Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes will be reunited with his old college coach in Week 1 of the regular season, only this time they won’t be playing for the same side.
A year after Mahomes was drafted by the Chiefs, the Arizona Cardinals hired his coach at Texas Tech, Kliff Kingsbury, to lead their franchise. They’ve since faced each other just once, during the preseason last year. The season opener in Arizona will be the first time that Mahomes and Kingsbury will square off in the NFL where the games actually count.
Asked whether he knew anything about the quarterback he’s set to face in Week 1, Kingsbury reminisced about the times the two shared with the Red Raiders.
“A little bit,” Kingsbury joked. “Yeah, he’s a pretty decent player. Yeah, it’ll be a little surreal going against him. It’ll be fun. It’ll be fun for Texas Tech people as well.”
In three seasons with the Red Raiders from 2014-2016, Mahomes threw 857 complete passes for 11,252 passing yards, 93 touchdowns and 29 interceptions. In 32 games at Texas Tech the pair combined for a 14-18 win-loss record, including bowl games.
Kingsbury says that Mahomes and he still text often. Most recently, they were fired up in a group chat about Texas Tech football’s 66-point game against Murray State.
“I’m just really proud of the person more than anything,” Kingsbury said. “Just watching how he has grown up, the leadership qualities he’s shown on and off the field. I mean, anytime you watch him in any of those arenas, just how socially responsible he is, how he leads, how he treats people, the stuff he does in the community with charities. He runs the gambit of what you want a sports star to be like and carry himself. So that has been really special to watch that development.”
