section_path: College career/Junior year
section_name: Junior year
paragraph_text: Junior year
  
  Prior to the start of the 2016 season, Mahomes announced that he was leaving baseball to focus on football.
  
  Mahomes had a very productive junior season. In the month of September alone, Mahomes passed for 18 touchdowns to three interceptions while rushing for four touchdowns. He averaged 442.5 passing yards per game that month, which included a 540-yard game against the Arizona State Sun Devils in the Red Raiders' second game. Mahomes started the month of October with 504 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, and three rushing touchdowns in a losing effort to the Kansas State Wildcats. On October 22, Mahomes set multiple NCAA, Big 12, and school records in a 66–59 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners at home. Mahomes broke the NCAA FBS records for single-game total offense with 819 yards. He tied the NCAA record for single game passing yards with 734. He fell one short of the record for most attempts at 88. Overall, the game set NCAA records for most combined yards of total offense with 1,708 combined passing yards, and total offense by two players (the other was Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield). The 125 combined points are the second most all time involving a ranked team. Following the Oklahoma game, the Red Raiders defeated the TCU Horned Frogs before dropping three consecutive games to finish outside bowl eligibility with a 5–7 record. In his final game with Texas Tech, Mahomes finished with 586 passing yards and six touchdowns in a 54–35 victory over the Baylor Bears.
  
  Mahomes finished the season leading the country in yards per game (421), passing yards (5,052), total offense (5,312), points responsible for (318), and total touchdowns (53). For his performance, he was awarded the Sammy Baugh Trophy, given annually to the nation's top college passer, joining head coach Kliff Kingsbury, Graham Harrell, and B. J. Symons as other Red Raiders to have won the award. He was named an Academic All-America second team by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
  
  Mahomes announced on January 3, 2017, that he would forgo his senior year and enter the NFL draft.
  
  Prior to the start of the 2016 season, Mahomes announced that he was leaving baseball to focus on football.
  
  Mahomes had a very productive junior season. In the month of September alone, Mahomes passed for 18 touchdowns to three interceptions while rushing for four touchdowns. He averaged 442.5 passing yards per game that month, which included a 540-yard game against the Arizona State Sun Devils in the Red Raiders' second game. Mahomes started the month of October with 504 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, and three rushing touchdowns in a losing effort to the Kansas State Wildcats. On October 22, Mahomes set multiple NCAA, Big 12, and school records in a 66–59 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners at home. Mahomes broke the NCAA FBS records for single-game total offense with 819 yards. He tied the NCAA record for single game passing yards with 734. He fell one short of the record for most attempts at 88. Overall, the game set NCAA records for most combined yards of total offense with 1,708 combined passing yards, and total offense by two players (the other was Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield). The 125 combined points are the second most all time involving a ranked team. Following the Oklahoma game, the Red Raiders defeated the TCU Horned Frogs before dropping three consecutive games to finish outside bowl eligibility with a 5–7 record. In his final game with Texas Tech, Mahomes finished with 586 passing yards and six touchdowns in a 54–35 victory over the Baylor Bears.
  
  Mahomes finished the season leading the country in yards per game (421), passing yards (5,052), total offense (5,312), points responsible for (318), and total touchdowns (53). For his performance, he was awarded the Sammy Baugh Trophy, given annually to the nation's top college passer, joining head coach Kliff Kingsbury, Graham Harrell, and B. J. Symons as other Red Raiders to have won the award. He was named an Academic All-America second team by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
  
  Mahomes announced on January 3, 2017, that he would forgo his senior year and enter the NFL draft.