NASHVILLE – There's a quarterback in this year's draft class who is reminding some of late Titans quarterback Steve McNair.
The player is North Dakota State's Trey Lance, one of the top prospects in this year's draft.
Lance will perform at the school's Pro Day on Friday.
"I was around Steve toward the end of his career, and if you watched him when he was younger, you'll see him run and you'll see him, he'll get hit by a linebacker at the 4-yard line and find his way into the end zone," NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said. "You see the same thing with Trey Lance."
Lance, a 6-foot-3, 224 pounder, completed 192 of 287 (66.9 percent) passes for 2,786 yards, 28 touchdowns and 0 interceptions in 2019. He also carried the ball 169 carries for 1,100 yards (6.5 average) and 14 touchdowns.
McNair, who played at Alcorn State, was the third overall draft pick in 1995 by the Houston Oilers and he played from 1995-2005 with the Oilers/Titans before playing his final two NFL seasons (2006-2007) with the Baltimore Ravens. In 11 seasons with the Titans, McNair set team records and accumulated the most wins of any quarterback in Titans/Oilers history.
At Alcorn State, McNair broke records en route to winning the 1994 Walter Payton Award as the best player in the FCS. He was a first team All-American in 1994 and he finished third for the Heisman Trophy, which is tied for the highest finish ever by an FCS player.
McNair, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, is Alcorn State's all-time leading passer with 14,496 career yards, McNair also owns school records for career completions (958) and passing touchdowns (119). He remains the all-time total yards leader in FCS history with 16,823, and his 14,496 passing yards were a national record until 2018. He was the only four-time SWAC Offensive Player of the Year in history.
In the NFL, McNair finished his career with 31,304 yards passing and 174 touchdowns.
Lance and McNair both played at the FCS level, formerly Division I-AA. Like McNair, Lance also earned the outstanding offensive player award in FCS college football.
"Both guys were dominant at that level," Jeremiah said of Lance, and McNair. "If you look at them, they have powerful arms to be able to drive the football down the field. You look at guys that their teammates really, really rally around and love. I just think there are a lot of similarities between the two."
