Saying he was lightly recruited coming out of Richmond Hill High School in Richmond Hill, Ga., would be a gross understatement.
Middle Tennessee State was the first to offer him a scholarship, and then Mississippi State decided to give the two-star recruit a chance to be part of its recruiting class that would rank 38th in the country.
Nick Fitzgerald, an honor roll student majoring in finance, enrolled early and spent two seasons watching Dak Prescott, now the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, go from a dual-threat quarterback who was more dangerous with his legs into a true passing quarterback who can run.
Fitzgerald, who ran the triple option in high school, added 30 pounds of muscle during those two years and now looks more like a linebacker at 6-5, 230 pounds than the starting quarterback for the Bulldogs.
On Saturday night, he will try to be the Arkansas Razorbacks biggest headache of the season.
It is no secret quarterbacks who can run and throw give the Hogs problems.
Fitzgerald leads the Bulldogs in rushing with 854 yards, and he's passed for 1,850. If that isn't enough, State has several running backs who can get to the corner, which usually will soften up the middle for the quarterback.
The corner, commonly called the perimeter, has been the Razorbacks Achilles' heel, especially since linebacker Dre Greenlaw was sidelined with a knee injury.
In the Razorbacks six wins, they allowed just 613 total yards rushing.
In their four losses, they gave up 1,563 and 19 touchdowns, including 7 to Auburn when they also gave up a school record 543 yards.
It is almost unfathomable to think the Bulldogs will polish their passing game in practice this week.
Everything they do on offense should be centered around running the football.
Going wide left, wide right, wide left, wide right and then inside.
If the Razorbacks stack the box to stop the run, Fitzgerald is capable of making them pay with his passing, although he has thrown 10 interceptions. Pressure could bother him, but no one is accusing the Hog defense of being fond of pressuring quarterbacks.
One of the biggest questions of this football season has been what happened to the defense, which returned nine starters from a unit that helped the Hogs win six of their last seven games last year.
Maybe the expectations were too high, or maybe they just haven't found the right combination.
Either way, teams believe they can run on the Hogs.
When you give up 366 rushing yards to Texas A&M and 4 touchdowns; 264 yards and 3 touchdowns to Alabama, which virtually called off the dogs at the half; and 390 yards and 5 touchdowns to LSU -- no sense in mentioning Auburn again -- that's a tendency most teams are going to pick up and try to exploit.
Granted, the defense didn't lose those games by itself; there have been several tweaks to the offensive line, and to be brutally honest, it appears Austin Allen is hurt. Not injured, that's different, but since the Auburn game he hasn't seemed as mobile or as accurate.
If the Hogs want to get to 8-4 and continue the progress the program has shown under Coach Bret Bielema, they have to get better in the trenches starting Saturday.
Offenses and defenses come and go, but football always has been won up front.
Historically, the Hogs have not put together a series of great recruiting classes, but a lot of victories have been racked up by blood, sweat and effort, and that's what being a Razorback has always been about. Doing what it takes to win.
Sports on 11/17/2016