OXNARD, Calif. – In the earlygoings of the 2024 season, a consistent message from Dak Prescott and his teammates following games was having to look in the mirror.
After suffering a season ending hamstring injury in November, Prescott has had a lot of time to look in that mirror. In the reflection, he sees a version of himself he's never seen before.
"I think first and foremost, it was about getting healthy," Prescott said. "And once I got healthy, I could see progress. And it was about pushing myself each and every day, and I see a guy who is going into year 10, much better than he was last year, the year before that, or I've ever been."
Prescott is the longest tenured player on the Cowboys' roster, and after turning 32 on Tuesday, the third oldest on the team. And yet in that mirror, he sees a team behind him that makes him feel young again and hopefully won't have to look at that reflection much longer.
"Just with the experience of this game, having the teammates and the players that I have around me, getting into a new year with a new coach and a new energy with such a youthful team, I see somebody who feels young again," Prescott said.
"Excited as hell for not only this offense but this team and the direction we're going and what we can do, and a team that's not going to have to look in the mirror much as we start this thing, and we're going to just have to look forward and make sure that we just remind ourselves of our goal and keep that in our mind."
It's easy for Prescott to have the confidence in his offense when his supporting cast is as strong, if not stronger than it's ever been. CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, a newly extended Jake Ferguson, young promising players like Jaydon Blue and Tyler Booker are just part of the makeup the franchise has surrounded Prescott with.
While all of their playmaking ability is certainly exciting, what excites Prescott the most is the level of commitment they have to one another's success.
"What's going to be fun about it is all these guys want to see the other one succeed," Prescott said. "When you have guys without an ego on a team with that much talent, the sky is the limit. It's about the celebrations that they're doing, it's about them cheering each other on and blocking and making sure that guy gets the most out of his play, and I think that's where you're going to see this offense take another level."
The two biggest buzz words that have echoed throughout the organization since Brian Schottenheimer was hired as the franchise's 10th head coach have been energy and culture. A staple of practice at training camp practices has been bag drills where coaches use props, spray water bottles and jump around to get the energy up on the field.
Why is that so important to Prescott and this team?
"Energy is contagious," Prescott said. "That's about building and making sure that's creating a brotherhood that yea, things are going to get hard. It's going to be Week 15 and who knows how it's looking that week and maybe guys here or there don't have the energy, but it's about reminding them and being able to be there and cheering 'em up…"
"That's the main message of our program, is 'compete every day.' But I think when you're doing it with the right attitude, with the right energy that's contagious, you're making sure that guy's not just checking a box and he's actually pushing the limits and holding himself accountable to get better one percent each day."
Off the field, Prescott is going through some of the most exciting times of life. He'll soon be married to his fiancée Sarah Jane, and has welcomed two young girls into his family in the last two years. It's a period of his life that's helped him remember what's important, and he's enjoying the process.
"It's fun, and what makes it fun is it's new, and I'm learning, and I'm learning on the run," Prescott said. "Being the youngest of three boys and now having a household full of girls and understanding some of these years and how to treat it are going to be so vital to the women that they're going to be one day, and so it's about pouring love into the house…"
"Each and every day is fun, and that's what is allowing me just to be where my feet are, take advantage of the moment, not take a moment for granted, and it's a new season of life that I just can't be more thankful for."
What makes Prescott enjoy these times of life more is knowing that it hasn't all been fun. After losing his brother in 2020 to suicide, Prescott has been a large voice and advocate for mental health.
His new teammate Solomon Thomas shares a very similar story, losing his sister just a few years prior to 2020. The two and their foundations, Prescott's Faith, Fight, Finish and Thomas' The Defensive Line, have worked together in the past and now will work together more as they become teammates.
Prescott hopes that he, Thomas and their teammates recognize that platform that they have, and get the message out to help as many people as they can.
"For us to push this message and both to be Cowboys, understanding the platform that we have to push this message out there to the world is important, because we have to stop this epidemic," Prescott said.
"People's lives' matter, in dark times and adversity and anxiety drive moments, depression, sometimes that temporary thought you think is the solution and it's not, it's about making sure people understand that their life matters and that it's okay to ask for help."
As Prescott crosses over the decade mark as the Cowboys' starting quarterback, a sentence that pops up every year sits in front of him: In 2025, Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys will…
"Win the Super Bowl. Damn right."
