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Last night Patrick Mahomes went down with what appeared to be a shoulder injury and redshirt sophomore Nic Shimonek was forced into action. The Red Raider nation quickly realized that not everyone is invincible and the fan base was forced to think about what it'd be like with no Mahomes. Let reintroduce you to true freshman Jett Duffey.
Mansfield Lake Ridge's Jett Duffey has tore it up last year, his senior season of high school. He led Lake Ridge to a state semi-final showdown against powerhouse Aledo and complied quite the stat line in doing so.
Jett Duffey was a relative unknown to FBS programs until the summer before his senior year. He finished his junior year with a 8-5 record and had gained the attention of a few FCS programs like Stephen F. Austin, Southern Illinois and McNeese State.
2014-2015 Stats
| Jett Duffey | Cmp | Att | Yds | Cmp % | TD | Int |
| Passing | 162 | 298 | 2259 | 54.3 | 20 | 10 |
| Jett Duffey | Car | Yds | Avg | 100+ GM | TD | Y/G |
| Rushing | 171 | 1103 | 6.4 | 4 | 19 | 84.8 |
Duffey's 14/15 numbers don't particularly pop off of the page but they were solid numbers for a high school junior quarterback. His big break came in the spring heading into the 2015 summer. The Nike Opening is a series of camps where basically any athlete can try to get their name out their if they meet certain criteria to register for the camp. Duffey had an amazing performance at the DFW camp and made it to the last round of the quarterback portion which is the Pressure Chamber. Again, no one knew who this unranked Jett Duffey kid was but yet he was going toe-to-toe with 4-star QBs Shane Buechele and Tristen Wallace.
After the DFW camp, Duffey attended the New Orleans regional camp for The Opening at the end of March, and this time he won the Pressure Chamber contest and some buzz started to swirl about him. As if one MVP wasn't good for him, he went to the Charlotte regional the first weekend of May and again won the Pressure Chamber gaining his 2nd MVP honor and an invite to the Elite 11.
Texas Tech was quick to pounce after Duffey's stellar performance and offered him a few days after the Charoltte regional. Duffey took two days and turned that offer into a commitment. Texas Tech was Duffey's first power 5 offer and some were skeptical at first. Last year Duffey proved that offer was not a mistake and had an amazing senior season.
2015-2016 Stats
| Jett Duffey | Cmp | Att | Yds | Cmp % | TD | Int |
| Passing | 162 | 253 | 2617 | 64.0 | 27 | 5 |
| Jett Duffey | Car | Yds | Avg | 100+ GM | TD | Y/G |
| Rushing | 149 | 1548 | 10.4 | 8 | 20 | 110.6 |
As you can see, Duffey improved for his senior season in every category. He didn't even play the full game in the majority of their contests because they were blowing teams out. Along with his amazing stat line, Duffey put together some awesome highlight reel plays.
#TexasTech 2016 QB Commit Jett Duffey carving up the Longview D on a 58 yard touchdown run in the State Quarters pic.twitter.com/njv5LkU8gF
— Andrew Doak (@AndrewDoak_KAMC) December 6, 2015
#TexasTech 2016 QB commit Jett Duffey showing he can spin it vs. Longview in the 5A State Quarterfinals#WreckEm pic.twitter.com/FoPZjAxlTj
— Andrew Doak (@AndrewDoak_KAMC) December 6, 2015
And those plays are just from a playoff game, you know when the games are supposed to be harder.
Jett Duffey is an amazing athlete and smart player both on and off the field. He shows leadership and handles everything with absolute class. Duffey is everything you look for in a quarterback and I'm glad that Kliff and the coaching staff were able to spot him before anyone else. It looks like the future after Patrick Mahomes will be in great hands.
Oh by the way, he enrolled early this past January.