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Florida coach Dan Mullen is not someone who has dealt with depression in life, he said Monday.

But with COVID-19 forcing him to stay home and not go to work for the first since he was a teenager, Mullen admits this offseason has affected his mental health at times.

“You’d be hard pressed to find anybody since March whatever it was until now that hasn’t dealt with some form of depression or feelings or thoughts they never had before. I mean, I have,” Mullen said.

So when Dak Prescott, his former star quarterback at Mississippi State, went public last Thursday about battling depression and “experiencing emotions I've never felt before” during quarantine, Mullen could relate. He thinks that a year now, research will show that mental health issues have “skyrocketed” due to the psychological effects of COVID.

“I’m probably not somebody that has dealt with lots of depression in life,” Mullen said. “But when you start to have those feelings because you’re in quarantine and isolation, at times you start you start to feel like, ‘This feels so different than I’ve ever felt.’

“Just having to go quarantine, having to isolate, having to change everything you know in your life. You just don’t feel normal at times. You mentally don’t feel normal and that’s not a comfortable feeling. And you realize by Dak coming out and talking about it, you realize you’re not alone in that.”

Prescott played for Mullen at MSU from 2011-15, leading the Bulldogs to their first-ever No. 1 ranking in 2014 and becoming the most decorated player in program history with 38 school records. The two-time Pro Bowl selection has started for the Cowboys since his rookie season and threw for a career-high 4,902 yards last year.

Prescott’s bout with anxiety and depression came in the wake of his brother's suicide last spring and his mother's battle with colon cancer.

“In knowing the situation and everything he dealt with,” Mullen said, “I’m proud of him that he felt that he needs to come out and be a voice for people that do deal with mental health issues, and especially right now. … Because you know what, I think people that are sitting there are going to say, ‘Hey, I’m dealing with all of these problems that I have and I might be the only one. Here I am and I’m forced to isolate myself at home dealing with all of these issues. And now here’s a guy coming out talking about it that is also maybe dealing with some issues that’s the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, so I’m not alone.' I think that is something that takes a lot of courage.

“A guy like Dak who is such a special person, such a great presence on his team, he has unbelievable charisma and leadership within his organization and just as a person within the community and really within the whole country. To come out and bring awareness to something and to help people out to realize maybe you’re not alone in dealing with mental health issues and don’t be afraid to talk about it. Don’t be afraid to try to get help. Everyone feels that.”

Mullen and his staff have encouraged players to use their platform to advocate for causes and issues that matter to them, while also educating themselves about what they’re fighting for. Mullen revealed that Prescott spoke to the team last Wednesday about the importance of using their voice responsibility.

“We’ve talked about that with our guys. I know they know they have a voice. With a voice comes responsibility. How we focus that the right way with the messages that we put out,” Mullen said. “We have a voice that gets heard probably more than others because of the platform of football that we have. Let’s make sure we’re taking care of our platform and we educate ourselves and use the voice properly, the right way. We’ve spent a lot of time discussing that.

“We had Dak talk to the team actually just about how to use your voice, last week. I think Dak is someone that does understand. You have one of the biggest roles in all of sports in being the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys and the responsibility that comes with it and the voice that you have. … It’s great for him to come out with that voice to let people know that they’re not alone. That they can find ways to seek help, find people to talk to, find people that are dealing with the same things they’re dealing with.”