For years, Big 12 QBs were NFL misfits. Mahomes-Hurts Super Bowl changes that equation
For much of its existence, the Big 12 Conference was known as a league of big passing offenses. Future successful pro quarterbacks, not so much.
Since the Big 12’s inception in 1996, member-teams have rolled up huge numbers through the air, often leading the nation in production. But they were slow to advance quarterbacks to the NFL, and the few that made it weren’t always front-line players.
But check out this Super Bowl LVII QB matchup: the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, who spent three seasons setting several NCAA records at Texas Tech, against the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts, who spent his final year of college at Oklahoma, where he posted one of the top seasons, in terms of total offense, in league history.
Little research is required to determine that this is the first Super Bowl that pits Big 12 quarterbacks on opposite sides of the field. Four years ago, Mahomes became the first QB from the conference to start in the big game.
From novelty act-type numbers to leading roles on the grandest stage in football, former Big 12 quarterbacks are suddenly making it big.
“It’s cool,” Mahomes said. “You get past that stigma of, ‘You’re an Air Raid quarterback, you don’t know how to handle an NFL offense.’
“Guys can come from anywhere.”
Throw in the conference championship game, and the NFL’s final four teams were all influenced by Big 12 backgrounds. The San Francisco 49ers, who fell to the Eagles in the NFC title game, were led by Brock Purdy, the rookie from Iowa State who took over in Week 14 after an injury to Jimmy Garoppolo.
The Cincinnati Bengals, who lost to the Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game a year after playing in the Super Bowl, are coached by Zac Taylor, He set passing records at Nebraska and was a Big 12 offensive player of the year.
Also starting in the playoffs this year: Miami Dolphins quarterback Skylar Thompson, who hails from from Kansas State and Fort Osage High, and Geno Smith, the former West Virginia star who guided the Seattle Seahawks through a fine first season without Russell Wilson.
The Big 12 gained its reputation as a passing league when Mike Leach brought the Air Raid style to Texas Tech in 2000. Over the next decade, five-receiver sets, often operating without a huddle, became commonplace and would rack up huge statistics — primarily through the air.
The first Tech quarterback to lead this attack was Kliff Kingsbury, one of five Red Raiders quarterbacks to lead the nation in passing yards over a nine-year period. In 2016, Mahomes topped the nation in that category while playing for Kingsbury — by then, Texas Tech’s head coach — and matched an NCAA record with 734 passing yards in a single, crazy game.
But Kingsbury and Graham Harrell were the only Tech quarterback from that decade to play in the NFL ... and they appeared in a grand total of just five games.
The NFL didn’t even embrace Big 12 quarterbacks who were voted best in the college game. Three Heisman winners and finalists from the Big 12 — Oklahoma’s Josh Heupel (second in the Heisman race in 2000), Nebraska’s Eric Crouch (winner in 2001) and the Sooners’ Jason White (winner in 2003) — never played so much as a down in the NFL.
The next crop of quarterbacks broke through playing different styles. Vince Young led Texas to the 2005 national championship as a dynamic dual threat. He was named to two Pro Bowls in six NFL seasons. Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford, Josh Freeman of Kansas State and Grandview High, Missouri’s Blaine Gabbert and Baylor’s Robert Griffin III each started at least 40 NFL games, but only Young finished his career with a winning record.
Finally, over the past few seasons, the Big 12 has seen its QBs progress to some NFL success. Mahomes became the first from the Big 12 to win a playoff game. Since then, Ryan Tannehill (Texas A&M) and Baker Mayfield (Oklahoma), along with Hurts and Purdy, have joined that list.
As much success as they’ve had lately, Big 12 schools have still produced more quarterbacks that won Heismans (six) than NFL playoff games (five).
Hurts, who spent his first three college years at Alabama before transferring to Oklahoma, has led the Eagles to the playoffs in both of his seasons as a pro. As a Sooner, he posted the fifth-best season for total offense in Big 12 history.
He’s ideally suited to run the Eagles’ run-pass option (RPO). Although his running was reduced toward the end of the season because of a shoulder sprain, he’s still accounted for 35 touchdowns.
“I feel I play the game in a different way,” Hurts said. “It’s a pick-your-poison thing with us.”
Andy Hill, the Chiefs’ assistant special teams coach, was on the Missouri Tigers’ staff when the Big 12 was formed, and so he competed against many of the league’s best. For many years, styles that won in the NFL and the Big 12 didn’t align.
Now, if the quarterback is talented enough, a team like the Chiefs can shape its entire offense around a player who’s prolific as a passer, while the Eagles can win with a dual-threat artist like Hurts.
“Mostly you see (offensive trends) trickling down to college and high school,” Hill said. “This one went up.”
Up indeed. All the way to the Super Bowl.
Big 12 Heisman QBs and NFL experience
2001: Eric Crouch, Nebraska (did not play in NFL)
2003: Jason White, Oklahoma (did not play in NFL)
2008: Sam Bradford, Oklahoma (8 years in NFL)
2011: Robert Griffin III, Baylor (7 years in NFL)
2017: Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma (5 years in NFL)
2018: Kyler Murray, Oklahoma (4 years in NFL)
This story was originally published February 9, 2023 at 6:00 AM.