The Best Recruit From Each of Kliff Kingsbury’s Classes At Texas Tech
Pat Mahomes
Kliff Kingsbury found more significant contributors in the 2014 recruiting class. That group included future star LB Dakota Allen, future starting running back Justin Stockton and safety Ja’Shawn Johnson who has been one of the most productive safeties in the past two decades of Texas Tech Football.
But without question, the star of that class was a multi-sport star from Whitehouse, Texas. Patrick Mahomes was not the most heralded quarterback to ever sign with Texas Tech but he left Lubbock as the most exciting and talented passer to ever wear the Double-T.
Mahomes burst on the scene late in his freshman season when he started the final four games. In seven total games that year, he threw for 1,547 yards and 16 touchdowns including a Big 12 freshman record 589 yards against Baylor.
Over the next two seasons, Mahomes would wow the Texas Tech fan base like no other player in program history. His penchant for improvisation in the pocket led to countless big plays that left fans and opponents alike standing in bewilderment with their mouths agape in awe.
In just three seasons, Mahomes became Texas Tech’s third all-time career passer with 11,252 yards. Likewise, he is third with 93 career touchdown passes, two behind his head coach Kliff Kingsbury. Had he not left for the NFL after his junior season, Mahomes would own every career passing record in program history by a significant margin.
Mahomes was taken at No. 10 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft, a first for a Texas Tech quarterback and the first Red Raider taken in the top-10 since Michael Crabtree in 2009. This year, Mahomes is slated to be the starting quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs potentially making him the first Texas Tech QB to start an NFL game since Billy Joe Tolliver in 1999.
Mahomes was a fantastic athlete in high school (he was drafted in the MLB Draft as a senior) but no one knew that he would become one of the best college quarterbacks to ever play the game. Right now, we take that fact for granted but in 2014, he was just another three-star recruit that few Texas Tech fans touted as a future legend. But that’s exactly what he became.