Texas Tech junior quarterback Patrick Mahomes enters his junior campaign as a dark horse chance at winning the Heisman Trophy, but make no mistake about it, he is a legitimate threat.
Last year Mahomes racked up over 4600 passing yards – sixth most in school history – and 36 passing touchdowns to go along with nearly 500 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. He finished second in the country in total offense and since taking over as Texas Tech’s starter in November of 2014, he has thrown 50 touchdowns; more than any other quarterback in the nation over that span.
Mahomes, a former member of Texas Tech’s baseball team, gave up playing baseball so that he could fully immerse himself in the game of football. Patrick Mahomes has received the highest praise from head coach Kliff Kingsbury; saying that Mahomes is the best qb he has ever been around. High praise like that is very encouraging to hear from a man who once coached former Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel and Houston’s Case Keenum, who is the all time FBS leader in passing yards and passing td’s.
While Mahomes has the statistics to back up his potential run at a Heisman, history shows that the Heisman typically goes to players who have their team in contention for a national title. 12 out of the past 15 Heisman winners have gone on to play in the national championship game. Johnny Manziel is the last player to win the Heisman without making it to the title game back in 2012, when he became the first freshman to win it.
Mahomes led the Red Raiders to a 7-6 record in 2015 with many losses coming late in games due to a struggle on the defensive side of the ball. Texas Tech is predicted to finish 6 th place in the Big 12 this year by the Big 12 football preseason poll, but if Mahomes takes this team to the next level and puts them in contention to win the conference, watch out, he could be getting an invite to New York City come this December.
