Case Keenum believes Pat Shurmur will be 'priceless' for Shedeur, Colorado Buffaloes
Houston Texans quarterback Case Keenum has greatly benefited from two of the most important coaches on Colorado football's staff: offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur and wide receivers coach Jason Phillips.
In fact, arguably the best season of Keenum's 11-year NFL career came with the Minnesota Vikings in 2017 when Shurmur was calling the plays as OC. Even though Keenum began that season competing for a third-string spot behind former No. 1 overall pick Sam Bradford and Teddy Bridgewater, Shurmur helped prepare the journeyman QB for a career year.
"He was great, I love coach Shurmur," Keenum told The Coloradoan on Wednesday. "He challenged me in the meeting room, film room and made sure I was on my toes with being ready to go and that was, honestly, before I was even starting. No matter who it was on the roster, he was coaching us up and having us prepared.
"We did a great job communicating as a play caller, what he expected on certain plays, and we gelled pretty quickly."
Shurmur was named the 2017 NFL Assistant Coach of the Year for helping Keenum set career highs in completion percentage (67.6), passing touchdowns (22), passer rating (98.3) and quarterback rating (73.3). A big part of that special season, which included the "Minneapolis Miracle," was the communication between Shurmur and Keenum.
A quarterback and his play caller being on the same page is crucial to an offense's success. Colorado coach Deion Sanders knows that, and it's likely a reason why he chose Shurmur to be his full-time offensive coordinator in 2024.
Sanders handed the offensive play-calling duties over from former OC Sean Lewis (now San Diego State's head coach) to Shurmur after eight games of the 2023 season. Like he did with Keenum, Shurmur was able to gel quickly with Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders.
"Pat (Shurmur) and I communicate really well. Pat and Shedeur communicate REALLY well. So, I think he did a great job. I really did," Deion Sanders said after Colorado's 2023 season finale.
Then on Thursday, Deion Sanders stood firm on his decision to stick with Shurmur.
"Pat Shurmur is my OC, you got a problem with Pat Shurmur? Pat was 21 years in the NFL," he said to former NFL quarterback and ESPN analyst Robert Griffin III on his RG3 and The Ones podcast. "He took over someone else's offense and still did well. You know how hard it is to call someone else's plays? And Pat did a phenomenal job."
The decision on a new offensive coordinator had to be made with Shedeur in mind. He's coming off a season in which he set Colorado's single-season passing yards record (3,230) and threw 27 touchdowns to just three interceptions despite being the most sacked QB in FBS (52).
Deion Sanders would've been hard pressed to find an OC candidate with more NFL experience than Shurmur. He coached in the NFL for more than 20 years (1999-2021) and held various roles, including head coach, offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach, tight ends coach and offensive line coach.
That wealth of experience and knowledge will do wonders for a talent like Shedeur, who is expected to be among the top QBs selected in the 2025 NFL Draft, according to Keenum.
"He does an incredible job of tailoring the offense to whoever it is (at QB)," Keenum said of Shurmur. "He's been at a lot of places, called a lot of big games in big situations and run a lot of different types of offenses.
"Having his finger on the pulse of what the NFL is doing and where it's going, it's obviously turned into a thrower's league, being able to know what's coming and what defenses are doing in college, it's going to be priceless for a guy like Shedeur and that transition of making a jump to the next level."
Shedeur will undoubtedly be the engine behind Colorado's offense in 2024, but the Buffs' running game, which was the worst in the Pac-12, must improve from last season. Their 827 rushing yards on the year and 68.9 rushing yards per game both ranked dead last in the conference.
Shurmur helped Colorado become more balanced after taking over for Lewis, and that balance is something the former Vikings OC prides himself on.
Although Keenum threw for 3,547 yards under Shurmur during the 2017 campaign, Minnesota was also a top-seven rushing offense in the NFL that season. Three different running backs (Latavius Murray, Jerick McKinnon and a rookie Dalvin Cook) had at least 350 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
"There's certain boxes and certain defenses, man, you have to be able to run the ball for at least four or five yards to keep defenses honest," Keenum said. "Coach Shurmur did a great job during that 2017 season of focusing on running the ball when we needed to and throwing the ball for explosive plays.
"We had two great receivers with Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen who have different skill sets, but, man, he (Shurmur) did a great job of getting those guys in great situations."
New Colorado WRs coach Jason Phillips is 'one of the best'
Before Keenum's NFL career began in 2012, he was a record-setting quarterback at the University of Houston, where he became the NCAA's all-time leader in passing yards, touchdowns and completions. During the 2011 season, Houston's offense was one of the most prolific in NCAA history, averaging nearly 600 yards per game, which ranks second all-time.
Keenum's co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach at Houston was Phillips, who recently introduced himself as Colorado's new WRs coach. Phillips produced seven 1,000-yard receiving seasons from four different players — including Donnie Avery, the first wide receiver taken in the 2008 NFL Draft — during his time with the Cougars.
"We had so many guys (WRs) that played so well for him (Phillips) throughout that time, and he coached them hard, he challenged them every day at practice," Keenum said. "He's one of the best wide receivers coaches I've been around, I love coach Phillips."
Phillips, like Shurmur, has over 20 years of coaching experience with stops at Houston, Baylor, Texas State, SMU, Kansas, Oregon State and Utah State before joining Deion Sanders' staff at Jackson State in 2021. The CFL was Phillips' most recent stop, coaching for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for the last two years.
During that span, Tiger-Cats WR Tim White racked up back-to-back 1,200-yard seasons (1,265 in 2022 and 1,269 in 2023).
With a plethora of wide receiver talent currently on Colorado's roster, Phillips and Shurmur have the experience to get the best out of that group. They, and the Buffs, also have a fan in Keenum.
"I caught fire same as the whole country did watching some Buffs football," Keenum said of the 2023 season. "I love Boulder, too, we've spent some time up there. I've been rooting for Colorado for a while."
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This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Case Keenum: Pat Shurmur will be 'priceless' for Colorado football
