COLLEGE COACH HAS TIES TO KEENUM, MAHOMES
The Broncos’ game against Kansas City on Monday night will have an interested observer in Lubbock, Texas.
Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury was on the University of Houston’s staff when Broncos quarterback Case Keenum was setting multiple NCAA passing records and was Texas Tech’s head coach/playcaller when Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes developed into a firstround draft pick.
“That will be tough,” Kingsbury told The Denver Post. “I’m cheering for all offense.”
Kingsbury’s quarterback “tree” started with Keenum and continued with Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M), and Baker Mayfield and Mahomes at Texas Tech. Keenum’s early season with the Broncos has been up and down — a 21 record but five interceptions. Mahomes has been one of the NFL’s best stories, leading the league in touchdown passes (13) and quarterback rating (137.4).
Kingsbury called Keenum and Mahomes “both such remarkable stories.” Keenum had one scholarship offer coming out of high school, and Mahomes had one
Power Five opportunity. Kingsbury completed his playing career for the Canadian Football League’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2007 and began his coaching career at Houston the next year when Keenum was a thirdyear player. He was an offensive quality control coach for two years before coach Kevin Sumlin promoted him to cooffensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach for 201011.
Keenum set NCAA records for career passing yards (19,217) and passing touchdowns (155).
“Just an incredible young man,” Kingsbury said. “Great personality. Very humble. Very open to working. Me having played quarterback in a similar offense to what we were running (at Houston) and playing Texas high school football and being the sons of coaches, we clicked early on. We were both football junkies and loved the X’s and O’s.
“He always wanted to know more and wanted to get better, and that really helped me as a young coach.”
During their first season together (2008), Kingsbury saw NFL traits in Keenum’s game.
“He made some plays that were wowtype moments for me, things where I thought he had a chance to be a special, special player,” Kingsbury said. “He obviously isn’t a 65 guy who can throw it 90 yards, but the vision he has and the pocket feel, I knew that he could play at that level based on his skills, accuracy and feel for the game.”
Keenum tore his ACL in 2010 but was granted a sixth year of eligibility for 2011. By then, to say he and Kingsbury were on the same page was an understatement.
“I would be checking things in my mind and then telling the (coaches) upstairs to check (the defense) and as I was waiting for them, Case was checking to the right play,” Kingsbury said. “He was a coach on the field.”
As Keenum started his NFL journey, Kingsbury followed Sumlin to Texas A&M and coached Manziel in 2012 when he won the Heisman Trophy. Kingsbury was then hired by Texas Tech, his alma mater, to take over as head coach. In 2013, Mayfield became the first true freshman walkon quarterback in FBS history to start a season opener, but he transferred to Oklahoma after one season.
“Baker was very similar to Case in his approach to the game and how he saw the field and made quick decisions and got the ball out quickly,” Kingsbury said.
Mahomes was ranked by Rivals as a threestar recruit. In twoplus years as the Red Raiders’ starter, he had 93 touchdowns and 11,252 yards passing before becoming a firstround pick by Kansas City in 2017.
He sat out last year until starting in a win at the Broncos in the season finale when Kansas City’s playoff spot was already secured. When the Chiefs traded Alex Smith to Washington in March, that opened up the starting spot for Mahomes.
After the Chiefs’ win over the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 1, Kingsbury told reporters Mahomes is the “most talented quarterback I’ve probably ever seen. There are only a handful of guys in that league that can do what he can do.”
And thanks to Kingsbury, Mahomes is plenty familiar with his quarterback counterpart Monday.
“We watched Case’s film — his 2008, ’09 and ’11 as teaching tape,” Kingsbury said of the Texas Tech quarterbacks. “He did things so well by the end of his career, he set the standard for everybody I’ve been with, whether it’s Patrick, Johnny, Davis Webb or Baker. They’ve all watched Case Keenum film and seen how he operated in the system because he did it at such a high level and was such a great leader in our system.”
Keenum, 30, and Mahomes, 23, have taken different paths to Monday night but Kingsbury is the thread that binds.
“To watch them develop and get into the situations they’re in, I couldn’t be more proud,” Kingsbury said. “We’ll be hoping for a highscoring, close affair.”