Patrick Mahomes won the 2018 and 2022 NFL MVP award and Super Bowl LIV, making him one of the biggest stars in the sport. Before he was an NFL MVP, Mahomes was putting up record-breaking passing numbers at Texas Tech.
Here’s everything you need to know about Mahomes’ college career.
School: Texas Tech
Position: Quarterback
Height: 6-3
Weight: 230 pounds
Years active: 2014-16
Here are Patrick Mahomes’ career stats in college. Scroll to the right to view the complete stats.
Year | Games | Completions | attempts | Comp. % | Yards | Y/A | TD | INT | Rating |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | 7 | 105 | 185 | 56.8 | 1,547 | 8.4 | 16 | 4 | 151.2 |
2015 | 13 | 364 | 573 | 63.5 | 4,653 | 8.1 | 36 | 15 | 147.2 |
2016 | 12 | 388 | 591 | 65.7 | 5,052 | 8.5 | 41 | 10 | 157.0 |
Career | 32 | 857 | 1,349 | 63.5 | 11,252 | 8.3 | 93 | 29 | 152.0 |
Patrick Mahomes attended Texas Tech, choosing the Red Raiders over offers from Oklahoma State and Rice.
Mahomes was ranked as the No. 398 prospect in the 2014 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, which placed him as the No. 29 pro-style quarterback prospect and the No. 82 player in the state of Texas.
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Patrick Mahomes’ Red Raiders went 13-19. His best season in Lubbock came in 2015, when Texas Tech went 7-5 in the regular season.
Patrick Mahomes’ name appears in the FBS record book 22 times.
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Patrick Mahomes’ breakout game came in the Red Raiders’ regular-season finale during his freshman season. In a loss to Baylor, Mahomes completed 30-of-56 passes for 598 yards and six touchdowns. He had thrown for 949 yards in his previous six games and he threw for 63 percent of that total in that one game. “Patrick Mahomes set a Big 12 freshman record with 598 yards passing and threw for six TDs in a 48-46 loss to No. 5 Baylor,” the Herald and Review reported.
Mahomes built off his last three games as a freshman and threw for at least 320 yards in each game as a sophomore. He threw for at least 300 yards 10 times in 13 games, including four 400-yard games. Against Iowa State, the super sophomore completed 33-of-46, or 71.7 percent, of his passes for 428 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. “The Red Raiders lived up to their fast-scoring, run-and-gun reputation by tallying a school-record 776 yards of total offense (515 passing, 261 rushing),” wrote The Des Moines Register’s Tommy Birch. “Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed 33 of 46 passes for 428 yards and five touchdowns. ‘He’s a mighty fine quarterback,’ (Iowa State coach Paul) Rhoads said.”
Three weeks later in a loss to Oklahoma State, Mahomes was 38-for-55 for 480 yards, four touchdowns and two interception. Mahomes completed 33-of-42 passes against Kansas State for 384 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in mid-November. “Texas Tech locked up a spot in a bowl with a 59-44 win over Kansas State on senior day in Lubbock,” the Austin American-Statesman reported. “Patrick Mahomes completed 33 of 42 passes for 384 yards to lift the Red Raiders (6-5, 3-5 Big 12). It’s definite progress over a year ago, when Tech slid to 4-8.”
Mahomes’ already-impressive stats became record-breaking as a junior, when he had four games with at least 500 passing yards, including a single-game FBS record 734 yards against Oklahoma. Playing against Oklahoma and future Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 overall NFL draft pick Baker Mayfield, Mahomes and Mayfield combined for 1,279 passing yards in the game, while Mahomes also set records for most plays in a game (100) and total yards gained (819).
Mahomes had seven total touchdowns in the game — five passing and two rushing — and his 85 rushing yards were a single-game career-high in college.
In his final college game, Patrick Mahomes threw for 586 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions against Baylor, earning a 215.3 passer rating— the second-highest of his college career.
Paul Myerberg of USA TODAY: “In an era when personalized quarterback development has become commonplace, Mahomes never had a private coach and never attended the quarterback-only camps that have become a ubiquitous part of a recruit’s offseason schedule. He didn’t play football until middle school, then as a safety, and didn’t take over at quarterback until the third game of his junior year.”
Former Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury after Mahomes became the Red Raiders’ starting quarterback in 2014: “Patrick is a tremendous athlete. He can extend plays and throw it downfield. He’s so young, so it’s not always pretty, but I think he has a knack for making plays … It all moved very fast for him. He has to grow up quickly.”
Kingsbury: “There’s no guru; there’s no camps. He’s just a natural thrower.”
Kevin Lyttle of the Austin American-Statesman: “And when (Davis) Webb injured his left shoulder last week, freshman Patrick Mahomes became the only healthy scholarship quarterback on the roster. In an ideal world, Mahomes, who was a three-star recruit from Whitehall in East Texas, would have redshirted. Instead, he’s likely to be the man when Tech visits Kansas State on Saturday.”
Kingsbury after Mahomes led Texas Tech on a game-winning 75-yard drive to beat Iowa State 34-31: “He’s got a lot of competitive spirit. He always thinks he’s going to win and he thinks he’s the best player every time he goes out there.”
Former Texas Tech teammate Devin Lauderdale: “Patrick has been showing up and … has been stepping up as a leader even though he is young. We have been getting closer and closer every day. We have been working on our timing and he tells me what he likes and what he doesn’t like.”
Former Texas Tech teammate DeAndre Washington: “He’s far from a traditional quarterback. He’s his own guy.”
Former offensive coordinator Eric Morris: “He’s pretty special. It’s fun to watch him create these plays and find people downfield. How accurate he throws the ball on the run is what’s really remarkable to me.”