AP

CARROLLTON -- Dallas Cowboys quarterback Stephen McGee doesn't get much practice time during the Cowboys OTAs. After all, he's just a rookie.

"What he needs more than anything else, he needs to take snaps in the NFL," says offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, who was a backup for 12 seasons in the NFL. "He's really done everything we've asked him to do. We're thrown a lot of stuff at these guys, veteran players and rookies, the hardest position is the quarterback position when your first learning."

In high school at Burnett, McGee passed for 8,256 yards and played in back to back state championship games, losing titles to Gainsville and Everman. He left with a state record 101 passing touchdowns.

At Texas A&M, he passed for 5,475 yards, but an injury limited him to just three games his senior season.

It could be argued that McGee's high school career was more productive than his college career. Neither one guarantees success in the pros, but it does say a lot about the perception of the Cowboys fourth-round draft pick.

"I had a very successful career in high school and I was very successful in college," McGee says. "I didn't get as many wins as I'd like, but everything they asked but everything they asked me to do I was successful at it. Obviously I would have liked to have been put in different situations, but that's life that's football, that part of it. Live and learn."

After he was drafted, Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach said, "I'm happy for Stephen McGee. The Dallas Cowboys like him more than his coaches at A&M did."

Texas born college stars like Graham Harrell of Texas Tech and Chase Daniel of Missouri failed to be drafted.

"That's just more motivation for me. It's just something else. I can come out here and prove people wrong with," McGee says. "Whether it was great in high school, or whether people said it wasn't good in college, it doesn't matter to me."

History shows it's tough for a fourth-round draft pick to make it in the NFL, but keep in mind that Tony Romo was an undrafted free agent.