5 reasons Pat Mahomes will be a 2016 Hesiman finalist

In 2015, Pat Mahomes had one of the best individual seasons of any quarterback in Texas Tech history. His 4,683 passing yards rank sixth on the school’s single-season passing list while his 36 touchdowns rank seventh and his 5,109 total yards are the third most in program history.

Yet, it is fair to say that despite these lofty numbers, Mahomes was overlooked on a national stage. In 2016, Pat Mahomes will enter the season as a dark horse contender for the Heisman Trophy. Here are five reasons why it is entirely possible to believe that we will see Pat Mahomes in New York City as a Heisman Trophy Finalist in 2016.

Oct 25, 2014; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders quarterback Patrick Mahomes (5) throws during the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

No. 5

His left knee will be fully healthy

One of the more overlooked aspects of what Mahomes did in 2015 was the fact that he led the nation in total offense with an injured left knee. In Texas Tech’s 4^th game of the season, Mahomes came up limping after carrying the ball near the TCU goal line. Link

Though he finished the game, he was hobbling for the remainder of the contest. Fortunately, Mahomes did not miss any starts last year but he played the remainder of the season with a brace on his knee, which noticeably slowed him.

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Despite the injury, Mahomes rushed for 456 yards and 10 touchdowns last season. But he was a far less effective rusher after he hurt his knee.

The week prior to the injury, Mahomes ran 10 times for 58 yards and two touchdowns in a huge road win at Arkansas. That was the only game of the year in which he averaged over five yards per carry.

Watch the video below to see how fast he was in scoring the rushing touchdown shown in the highlights.

Furthermore, the win in Fayetteville was the only game in 2015 Mahomes won with his legs. Sure, at other points in the season he made plays with his feet and ran for huge first downs but against Arkansas, Mahomes running game was something the Razorbacks seemed unprepared for thus making it Texas Tech’s go-to weapon down the stretch.

Now the knee is fully healed and Mahomes will once again be a true dual threat quarterback. Last season, he was more of a pocket passer than a dual threat because Texas Tech only called rushing plays for him in the most critical of times.

Look for Mahomes to be counted on to run more in 2016 for two reasons. First of all, the Texas Tech offensive line will be very young and inexperienced and second, there will be no 1,000-yard rusher like DeAndre Washington to shoulder the rushing load for the offense. Kliff Kingsbury will likely put some wrinkles into his offense to take advantage of Mahomes’ mobility.

Another aspect of his game that will benefit from a strong left knee is his passing accuracy. One area Mahomes needs to improve upon is his passing accuracy, which was a respectable but not elite 63.5% last season.

At times he floated too may passes, something that might be a product of having a sore or unstable left leg onto which he transfers his weight when finishing a thow.

Texas Tech never revealed how severe Pat Mahomes’ left knee injury was but it was something he had to play through for multiple weeks and it is interesting to note that three of his four lowest rated passing games came in the month after he hurt his knee. If Mahomes was able to be the force he was in 2015 on a bum left leg, imagine what he could do in 2016 on two good ones.

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