College Career
Despite being a highly-recruited quarterback prospect, at least one major program wanted the 6' 5" 225 lb. Freeman as a tight end, which his African-American father saw as a racial slight. Freeman said he "didn't see it the same way" at the time, as the school already had a QB recruit from his class. Nevertheless, Freeman was not interested, as his longtime goal was to become an NFL quarterback. He originally committed to the University of Nebraska to play for former head coach Bill Callahan, but the head coach at Kansas State, Ron Prince, convinced Freeman to enroll at Kansas State instead.
As a freshman in 2006, Freeman appeared in 11 of 13 games that season, including starts in the final eight contests of 2006. He took over at quarterback during the second half at Baylor and directed the Kansas State offense the rest of the season. He passed for a Kansas State freshman record 1,780 yards on 140-of-270 passing (52%). He became the first true freshman to start a game at Kansas State since 1976. Additionally, he had consecutive 250+ yard passing games against Colorado and Texas, marking the first time a Kansas State quarterback had done so since Michael Bishop in 1998. He attempted a Kansas State freshman-record 47 passes against Nebraska, completing 23 for 272 yards. He earned his first career start against Oklahoma State and led the Wildcats to a comeback win. He finished the game 10-for-15 passing for 177 yards and ran for a game-winning 21-yard touchdown with 1:11 to go in the game. In 2007, he set new single-season school records for pass attempts, completions and yards after throwing for 3,353 yards and 18 touchdowns on 316-of-499 passing. In 2008, Freeman was 224 of 382 passing for 2,945 yards and 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions this season for a passer rating of 132.9. The 14 rushing touchdowns were the fourth-most in a single season by a Wildcat quarterback.
In his three year collegiate career, Freeman completed 680 passes for 8,078 yards and 44 touchdowns and 34 interceptions in 35 career games. He accumulated a school-record 8,427 total yards and joined Ell Roberson as the only quarterbacks in Kansas State history to score at least 60 touchdowns.
Read more about this topic: Josh Freeman
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