Is multi-sport Texas Tech recruit Patrick Mahomes the nation's top prep athlete?
Like Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston, Whitehouse (Texas) High senior Patrick Mahomes plans to play two sports collegiately, but it's his ability in a third that may make him the best prep athlete in the country.
The subject of a recent MaxPreps profile, Mahomes collected more than 5,500 yards of total offense as a quarterback on the football team, nearly averaged a double-double as a wing on the basketball team and batted .500 while pitching for the baseball team — no easy task in the sports-crazed state of Texas.
"He's once-in-a-lifetime talent," Whitehouse baseball coach Derrick Jenkins told MaxPreps of the 6-foot-3, 215-pound son of former Major League Baseball pitcher Pat Mahomes. "He's a once-in-a-lifetime kid."
The younger Mahomes amassed 4,619 passing yards, 940 rushing yards and 65 total touchdowns under center this past fall, leading the Wildcats to a 12-1 record and the Class 4A, Division II regional finals. He captured the prestigious Texas football Player of the Year award from the Associated Press — this in a state that also featured MaxPreps National Football Player of the Year Kyler Murray.
On the basketball court, Mahomes averaged 19 points and 8.3 rebounds, earning All-Region honors and leading the Wildcats (28-7) to the regional quarterfinals. That's his third-best sport. Finally, on the diamond, he dominated both at the plate and on the mound for a squad that also reached the playoffs.
"I really think he's just scratching the surface (at quarterback) with the time he played different sports throughout the year," Texas Tech football coach Kliff Kingsbury told the Associated Press. "When he really focuses on football the majority of the time I think you're really going to see him take off in that position."
The question, however, may be more "if" than "when," as Mahomes is considered a potentially high draft pick in next month's Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. While he currently still plans to play both football and baseball for Texas Tech, he told Maxpreps he's open to signing "if the offer is right."
If his father's career is any indication, the Red Raiders may be left hanging. As a Lindale (Texas) High senior, Pat Mahomes, now 43, reportedly turned down a basketball scholarship offer from Arkansas before embarking on his 11-year MLB career as a sixth-round pick by the Minnesota Twins in 1988.
