2012 NFL Draft: Is Houston’s Case Keenum Really a Top Quarterback Prospect?

The most productive passer in college football history.

That’s the title which Houston quarterback Case Keenum now owns after breaking former Hawaii quarterback Timmy Chang’s all-time passing record back in a Week 10 win over UAB.

17,557 passing yards.

Yes, that’s a lot of yards.

Any time you can throw for 10 miles in your college career, you must be doing something right.

Case Keenum has proved that he is one of the best passers to grace the college game in quite some time, however, the question that everyone seems to be asking is: Is Keenum just another one of these system quarterbacks with gaudy passing numbers, or is he in fact the real deal?

In recent years, we’ve seen the Timmy Chang’s, the Graham Harrell’s and the Colt Brennan’s of the world pile up incredible passing statistics in college and then proceed to do absolutely nothing in the pro game.

Heck, we even saw another former Houston quarterback, Andre Ware, who was taken No. 7 by the Detroit Lions in the 1990 draft, do the same thing in the Run N' Shoot offense in college.

When you get these type of prolific passers, what becomes so difficult to determine is, where does the system end and the quarterback begin?

When you look at Keenum’s background, you see a kid who came to Houston as an unknown, low-rated recruit out of Wylie high school in Abilene, Texas. when Keenum arrived at Houston he made an immediate impact as a part of a two-quarterback system as a freshman, and then he subsequently skyrocketed from there.

Once he took over as a full-time starter, Keenum topped the 5,000-yard passing mark in his sophomore and junior seasons, but a knee injury against UCLA cut his senior year short to just three games in 2010.

The medical redshirt he received may just turn out to be the greatest thing that’s ever happened to both Keenum and the Cougars.

Now that he’s back and fully recovered, Keenum has been taking no prisoners out on the field in his final year.

The 6’2’’, 210-pound senior has thrown for 3,951 yards and hit 37 touchdown strikes in just ten games this season, as he’s guided the Cougars to a 10-0 record and a No. 11 ranking in the current BCS standings.

His detractors will point to the fact that Houston has yet to face a ranked opponent this season and the fact that the Cougars have faced four of the worst pass defenses in the country—Louisiana Tech (108th), North Texas (115th), Rice (116th), and UAB (119th).

That’s a fair argument, without a doubt, but if you look at what Keenum’s actually been able to do this season, you just can’t help but be impressed.

Houston currently ranks No. 1 in the nation in passing offense, scoring offense and total offense, which is certainly no easy feat, and after Thursday’s 73-17 beat down of Tulane, the Cougars are now averaging 54 points and 628 yards per game.

But again, it's fair to ask, where does the system end, and the quarterback begin?

Some have already started to compare Keenum to another Houston product, Kevin Kolb, who was taken in the second round by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2007, and who has now of course made his way to Arizona, where he’s been a letdown as a starter so far.

While it’s fair to compare Keenum to Kolb because of their physical makeups and the schools they’ve come out of, it wouldn’t be fair write off Keenum just because Kolb has had his struggles in the pro game.

What you can knock Keenum for is the fact that he’s faced marginal competition and comes from a pass-heavy system that doesn’t translate all that well to the NFL.

Does Case Keenum have his limitations?

Certainly, but he also has enough tools and skills to intrigue scouts, and possibly entice a team into taking him earlier than his pro potential might warrant.

As the NFL scouts like to say, Keenum’s got a hose, and there’s no doubt that he has the arm strength to make all of the throws required of an NFL quarterback.

The only major concern centers around if he can make the successful transition to a pro-style offense or not.

As it stands now, Keenum may be working his way into the Heisman discussion, but it’s going to be awfully difficult for him to climb any higher than the 2nd or 3d round of the NFL draft, given his limitations as a pro-style quarterback.

This year’s senior class isn’t strong at all, though, and it remains to be seen how many of the big four juniors—Stanford’s Andrew Luck, USC’s Matt Barkley, Baylor’s Robert Griffin III and Oklahoma’s Landry Jones—will decide to come out after this season.

Right now, it looks like  Keenum will have to compete with other senior quarterbacks like Arizona’s Nick Foles, Oklahoma State’s Brandon Weeden, Texas A&M’s Ryan Tannehill, Michigan State’s Kirk Cousins, Wisconsin’s Russell Wilson and San Diego State’s Ryan Lindley for positioning somewhere in the 3rd or 4th round range.  

Ultimately, Keenum’s stock and draft value will depend on how he performs at the Senior Bowl and in postseason workouts.

If the highly productive passer can show scouts that he can work effectively in a pro-style passing attack, then Keenum’s stock will definitely rise, but as of right now, he’s still got some questions that he’s got to answer.

Keenum knows all about answering the questions and you can bet that he’s going to remain motivated to bring his Houston team to a BCS bowl game, whether people want the Cougars to crash the party or not.
Why is that Case Keenum’s NFL career ends up panning out, you can’t help but appreciate all that the unsung Texas recruit that practically nobody wanted has been able to accomplish during his college career.

Keenum is now college football’s most productive passer of all time, and while that may not mean a lot to NFL scouts, it’s certainly the type of milestone that he can celebrate for the rest of his life.