DALLAS — Mississippi State's athletics program has a new mascot, and he's named after a familiar face in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The college recently revealed its latest live mascot -- Bully XXII aka "Dak."
The bulldog is named after Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who played at Mississippi State from 2011 to 2015.
During his time with the Bulldogs, Prescott led the team to three bowl games from 2013 to 2015, including the program's first ever No. 1 ranking in 2014.
Following his college career, Prescott would go on to be drafted by Dallas in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL Draft and would soon become the team's franchise quarterback.
With a new live mascot, Mississippi State took the opportunity to celebrate its beloved quarterback.
"Dak, like every Bulldog fan, is making the pilgrimage to Starkville to support the maroon and white," a narrator said in an introduction video for the bulldog. "... Dak will be there as a symbolic figure for the university."
The university has been using a live bulldog mascot since 1935. The latest was named Jak, who had been the mascot since 2015.
If you'd like to follow the journey of Dak (the bulldog), he has his own Twitter account.