In a list of Southeastern Conference football players entering this season with a lot of momentum, Mississippi State quarterback Chris Relf ranks near the top.
The Bulldogs did not qualify for a bowl in Dan Mullen's first season as coach but ended with a bang, stunning Cotton Bowl-bound Ole Miss 41-27 in Starkville to finish with a 5-7 record. Relf could not be contained by the Rebels, throwing for two touchdowns and rushing 15 times for 131 yards and a score.
"We like to get that Egg Bowl back," Relf said. "From that game, I just wanted to work hard. We're trying to get to a bowl game. Better yet, we're trying to get to the SEC championship."
Mullen sees a completely different player in Relf this year, pointing out that the 6-foot-4, 240-pound junior displayed an improved approach and demeanor when he set foot on campus after Christmas break.
"His approach to developing his quarterback fundamentals, what it takes to be a quarterback, has completely changed in his preparation," Mullen said. "I think when I got there, Chris just thought he could show up when the meetings started, go to practice, play football and go home."
To make sure Relf stays motivated, Mullen is opening the competition in preseason camp to include redshirt freshman Tyler Russell and freshman Dylan Favre, a nephew of former Southern Miss and current Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre.
Relf welcomes the challenge and believes he still has plenty to prove.
A Rivals.com two-star prospect in the 2007 signing class out of Carver High in Montgomery, Ala., Relf never received scholarship offers from Alabama or Auburn. Vanderbilt showed interest but didn't offer a scholarship, either, as there were doubts about his throwing ability.
The doubts still exist.
"Everybody thinks I'm a runner, but I was more of a passer in high school," Relf said. "I look at it as motivation, because what they're trying to say is that I can't throw."
Relf was always good-sized for his age and played tight end and defensive end until his seventh-grade year, when his father suggested he play quarterback because of his cool nerves. His father played at Miles College, located just outside Birmingham, and older brother Eric has been a running back at Alcorn State.
Mississippi State hosts Alcorn State on Oct. 2.
"When I was in like seventh grade in the summertime and everybody was having fun, my dad had me out there doing kind of like two-a-days," Relf said. "I would be working out in the morning and coming back in the evenings with my brother. My dad had me hanging on monkey bars to make my hands stronger."
Relf will guide an offense that a year ago led the SEC in rushing with 227.6 yards per game, but the primary reason for that is gone. Tailback Anthony Dixon finished second to Alabama's Mark Ingram in rushing yards a year ago and led the league with 126.5 yards a contest.
"You're not going to replace a player like that," Mullen said. "We're not trying to replace him with one player. Instead of focusing on Anthony Dixon carrying us, having a huge game running the football for us, we have the ability to spread the ball around. Hopefully at the end of the game, you look at the stat sheet and 12 guys will have touched the ball over the course of a game."