Kansas City Chiefs’ superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes addressed the confusion surrounding his connection with Senator Tommy Tuberville on Thursday.

Or lack thereof.

The discussion intensified this week as Mahomes gears up for his third consecutive Super Bowl this Sunday in New Orleans.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump commended Tuberville, a fellow Republican, referring to him as a “great coach.” Trump then shared a story that implied Tuberville coached Mahomes during his college years at Texas Tech, which is inaccurate since Tuberville was not his coach.

Tuberville has also asserted this week that he recruited Mahomes to Texas Tech, despite never actually coaching him. He claimed to have developed a “very good friendship” with Mahomes; however, on Thursday, Mahomes stated that he doesn’t recall ever meeting Tuberville.

“He did not recruit me at the time,” Mahomes explained during a news conference when asked about Tuberville. “So, I don’t know if I ever got the chance to meet him.”

This isn’t the first time Tuberville has made this claim

Is Tuberville mistaken or confused? Why would he fabricate such a story knowing that Mahomes might contradict him? Or perhaps Mahomes simply doesn’t remember a brief encounter with Tuberville that could have been viewed as recruitment over a decade ago?

This isn’t a new issue, either. Two years ago, Tuberville claimed in a podcast interview that he had recruited Mahomes while at Tech, a statement that was also disputed by the Cover 3 college football podcast, who pointed out the reasoning behind deeming it “unfounded.”

What really transpired between Tommy Tuberville and Patrick Mahomes?

Tuberville resigned from Texas Tech in December 2012, nearly two years before Mahomes began his college career there in 2014.

Trump recounted the following incident on Wednesday during a signing ceremony for an executive order prohibiting transgender student-athletes from competing in women’s sports, an initiative Tuberville endorsed.

“You know, his quarterback was named Mahomes,” Trump remarked, referring to Tuberville. “He was a fantastic college coach. I asked him, ‘How good was he?’ He replied, ‘You don’t want to know how good. He made me into a great coach.’ He was quite a quarterback, right?”

“Very good,” Tuberville affirmed.

“Yeah, he was exceptional,” Trump responded. “And he’s a great person, too.”

On Thursday, Tuberville shared a post on the social media platform X that included a video of his recent interview on “The Megyn Kelly Show.” In it, Tuberville seemed to attempt to clarify his connection to Mahomes following Trump’s comments. He claimed he had recruited Mahomes to Texas Tech.

“As a coach, you begin recruiting and engaging with players long before they reach college,” Tuberville wrote on X Thursday. “Patrick Mahomes was one of the finest athletes I’ve ever had the privilege to recruit and get acquainted with. Can’t wait to cheer for him this weekend as I join President Trump at the Super Bowl.”

‘Very good friends with him’

In a separate clip of his interview with Kelly (shared by her show on Monday), Kelly asked Tuberville if he was cheering for the Chiefs in the Super Bowl “since you used to coach Patrick Mahomes.”

“Well, I never actually coached him,” Tuberville clarified to Kelly. “What happened is I recruited him. Then I moved on to another school. But I’ve become very good friends with him. He’s not just a talented athlete; he serves as a great role model for many young people across this nation.”

Mahomes countered this assertion on Thursday during a conversation with reporters; however, it’s uncertain if he has been paying attention to Tuberville and Trump’s claims about him this week. He was merely responding to a query regarding his rapport with Tuberville.

Tuberville departed Texas Tech to take up the head coach position at the University of Cincinnati in December 2012. Prior to that, he coached at Auburn in Alabama, from where he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2020. Meanwhile, Kliff Kingsbury was the one who recruited and coached Mahomes at Texas Tech until he exited the program at the end of the 2018 season, moving to an NFL coaching role.

A representative for Tuberville did not respond to a request for comment.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer on Twitter @Schrotenboer.