Pat Mahomes is the Super Bowl MVP for the second time. In a game that will go down as an instant classic, Mahomes led the Chiefs to a come from behind victory in Super Bowl LVII further establishing his legacy as one of the greatest quarterbacks not only of his generation but perhaps of all time. But according to the scouts across the nation, Pat Mahomes never should have made it this far. In fact, there are quite a few quarterbacks who they preferred over him, that never played one down of NFL football. So how do ranking services get it wrong about a player like Mahomes? It all comes down to the politics of sports recruiting, and fortunately for Pat, politics don’t play the games for you.

Before the Politics 

In high school Pat Mahomes as you would expect was a dominant quarterback. He led his high school to their first ever district championship, while throwing and rushing for 65 total touchdowns during his senior year. He was also named the 2013 Texas Associated Press High School Football Player of the Year, and Texas is a state where that really matters. But on top of what he did on the football field, he was also a top baseball player who was drafted by the Detroit Tigers. Anyone who was paying attention should have noticed that for Pat Mahomes to be that talented in two sports, all it would take is for him to give 100 percent of his energy to football for his true greatness to be realized.

Enter the Politics

After all of Pat’s high school accomplishments he was ranked as a 3 star quarterback recruit by ESPN, Rivals, and 247. Apparently Scout thought more highly of him, which is why they gave him a 4 star ranking. He was the not a top 10 quarterback in his recruiting class on any of those boards, and considered to be the 50th best recruit in the state of Texas. The truth is that college recruiters do not have the capacity to tell the future, and they judge players based only on what they can see in very limited moments of evaluation. What is ironic is that in 2014 he was named the MaxPreps male athlete of the year for the entire nation, but yet ranking services still weren’t sold on Pat’s potential.  

Playing the Games

Perhaps not getting the attention he deserved motivated Pat, because once football became his primary focus his career took off. He started four games as a true freshman in the Big 12, throwing 1500 yards when he did. And by sophomore year was the clear starter and one of the best quarterbacks in the nation. He became the nation’s leading passer by the end of his junior year leading the nation in passing yards, and sixth all time in FBS yardage for a season. It is after that performance that the same guy they said was a 3 star recruit left early for the NFL Draft, and was drafted in the first round en route to winning which allowed him to leave early and go to the NFL. After being drafted early in the first round, he is now a 2 time MVP and 2 time Super Bowl MVP.

The Bottom Line

The fact of the matter is that there are college coaches today who turned down the opportunity to recruit Pat Mahomes. In fact, they chose other quarterbacks over him, and likely lost their jobs a few years later because of it. Recruitment rankings are essentially a brainstorming session for college scouts. They throw stuff on the board and tinker with it as they see fit. But honestly nobody knows who or what will work out until years later. Regardless of your recruitment level, your potential is something between you and you alone. Something I’m sure Pat Mahomes figured out long before he raised his Super Bowl MVP trophy for the second time.

KNOW THE GAME. WIN THE GAME.

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