The Underdog: 6 foot nothing

Last Friday, Jerome Solomon of the Houston Chronicle wrote an article detailing his opinions on why Case Keenum should not be the second string quarterback for the Texans this season.

This is my response to a man (whom I respect) who makes tens of thousands of dollars doing what I would give my life to be able to do; write about Houston’s professional sporting clubs.

In Response to Jerome Solomon

Coming out of high school as a two star recruit from Abilene Texas, not much was thought of undersized quarterback Case Keenum.

Not surprisingly, the only school to offer him a scholarship was the University of Houston.

In his first season, Case sat and learned behind Kevin Kolb, yes that Kevin Kolb who is about to lose his starting job to a highly over-drafted E.J. Manuel.

In the following season, because of his pocket awareness, and his accuracy, Case became the first string quarterback, winning the spot over a Blake Joseph who was supposedly taller, faster and stronger than Keenum.

Case is listed at 6 foot nothing, 208 pounds, which is extremely generous in my opinion.

The following four seasons though, Keenum put the cynics to rest by compiling some of the best career statistics in the history of Division I college football.

As it stands Keenum is the NCAA's all-time leader in total passing yards, touchdowns, and completions.

While that sounds impressive, he attained those numbers against the less than stellar Conference USA.

Despite his performance at the collegiate level, the same criticism he faced out of high school stood against him prior to the draft; he wasn’t strong enough, quick enough, and most certainly not big enough to be worthy of a draft pick. Keenum went undrafted in 2011, and a few days later he signed onto the Houston Texans practice squad.

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This preseason, just like 2012, Gary Kubiak told the media that Keenum was having an excellent camp.

Unlike 2012, throughout this preseason, Kubiak has continued to talk his third-string, pint-sized quarterback up, as if he was trying to sell the Texans fan base a used car.

This past weekend Kubiak let his actions talk, putting Keenum into the game ahead of T.J. Yates. Keenum delivered.

I attended the game and right before it I was on my twitter (which is full of beat reporters such as John McClain, Adam Schefter, etc.) and noticed a tweet from McClain that read:

     “If Keenum plays well, many U of Houston fans will demand he start over Schaub. They're delusional that way. 2 much eat 'em up, rah, rah, rah”

(Let me interject that I think no fan of the Texans should demand Keenum replace Schaub. It is ludicrous to want to replace a good all-around passer with an inexperienced second year practice squad quarterback. Keenum still has quite a lot to prove.)

I am an avid tweeter; always have been, I love the idea of so many different individual’s ideas in one social media. I read this tweet right before Case Keenum delivered an absolute strike to Lestar Jean for a 38 yard touchdown.

Case ended the day going 11-18 with a touchdown. Good numbers, not great,  good, especially against the competition he was facing compared to last week.

During the preseason Keenum has completed 24/36 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns.

It is only the preseason and the main argument against Keenum is that he has yet to touch the field during the regular season, but if we used that argument for everyone why would you ever play a rookie? Why not the seasoned vet who has always put up semi-consistent mediocre numbers?

He will never be able to prove himself if the Texans stuff him down the depth chart and put him on the practice squad again this season.

The Texans have been blasé and boring with their approach to offense over the last season or two. Obviously it has not got the job done in the post-season.

T.J. Yates is a decent quarterback; you know what you are getting when you put him on the field. His talent under center is not better than Keenum, I believe the two are on similar levels, if not Keenum has a slight advantage.

When Schaub was injured and T.J. took over in 2011 his numbers were pedestrian at best (82-134, 949 yards, 3 TD’s, 3 INT’s, 4 fumbles) as the Texans made it to the Divisional round of the playoffs.

I believe in Case Keenum, if called upon, I know he will rise to the occasion. He is an underdog at heart; he has always been passed along. If Schaub goes down this season, this underdog can lead this team.

However, at the end of the day we are arguing about a second string spot in the NFL. Hopefully our first string quarterback does not get injured, because I would be a fool to fully believe that Case Keenum, at this stage in his career, could do a better job than Schaub. I believe he would get the job done but I am not so naive to think Keenum is as good/better than Matt Schaub.

Still though, one cannot help but be curious about the UH grad, because so far he has surpassed all the cynics expectation, he has lived up to his head coaches billing, and hopefully come opening day, Case Keenum will be able to suit up for the Houston Texans.

Thanks for the read: I lied and said I would post a piece about The Texan’s draft picks following my detailing of the Texans game Saturday. The article about the draft picks will be up next.