHawks of the XFL on January 18, 2020. He had his contract terminated when the league suspended operations on April 10, 2020.

TSL Sea Lions

Fitzgerald signed with the Sea Lions of

The Spring League The Spring League (TSL) was an American football Minor league football (gridiron), developmental league and scouting event (pro showcase) that played from 2017 to 2021 and was founded by Brian Woods. Aimed at professional football (gridiron), p ...

in 2021.

References

External links

Mississippi State Bulldogs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Nick 1996 births Living people People from Bryan County, Georgia Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) American football quarterbacks Mississippi State Bulldogs football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players St. Louis Battlehawks players