BRONCOS TRADE QB SIEMIAN TO VIKINGS
Keenum showed an ability to make things happen at the right time long before the “miracle” in NFL playoffs
They called it a miracle in Minneapolis. In Abilene, Texas, they called it a flashback.
When Hugh Sandifer watched Case Keenum‘s desperation pass in the final seconds of January’s NFC divisional playoff game land in the hands of Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs, completing one of the most incredible plays in the league’s postseason history, Sandifer began replaying in his head similarly jaw-dropping plays made by the quarterback at Wylie High School more than 13 years earlier.
“It reminded us of some late-game heroics when he was in high school,” said Sandifer, who coached Keenum at Wylie. “That play was on the national stage and had a lot of drama, but it still reminded us of stuff he did when he was young.”
High school football in West Texas is a big deal. Schools don’t play against other schools, Sandifer points out. Communities play against communities. Follow Interstate 20 east from Odessa — the scene of the “Friday Night Lights” book by Buzz Bissinger later turned into a major motion picture — to Abilene on Friday nights, and you’ll be guided by the beaming lights of stadiums that can fit residents from every small town along the way.
So reaching the Class 3A Texas state championship game in Waco was like reaching the Super Bowl for folks in Abilene, and it was up
to Keenum to deliver the school’s first-ever championship. Wylie had the ball near midfield with less than one minute to play in a 14-14 game. Sandifer dialed up a play that had led to a touchdown pass from Keenum earlier in the game, but the Cuero High School defense saw it coming the second time.
“They pretty much came with a full-out rush, man-to-man coverage,” Sandifer said. “They blitzed everybody, and Case just sensed it. He got loose, got out of the pocket and got down the sideline on everybody. It looked like he was going to go out of bounds to stop the clock, but he turned it up and I thought he was going to score. He got tackled inside the 10-yard line, we ran a play to clock it and then kicked the game-winning field goal. He set us up in position to win the championship, no doubt.”
It is still the only state championship Wylie has ever won. And Sandifer, who has coached the school’s football team for 40 years, believes Keenum’s performance that season still serves as snapshot of how he has worked himself into becoming a starting NFL quarterback — one who this week agreed to a lucrative contact with the Broncos.
“One thing that always stood out was his competitive nature,” Sandifer said. “And the other was his maturity. He was beyond his years with the game. It seemed like it slowed down for him earlier than it did for other kids. That was due to a lot of study, a lot of preparation. Plus, when you have Godgiven ability and all those traits, you’re going to be successful.”
That package left Sandifer flummoxed in 2005, when few college scholarship offers for Keenum were reaching his mailbox. Coaches were concerned about Keenum’s size, strength and speed. When recruiters would ask Sandifer for Keenum’s 40-yard dash time, the coach didn’t have a time to give them.
“I didn’t know what he would run a 40 in because he would go from football to basketball to a spring sport,” Sandifer said. “We knew he was a winner. What I would tell them on that 40 time was, ‘I don’t know his speed, but I know everybody is chasing him. He’s about a half-step ahead of everybody, whether the guy is a 5.4(-second) defensive lineman or a 4.5 corner, he just always seemed to be half a step ahead of them.”
That was enough convincing for the coaching staff at Houston, where Keenum simply turned doubt into a record for the most passing yards (19,217) in NCAA history. But what Sandifer appreciates most about Keenum, the trait he believes has led the 30year-old to the doorstep of major NFL success, is that he doesn’t spend his time worrying about the people he has proved wrong by setting records in college, making it to the NFL as an undrafted free agent, becoming a starter, delivering an unforgettable playoff win and, now, being asked to guide a franchise decorated with a history of prolific passers.
“He doesn’t use anything as a chip on his shoulder,” Sandifer said. “He always talks about never wanting to prove anybody wrong who didn’t believe in him. He loves just proving the people right who did believe in him.”