With his “gunslinger mentality”, Patrick Mahomes may be the best Texas Tech quarterback of all time — using his six-shooter of an arm to throw for over 5,000+ yards of offense last season. The former Red Raider is so good, that during his press conference, I spotted a Cleveland Browns employee inconspicuously plug in a recorder near the podium. Whether this means that Mahomes will be selected with the 12th pick remains to be seen, but he is an obvious first round choice for teams in need of throwing talents, breaking the all-time passing yards in a game marker last year with a 734 yard offensive onslaught against Oklahoma.
“That’s the dream,” Mahomes admitted, when asked about the possibilities of being drafted early. “You want to be a first round guy. For me, it’s all about going to the right team and the right organization. I just want to get coached really hard.”
Mahomes is the product of the quarterback wizardry conjured by coach Kliff Kingsbury — a position whisperer who also influenced the collegiate success of Johnny Manziel. After three years beneath his tutelage, Mahomes credited the former NFL prospect as an inspiration moving forward.
“He’s made me the quarterback I am today,” Mahomes said. “In general, he’s helped me improve every single year. He pushes me. He gave me advice: he said when you do this, make sure you go all in, be all in, be all football all the time. His work ethic…the way he studies has transferred to me and it’s something I’ll use going into the NFL.”
Air Raid and dual threat abilities could be a burden in a pocket happy landscape of the NFL, but Mahomes has spent the offseason working on his mechanics, extending the play and deeper digs. A career as a football player nearly didn’t happen; his original throwing motion was based on baseball, a sport he excelled at in his days as a Whitehouse student and as the son of MLB player Pat Mahomes. The Milwaukee Brewers even drafted him out of high school in the 37th round of the 2014 draft, but Mahomes declined in favor of moving to Lubbock.
“It’s something where no one expected me to play football. I knew in my head I was going to be in this position and it’s awesome to be here, but it’s just a start. I’m trying to go to the NFL and have a great career.”
In his last season with Tech, Mahomes completed 65.7% of his passes for 41 touchdowns to 10 interceptions, hurling the pigskin an average 49 times per game. While the gathered journalists asked about these various accomplishments, one piped up and inquired what the most difficult question he fielded that day. Mahomes smiled and replied, “Someone asked if I considered myself a cat or a dog. I chose dog.”
“I feel like I have a fiery dog mentality on the field.”
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