NEW ORLEANS — When we see Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes smashing records, it is no surprise that he was a talented high school football player. But did you also know he was a talented basketball and baseball player in high school too?
I sat down with two of his former coaches who actually think playing all those sports helped his skills that we see even today on the football field.
“He would play every position,” said Brent Kelley who used to coach Mahomes in basketball in Whitehouse, Texas.
Jared Freeman used to be one of his coaches for football and basketball in high school. I asked Freeman if Mahomes had a pitch that people feared when he took the mound.
“Yes, fastball,” he said. “He could let it go. I mean, for a high school pitcher, I mean, he was in that 95 miles an hour range. “
“I think playing multiple sports has allowed him to excel on the football field, whether it's just basic body mechanics and learning how to use your body to do things. Some of the skills he learned on the football field, he took to basketball, basketball to baseball, and baseball back to football,” said Freeman.
We’ve seen the no-look pass and wild plays from Mahomes. Kelley has seen them on the court.
“I think a lot of that comes from basketball. And, you know, you can see things he did in high school, the no look pass, the vision. Basketball is a really fast paced game, and so I think he's able to slow everything down his head
because of his, you know, experience.”
We asked Mahomes about it here in New Orleans and he agreed!
Freeman thinks playing multiple sports is a lesson we can learn from the NFL superstar.
“I think he's kind of laid out a pathway for other kids to follow. Is just play everything that you can, and at some point you might, you might specialize, but play as much as you can,” he said.
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