San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
Jackson looks Super-bound unless Mahomes rises up
The first thing I’d like you to know about today’s AFC championship game goes back to June 2017 and a football clinic at Coronado High School.
“Come on out,” the event’s promoter told me. “We have some good quarterbacks as instructors.”
Yeah, the instructors were pretty good all right.
One was Patrick Mahomes.
Another was Lamar Jackson.
Many successes later, the two will duel today with a
Super Bowl berth on the line.
In their visit to San Diego seven years ago, what did I glean from Mahomes and Jackson in brief chats with each one?
They were comfortable talking with a stranger.
They had an ease to them. Both looked me in the eyes. Neither was rehearsed. They evinced a confident humility.
“First time to San Diego,” Jackson said, flashing a smile that displayed braces.
“I love it here,” said Mahomes,
who had trained in Carlsbad that spring, leading up to the draft.
Another instructor was Josh Rosen, UCLA’S QB.
He made a less favorable impression in our chat. Perhaps he was having a bad day.
When the campers took a break, Mahomes provided a glimpse into the creative playmaking he’d shown at Texas Tech.
He worked on rollouts, only these weren’t typical rollouts. He pirouetted into a backpedal toward the sideline while looking downfield. He did this several times.
Mahomes had been drafted that April, going 10th to the Chiefs after they’d traded up 17 spots to get him.
Jackson was coming off a Heisman Trophy season with Louisville.
He would play one more season in college and land with the Ravens as the first round’s final pick in 2018. Today marks the first
•
It’s Chiefs-ravens for AFC title, Lions-49ers in NFC.