[Quesadilla Joe]

Originally Posted by staylor26

Lol now ask Kingsbury whether he’d prefer Keenum or Mahomes.

He loves Keenum. He'd probably say Mahomes is the most talented QB he's ever coached but Keenum is the best QB he ever coached.

“Some guys have that innate sense to get out of the pocket and either get forward for 6 or 7 [yards], make it second-and-3 or get outside the pocket and find somebody down the field,” Kingsbury said. “He’s one of the best I’ve ever been around at knowing when his pocket’s collapsing, somebody’s coming free and getting at him, and he makes a play at the right time.”

He made us look good as coaches because he could check into the right play, and then if you called a play and it was covered, he could scramble, move, extend the play and make it down the field,” he said. “It was a playcaller’s dream to have somebody like that.”

As Kingsbury watches Keenum’s film, he reminds himself why he never called screen plays in 2011, when the Cougars ranked among the top 10 teams in the country in third-down conversions (48.4 percent).

“Why take it out of his hands?” he said. “He’s either going to throw for it, run for it or extend the play and find somebody.”

“I remember I talked to him after the Pittsburgh game,” Kingsbury recalled. “I called him and said, ‘You are playing at a very, very high level. Hang in there. You’re just about to get going.’”

And he did. But even in a game in which Keenum had his worst passer rating (65.9) of the season, Kingsbury saw the potential.

“He’s getting hit and they’re throwing the kitchen sink at him with blitzes and he’s moving and making some phenomenal throws down the field that were either close to being caught or almost caught,” he said. “You could just see that if he was given the chance to win the game, even though it didn’t work out, that something was coming. I knew in this day and age he was getting beat up on Twitter and social media. I just wanted to make sure that he knew he was doing everything he could do, just hang in there and keep balling because you’re really close to taking that next step. He’s done it, which is awesome.”

http://www.espn.com/blog/minnesota-v...-for-greatness