Texas Tech football great Patrick Mahomes returns to be Hall of Fame inductee
In the final month of its 2014 football season, Texas Tech turned over the quarterback job to 19-year-old freshman Patrick Mahomes. His coaches and teammates had seen Mahomes make some dazzling plays in practice, but then he ended the season throwing for a Big 12 freshman record 598 yards, including six touchdowns, in a loss to Baylor.
"He came out and showed out and kind of showed the world who he was about to become over the next few years," Tech offensive coordinator Zach Kittley said.
Mahomes led the FBS in total offense in 2015 and 2016, was chosen 10th overall by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2017 NFL draft and, over the past five years, has become one of the most marquee figures in the sport. He's been a Super Bowl MVP, an NFL most valuable player and a four-time Pro Bowl selection.
More:Young Texas Tech tackle seizes opportunity
On Saturday, with the Chiefs having an open date this weekend, Mahomes returns to Lubbock to be inducted into the Texas Tech Athletics Hall of Fame and the exclusive Tech football Ring of Honor. The Ring of Honor ceremony is scheduled for halftime of the Red Raiders' game against Baylor. During that time, Tech will unveil Mahomes' uniform number and his name on the wall at Jones AT&T Stadium. He will be the eighth member of the Ring.
His Tech Athletics Hall of Fame induction will take place in a separate, private donor event after his scheduled arrival Saturday afternoon. Before the 6:30 p.m. kickoff, Mahomes is expected to spend much of his time around the current Red Raiders team, a Tech athletics spokesman said.
In the five-plus years Mahomes has been away from campus, his popularity among Red Raiders fans has only increased with his soaring stature and his public support of Texas Tech teams, and not just the football team.
"I'm a huge fan," Tech coach Joey McGuire said. "We've talked. It's really good to have him on our side. He and Kittley are really close, and so they talk. But he's really good about, (when Tech personnel tell him), 'Hey, man, we have this going on on social media' or anything like that (to promote), he's like, 'I've got you, coach.' So he's really proud to be a Red Raider; I know that."
McGuire, during his time as head coach at Cedar Hill, said he had paid attention to Mahomes in high school, but he remembers being wowed by Mahomes' effort in the Texas Bowl at the end of the 2015 season. LSU beat Tech 56-27, but Mahomes threw for 370 yards and four touchdowns.
"I was just in awe of his arm strength and the angles he could throw it at," McGuire said. "What he was doing in that game was incredible."
Kittley is Tech's offensive coordinator now. In the fall of 2014, he was a 23-year-old student assistant who so impressed Kliff Kingsbury that the Tech coach trusted Kittley to provide much of the quarterbacks' instruction in the offense. That included training a young Mahomes.
"I was put in such an unbelievable situation here," Kittley said, "with my relationship with coach Kingsbury and him allowing me to be hands-on with those guys and run some meetings and install the game plans with those guys at times and stuff like that. It was huge for me. Clearly, I would not be up here without Pat, for sure. He's clearly the best in the world at what he does, so it's been awesome to see."
More:Texas Tech Football Statistical Leaders
Kittley realized what a special pupil he had during Mahomes' 2014 regular-season finale against Baylor at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. His 598 passing yards, the Big 12 freshman record, was broken four years later by Tech's Alan Bowman. Though it came in a 48-46 loss, Mahomes threw four touchdown passes of at least 40 yards in the game's final 17 minutes.
"He threw a deep post, a 50-something-yard bomb to Bradley Marquez, and I was like, 'This dude's unbelievable,' " Kittley said. "We'd always seen him in practice make the freaky throws and all that."
Tech is having its traditional Athletics Hall of Fame and Hall of Honor induction ceremonies on Friday night at the Overton Hotel & Conference Center. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the program is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
The Hall of Fame class includes two-time second-team all-America football player Kevin Curtis, golf all-American Oscar Floren, basketball standouts Norman Reuther and Gene Knolle, all-America baseball pitcher Matt Miller, Big 12 track and field champion Patience Knight and volleyball standout Chris Martin.
More:Right at home: Red Raiders are making Jones Stadium fun again
The late Tommy McVay, who served as the Tech director of football operations for more than two decades, will be inducted into the Hall of Honor.
College football
Who: Texas Tech vs. Baylor
When: 6:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Jones AT&T Stadium
Records: Baylor 4-3, 2-2 in the Big 12; Texas Tech 4-3, 2-2
Rankings (AP/coaches poll): Baylor unranked/receiving votes; Tech unranked/unranked
TV: ESPN2
Line: Tech by 2 1/2
Last game: Baylor 35, Kansas 23; Texas Tech 48, West Virginia 10
Last meeting: Baylor 27, Tech 24 last year in Waco
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football great Patrick Mahomes returns for honors
