Rookie QB Prescott to start season for Dallas

FRISCO, TEXAS — Dak Prescott grew up rooting for the Dallas Cowboys in Louisiana. He suddenly finds himself in line to start their National Football League opener as a rookie quarterback with Tony Romo sidelined by yet another back injury.

Receiver Brice Butler believes the fourth-round pick out of Mississippi State pictured this years ago. “He ends up getting drafted here. Now he’s the starting quarterback,” Butler said Sunday. “I don’t know if he thought it was going to happen this soon. But I’m pretty sure when he got here, he was like, ‘I’m going to be the future of this franchise.’

“He’s in a situation now where he’s the starter and basically that comment I just said is going to depend on how he plays. And I think he’s ready for it.”

The 23-year-old Prescott was the No. 3 quarterback for the Cowboys going into training camp, before backup Kellen Moore broke his right ankle in practice.

Prescott was impressive enough in the first two pre-season games to make owner and general manager Jerry Jones comfortable with him as Romo’s backup, rather than bringing in a veteran.

After Romo broke a bone in his back on the third play of the third pre-season game at Seattle, Jones is ready to roll with Prescott. Assuming the Cowboys do grab a veteran, it figures to be a backup for now. The current No. 2 is Jameill Showers, a second-year player who hasn’t appeared in a regular-season game.

“I don’t know if this stuff will ever hit me,” said Prescott, set to be the first rookie quarterback to start the opener for Dallas since Quincy Carter 15 years ago. “I feel like I belong here. This is where I’m supposed to be. I just come in every day with the right attitude.”

The Cowboys haven’t said how long Romo will be out, following his fourth back injury in less than four years, but it’s likely to be the opener at the very least.

Jones and his son, executive vice-president of personnel Stephen Jones, have said they are comfortable giving Prescott a shot as the starter.

The next question is whether Prescott plays in the pre-season finale against Houston on Thursday night. Starters generally sit out that game and turn their focus to the regular season. The Cowboys open Sept. 11 at home against the New York Giants.

Coach Jason Garrett wouldn’t say whether Prescott will be held out against the Texans.