[ESPN] Case Keenum on Verge of History

AFS · Oct 19, 2011

Awesome to see ESPN giving Case some love

By Ivan Maisel
ESPN.com

HOUSTON -- Don't get Case Keenum wrong. The Houston quarterback appreciates the fact that he is on track to set the NCAA career records for total offense, passing yards and touchdown passes. Keenum should take the first of those three Saturday, when the No. 19 Cougars play Marshall.
Keenum, who leads the FBS with 2,333 yards of total offense, needs only 130 yards to break the total offense record of 16,910 set by Timmy Chang of Hawaii (2000-04).

But with all due respect to the 142 seasons of quarterbacks who have played before him, those records aren't the most significant achievement of Keenum's senior season.

Playing is.

Only 13 months ago, in the third game of his fifth year with the Cougars, Keenum tried to correct a mistake and created a bigger one. After throwing an interception to UCLA linebacker Akeem Ayers, Keenum took off after Ayers to make the tackle. Keenum tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

Yet there Keenum was in the starting lineup on Aug. 30, when Houston defeated UCLA 38-34, and there he has been in every game this season. There is no discernible difference in the quality of his play, either. Keenum, in six games, has completed 170 of 238 passes for 2,309 yards and 17 touchdowns with only two interceptions. His passing efficiency rating of 174.81 is the best of his career by 15 points.

Those aren't even his best statistics. The Cougars, at 6-0, are one of 10 unbeaten teams in the FBS.

"I haven't felt my knee at all the last couple of games," Keenum said. "It's hard to say what percent I'm in. I felt 100 [percent] each time. But I've felt better each game mentally and physically."

The American sports fan takes for granted the miracles of modern medicine. Injuries that used to spell the end of a career now mean an interruption. Rehabilitation that once took two years, if it took at all, is now measured in months.

When the bell rang to open the season, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Keenum answered it. But that doesn't tell his story. That doesn't capture the 27 pounds he lost after surgery last fall, when the pain medication he needed for his knee left him uninterested in food.

That doesn't reveal the doubt that overtook him as he watched practice on crutches last fall, or the guilt that weighed him down as the Cougars, preseason favorites in Conference USA, finished 5-7.

That doesn't soothe the panic that consumed him when it looked as if his college career had ended and his knee wouldn't let him show the NFL what he could do.

"Going through December," Houston head coach Kevin Sumlin said, "he was like, 'OK Coach, I'm not going to be ready to go for the combine. I'm going to graduate. What am I going to do with my life?'"

Houston and Keenum applied for a sixth year of eligibility (A shoulder injury convinced the Cougars coaches to redshirt him as a freshman in 2006). NCAA rules necessitated that for Keenum to be eligible in the fall, he had to enroll in the spring semester in January.

On Jan. 14, only days before the first class, the NCAA gave Keenum his sixth year.

"You sit there and think about timelines," Keenum said. "I wasn't sure if I was getting another year back. 'Oh my gosh, I've got to be ready for this and this. Am I going to be able to have a pro day?' I had no goal to work toward. My goal was just trying to get healthy. Then we heard [from the NCAA]. OK, now there's a goal. It's nice to have a picture in your mind of where you're going to be headed."

That answered Keenum's long-term concerns. But he still had to pay the toll of rehabilitation.

"Most people think, well, he got a sixth year. Here we go," Sumlin said. "The reality of it is … you're in February, and rehab is not a team sport. It may be the ultimate individual sport. It's long. It's painful. A lot of guys get frustrated."

"I'm used to working and seeing results," Keenum said. "It's like hitting your head against the wall, waking up every day doing the same thing. For a month at a time, it's like, 'Oh, I'm not getting any better.' There were those weeks and even months, the same thing every day."

By May, Keenum had had it. His doctors told him he was improving. All he knew was that nothing changed. He did the exercises. He got the massages. His knee hurt. The expectations wore on him. Do you know what it feels like to be 23 years old and have one good knee with an entire athletic program on your back?

The trainers and the medical staff decided to make the rehab work on Keenum's mind.

"He's a guy who does well with reinforcement by numbers," Sumlin said. "'This is how I practiced. I completed this many balls out of this many throws.'" The doctors and trainers set up a program in which Keenum did a specific number of reps of each exercise so that he could measure his progress from week to week. From there, he took off."

Keenum set a goal of being ready for the Cougars' practice in August. He missed three of the 29 workouts, two because the coaches sat him out. He set another goal, too. He envisioned coming off the field after Houston's first touchdown of the season.

"I envisioned seeing everybody there that's been there for me: coaches, trainers, from every trainer that's given me countless massages on my knee, to all the guys I've done rehab with, to doctors, to everybody," Keenum said. "That was one of the biggest challenges, to be there and play for all the guys and people who had supported me and been there."

At the top of the list were people who wouldn't be on the sideline, his parents in Abilene, Steve and Susan, and his longtime girlfriend, Kimberly Caddell. She listened to his doubts. She nursed him when he couldn't get around. She nurtured him when his spirit waned. In June, she became Kimberly Keenum.

"It's one of the big reasons we're married today," Keenum said. "I realized how much she loved me. She showed it. I don't think I could have gotten that from anybody else. Here's a picture of her right here. She got her bridal portraits done at the stadium. That's pretty funny, isn't it?"

Her photo is inside the clear plastic sleeve on the cover of his Houston playbook. Her dark hair and white dress are set off by the green grass of Robertson Stadium.

On the Cougars' opening drive of the season, on that same Robertson Stadium grass, Keenum moved the offense 80 yards in 16 plays, converting four third downs. When he came off the field, Keenum wrapped his orthopedist, Dr. Walt Lowe, in a big ol' hug.

Houston won that game 38-34, and it's won the rest of them, too. In the days following the last game, a 56-3 rout of East Carolina in which Keenum completed 30 of 37 passes for 304 yards and three touchdowns, he noticed something. Actually, he noticed the absence of something. His knee didn't hurt.

"I just woke up the next day and thought about the journey I've been on," Keenum said. "Last year at this time, I was struggling to get out of bed. The path that God's brought me on has been pretty cool. He's been the same God for me in the valleys as he is now that we're hopefully climbing to the top.

"Golly, think about where we were and where we are. Pretty incredible journey."
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I say he breaks the record halfway through the second quarter on Saturday.

javal_lon · Oct 19, 2011

It would be really classy and highly respectable for Timmy Chang to be in attendance... Plus it would give him 15 minutes of fame... Maybe he can flip that into a reality show

Ziggy · Oct 19, 2011

javal_lon said: ↑

It would be really classy and highly respectable for Timmy Chang to be in attendance... Plus it would give him 15 minutes of fame... Maybe he can flip that into a reality show
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LOL its not that big of a deal, I'm not sure Chang can afford to just show up. He probably works at 7/11 or something. Is Keenum going to break Chang's other record too? You know... the bad one.

moestavern19 · Oct 19, 2011

**** you Timmy Chang!

javal_lon · Oct 19, 2011

Ziggy said: ↑

LOL its not that big of a deal, I'm not sure Chang can afford to just show up. He probably works at 7/11 or something. Is Keenum going to break Chang's other record too? You know... the bad one.
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true its not that big of a deal...But Im sure the broadcasters would acknowledge his attendance.... And yeah he breaks that one too

houston#1 · Oct 19, 2011

AFS said: ↑

Awesome to see ESPN giving Case some love

I say he breaks the record halfway through the second quarter on Saturday.
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Wow, great story. Case Keenum will break total offense record on Saturday. It is going to be awesome when this player representing UH takes over #1 for total offense in NCAA. He's going to break another records this season too. Go Coogs!

ascaptjack · Oct 19, 2011

I think he will be a good QB in the NFL?

moestavern19 · Oct 19, 2011

ascaptjack said: ↑

I think he will be a good QB in the NFL?
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I doubt it. He's just another gimmicky spread offense QB. I think he has good intangibles and mobility, but he lacks ideal size and arm strength. He'd get eaten alive in the NFL.

javal_lon · Oct 19, 2011

ascaptjack said: ↑

I think he will be a good QB in the NFL?
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Of course you did!!!... Keep waiting on someone to co-sign that opinion...Carry survival kit while youre waiting...Clueless!!! SMH

AFS · Oct 19, 2011

moestavern19 said: ↑

I doubt it. He's just another gimmicky spread offense QB. I think he has good intangibles and mobility, but he lacks ideal size and arm strength. He'd get eaten alive in the NFL.
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Yeah I think you're probably right. I think he (mostly) has good decision making and awareness, but doesn't really have the cannon of an arm necessary for NFL.

But maybe on the right team in the NFL, he'd excel? He'll probably make a good backup QB somewhere.

pge71188 · Oct 19, 2011

javal_lon said: ↑

Of course you did!!!... Keep waiting on someone to co-sign that opinion...Carry survival kit while youre waiting...Clueless!!! SMH
Click to expand...

I think he would do pretty well in NFL. Hopefully Texans use a 2nd or 3rd on him

kevC · Oct 19, 2011

In before GlenRice says something racist about Timmy Chang?

Major Malcontent · Oct 19, 2011

I think he is on the College Head Coach career path. Maybe he can get on as a 2nd or 3rd string QB just to learn and establish some NFL credentials.

juicystream · Oct 19, 2011

moestavern19 said: ↑

I doubt it. He's just another gimmicky spread offense QB. I think he has good intangibles and mobility, but he lacks ideal size and arm strength. He'd get eaten alive in the NFL.
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You don't need ideal size or arm strength to be successful in the NFL. It certainly helps, but not necessary (Drew Brees comes to mind).

I don't watch UH much, so I won't even try to comment on his NFL prospects.

Hippieloser · Oct 19, 2011

Keenum doesn't have the ideal size for the NFL, but he's got great accuracy and pocket mobility as well as that unteachable coach-on-the-field awareness and poise that take some guys from good to great. Personally, I don't think his arm strength is as bad as some do. It's possible he could make a career in the NFL, but there are only so many jobs available. Drew Brees is who he models his game after.

I agree with Major that he's got "Future Coach" written all over him.

DonnyMost · Oct 19, 2011

If he makes it in the NFL it will be nothing short of amazing. I hope he comes back to UH after whatever stint he has in the NFL and signs on as a QB coach here, then perhaps he can move on to OC somewhere. He has a bright future in football, but probably not on the field.

P.S. Can we stop calling spread offenses "gimmicky"? I think it's generally accepted as a mainstream offense now, and a lot of pro prospect QBs come out of them.

boomboom · Oct 19, 2011

I wonder if he'd stick around and coach UH after Arizona swipes up Sumlin. :grin:

javal_lon · Oct 19, 2011

pge71188 said: ↑

I think he would do pretty well in NFL. Hopefully Texans use a 2nd or 3rd on him
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You sound like Parcells aka Pat White.... If thats the value of a 2nd or 3rd pick then we should've jet-packed that pick for Brandon Lloyd .... Nothin wrong with reaching but thats going beyond!!!

A_3PO · Oct 19, 2011

That was a great read. I wish there was a way to catch Saturday's game on TV.

DonnyMost · Oct 19, 2011

A_3PO said: ↑

That was a great read. I wish there was a way to catch Saturday's game on TV.
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It'll be on CBS Sports.

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