WHITEHOUSE, Texas — The Mahomes Mania continues as the Super Bowl gets closer and the Kansas City Chiefs' AFC Championship win over the Tennessee Titans has all eyes on East Texas native, Patrick Mahomes!
The reigning NFL MVP is gaining recognition across the world, but the coach who knows him best dwindles down to where it all got started, at Whitehouse High School.
"We watch these game and the things that he does and it's like we're a part of it," Mahomes' former head football coach, Adam Cook, said. "Patrick has that ability as a leader to where he kinda sucks everyone in. People want to know him, they want to be around him. They all want to know him and who he is because he has this ability to draw them in."
Athletic Director Adam Cook has been the head football coach at Whitehouse High School for 14 years. He coached Mahomes all four years of his high school career from 2011 to 2014.
"I have to pinch myself sometimes," Cook said. "I feel like it was under God's grace that I was able to coach Patrick Mahomes. Unlike Kliff Kingsbury, unlike Andy Reid. I didn't get to go out and pick him."
Ahead of Sunday, Feb. 2, when Mahomes makes his first Super Bowl appearance, Cook took us down memory lane.
"We would warm up before a game," Cook said. "Usually you got half of the field and we're over on our half and the team that we're playing is on the other side. Patrick would take it and he would try to throw it into whatever drill they were doing. If they had punters that were working or guys who were fielding the punt. He's trying to hit those guys on the other side. Just kinda let them know that they're there. "
In Mahomes' third year in the NFL, Cook is all in on the strength of his former star quarterback's arm.
"There are some pretty strong arms in the NFL," Cook said. "I got to rank him at the top. I can't bet against my boy. Anyone who knows Patrick, you're asking me who you're going to put your money on, you got to have Patrick."
Cook praised Mahomes for his ability to arguably throw further than anyone else in the league, but what impressed him the most is the decisions he's made to get where he is today.
"I think that's why he is where he is now," Cook said. "He's continued to make the right decisions to put himself in the position to be where he is. There are a lot of great athletes out there that haven't done that, that we don't see, that could be playing in the Super Bowl. Have all the talent in the world, but they didn't make the decision to put themselves to be successful, and Patrick just seems to do that over and over."