Is Josh Dobbs the next Dak Prescott?

Pro days, especially in the SEC, attract NFL scouts from nearly every, if not all, professional teams. In Knoxville, one player’s pro day has drawn national attention.

According to Bob Welton, a former scout with the Cleveland Browns, Josh Dobbs’ pro day workout was “the best quarterback workout” Welton has ever seen.

When it comes to NFL quarterbacks, even NFL quarterback prospects, nobody overreacts to anything, right?

“Wrong.”

-President Donald J. Trump

So, naturally, the comparisons and overreactions spread like wildfire.

Exhibit A:

The next @dak ? ? pic.twitter.com/AImniVLVCd

— NFL (@NFL) April 2, 2017

This begs the question: Is Josh Dobbs (who is an aerospace engineer, I think; I haven’t heard play-by-play announcers say his major at least once per drive in every game he’s ever played in) the next Dak Prescott?

Not quite.

Dobbs has shown flashes of brilliance throughout his Tennessee career in all facets of the game.

Oh yeah, and he can even catch passes:

Unfortunately for Dobbs, however, these flashes of brilliance haven’t equated to the sustained brilliance of one Dak Prescott. Don’t believe me? Check the stats.

Dobbs’ collegiate numbers:

• 7,138 passing yards
• 2,160 rushing yards
• 53 passing touchdowns
• 32 rushing touchdowns

Prescott’s collegiate numbers:

• 9,376 passing yards
• 2,521 rushing yards
• 70 passing touchdowns
• 41 rushing touchdowns

“But Robert, Dak played in more games in his career, so it’s not fair to compare the numbers straight up.”

Fine, let’s talk averages.

In 37 games played at the University of Tennessee, Josh Dobbs averaged 192.9 passing yards per game, 58.4 rushing yards per game and 2.3 touchdowns per game (either rushing or passing).

His Mississippi State counterpart, on the other hand, averaged 191.3 passing yards per game, 51.4 rushing yards per game and 2.3 touchdowns per game (again, that is the average of rushing and passing touchdowns) in 49 games played.

Interesting. The averages tell a different story.

Is it possible that an overreaction wasn’t an overreaction at all? Could it be that it was just a…reaction? Not an underreaction, not an overreaction, but rather, a Goldilocks-esque just right reaction?

Yes and no.

There’s no correct answer to that question, at least not yet.

Prescott has played a full season in the NFL, and Dobbs has played one less season than that (that’s zero NFL seasons for all you non-aerospace engineers). Luckily for Prescott, that one season included four All-Pro teammates on offense, including one Ezekiel Elliott and three offensive linemen.

Oh, and his now-former teammate, who just happened to be the starting quarterback at the time, Tony Romo, got injured in the preseason, ipso facto delivering the starting job to none other than Dak Prescott.

Is it likely that Dobbs gets that lucky? Absolutely not. But there are a lot of teams looking for quarterbacks in the NFL, and many of them are probably looking for Dobbs.

Is Dobbs the next Prescott? Maybe, maybe not. Only time will tell. But if the chips fall the right way, he will be the first Josh Dobbs, and that’s all he needs to worry about.

Featured image by Ben Proffitt

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