Quarterback Kyle Kearns said he grew up emulating Green Bay star Aaron Rodgers, but his arm has been compared to that of former NFL passer Jeff George (photo by Kearns family).

At first glance, it’s easy to see why the SMU football staff wanted to recruit quarterback Kyle Kearns from Foothill High School in Pleasanton, Calif. Kearns completed 67 percent of his passes in 2013, passing for about 2,400 yards, 19 touchdowns and just four interceptions, and has ideal size, carrying 195 pounds on a 6-3 frame that maintains room for him to add size and strength.

In other words, the tools are there for him to succeed, and his performance has the accolades pouring in. The 2013 Tri-Valley Player of the Year earned four stars from two recruiting services (ESPN and Yahoo/Rivals) and three stars from 247sports and Scout.

But Kearns’ résumé extends beyond his gridiron feats: he also is a versatile athlete who baseball (he once hit 24 home runs in a Little League season), basketball and swimming, in which he had at least one county record in every event he swam, and he’s tough: as a junior, he injured his rotator cuff after taking a big hit against Foothill’s rival, Amador Valley … but he instead of leaving the game, he ended up passing for about 350 yards and four touchdowns. For good measure, he played the final few weeks of the season before allowing the shoulder to heal in the offseason.

That athleticism shows in the way he plays. He can tuck the ball and take off downfield, but his strength is in his strong, accurate arm. More specifically, Kearns said he has tried to hone one of the skills that is a key to the success of one of his favorite players to watch.

“We’re not that far from Berkeley, and I grew up watching Cal football,” Kearns said. “My first jersey was a Kyle Boller jersey, but then I got a No. 8 Aaron Rodgers jersey. I just liked his game, and tried to model my game after his. He has a strong arm, but there are a lot of quarterbacks who can throw the ball a long way. What he does, maybe better than anyone, is throw accurately while he’s on the run.”

Kearns said his toughness comes from his father, Mark, who played linebacker at Oregon (although his mom “might be even tougher than my dad”), and said that linebacker mentality has paid off in his development as a quarterback.

“First off, I really like that mental side of the game,” Kearns said. “I really like football, that whole ‘chess match’ part of it. Quarterbacks have to be very smart, they have to make the right decisions and the right calls throughout the game.

“But I think my toughness kind of separates me. I was raised with my dad’s linebacker mentality — he coached me since I was eight years old. I remember being in the pocket and getting rocked in the chin, and thinking, ‘jeez, this football thing isn’t all roses.’ I knew football was really fun in video games, where you make the decisions but don’t get hit. I remember laying on the ground, with water in my eyes, but I had to get up and call the next play. Throughout football, that has always been my mentality. You always tough it out.”

Kearns, who took over the starting role at Foothill as a sophomore, said he initially was recruited by SMU secondary coach Derrick Odum, but he also talked extensively with quarterbacks coach Dan Morrison and, of course, head coach June Jones. But he also said he was convinced at least as much by a pair of SMU quarterbacks.

“I haven’t taken my official visit yet, but Garrett Gilbert was there when I went on my unofficial (visit),” Kearns said. “We just talked a lot. I congratulated him on going to the (St. Louis) Rams, and about when he played at Texas and when he played at SMU. He had great things to say about SMU, and I was able to pick his brain, to learn from a guy who has been through it. One thing he stressed to me was that they ‘get’ the quarterback position better than most coaches — they know what you’re seeing. A lot of coaches see things on tape, but they really can’t put themselves in your position, because the window is a lot different under center than it is from the pressbox. That’s one thing Garrett said he noticed: coaches called plays the way he would see them. He also talked about how they don’t get down on you — if you have a bad game, they work with you to figure out why, and encourage you to do better next time. A lot of coaches can really light into you after a loss, but not them.

“I also talked to Neal Burcham a bunch, and he helped me pick up some of the basics of the offense. He showed me how, when you simplify it, it’s easy for the offense, but it’s difficult for the defenses to understand. Neal is a very smart guy who got thrown into the fire (last) year when Garrett down. I went to the Elite 11 camp with Trent Dilfer. I have been able to work with Trent, and he told me that Neal is one of the best throwers he has ever seen. You can see he’s a very cerebral guy, and that fits what Coach Jones wants: a smart player who’s an accurate thrower.”

(photo by Kearns family).

Kearns said that the list of quarterbacks who have played so productively under Jones made him appreciate the Mustangs’ offer even more.

“Coach Jones has had some great quarterbacks,” Kearns said. “When he was at Hawaii, he didn’t always have the luxury of seeing a lot of players in person, so he became great at judging players on film, and he said that when he saw my film, he knew he wanted me. Some other schools, like Texas and Georgia, said they liked me a lot, but they wanted to come see me throw. Coach Jones watched my film and said he knew he wanted me, which meant a lot. He said that when he had watched just a couple of plays, I reminded him a little of one of his favorite quarterbacks: Jeff George. When I saw (George), I guess I kind of throw like him. I have a pretty strong arm — I can throw about 70 yards, but in our offense, I don’t need to. I think the longest throws in our offense are about 45 or 50 yards.

“But sometimes, if you have a strong arm, you can get complacent with your feet and arm motion, you can get lazy with your mechanics or throw with a flip of the wrist. I can get away with a flick of the wrist on an out route. But in college, everyone is faster. When you really need to be accurate and fit it in there to get it past that linebacker, your mechanics have to be right, because a lot of times, you only have one shot to hit that play. My sophomore year, I would sometimes resort to a sort of sidearm motion, so some of the guys would call me ‘Stafford,’ like Matt Stafford, because he could throw like that and get away with it. I really like Stafford, and I like (fellow former Georgia quarterback) Aaron Murray, too, which is one of the reasons I had pretty high interest in Georgia. They said they liked me, too, but they said they’re not taking a quarterback this year. But Stafford … it’s an honor even to be compared to a guy like that.”

Kearns, who attended camps last summer at Cal, Georgia, Vanderbilt and Texas, chose SMU over an offer from UC-Davis, but had significant interest from several schools, including national heavyweights like Alabama, Cal, Clemson, Georgia, Michigan, Oregon, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M and UCLA. He took visited Colorado, and took “a bunch of unofficials” to places like Stillwater, Okla.

“I got to see polar opposites of college experiences in Stillwater and Dallas,” Kearns said. “Then I visited Colorado, and it was somewhere in the middle. I have been to a bunch of home games at Stanford and Cal, so I have a pretty broad perspective about college football.

“Everywhere I went, it didn’t feel like home, it didn’t feel like a place where I could see myself for the next four or five years. I felt that way right away at SMU. Everyone was so welcoming. The coaching staff — they were all so fun with me. I could see myself there right away. I could see myself fitting in with the offense Coach Jones runs. He has such a great reputation for developing quarterbacks. I’m 100 percent solid to SMU. It’s a perfect fit.”