Kirby Freeman

Infobox NCAA Athlete
name = Kirby Freeman

---

caption =
college = Baylor
conference = Big 12
sport = Football
position = QB
jersey = 7
class = Redshirt Junior
career_start = 2005
nickname =
height_ft = 6
height_in = 3
weight_lb = 214
nationality = flag|United States
birth_date =
birth_place =
highschool = Brownwood High School, Brownwood, Texas
former_school(s)=
awards =

Kirby Freeman is an American football quarterback for the Baylor University Bears. Freeman graduated from Brownwood High School in Brownwood, Texas and is majoring in Sports Administration. He is 6'3" tall and his weight is 214 pounds. Freeman, a redshirt Junior, is the former backup quarterback of the Miami Hurricanes.

High school career

Freeman played his High School football at Brownwood High School, Brownwood Texas. Freeman played on his varsity football team all four years he was in High School. He was a SuperPrep All-American and was rated the No. 12 quarterback in the nation and the No. 13 overall prospect in Texas by SuperPrep.

As a high school punter he averaged 43.7 yards.

As a junior in 2002 he passed for 1,487 yards while completing 87 of 150 passes, 14 for touchdowns, with eight interceptions, as the team advanced to the Class 4A Division I state semifinals. As a senior in 2003 he passed for 1,454 yards and 10 touchdowns with four interceptions on 71 of 123 passing also running for 956 yards and 14 touchdowns on 128 carries. Despite missing four games due to injury, Freeman led Brownwood to an 11-1 season in 2003, reaching the Class 4A Area round.

Freeman chose the University of Miami over Purdue University, Oklahoma State, Arizona, Arizona State, Nebraska, Texas and UCLA.

College career

2004/2005 seasons

Freeman graduated high school in Brownwood, Texas early in order to enroll in UM for the 2004 spring semester and attend spring practices. He played in nine games as a redshirt freshman, gaining valuable experience that keeps him always ready.

During his freshman year Freeman was named the Hurricanes Offensive Rookie of the Year, completing 15 of 31 passes (48.4 percent) for 183 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. He also showed his running ability with eight rushes for 38 yards.

2006 season

Freeman, considered an extremely talented backup quarterback for the majority of the 2006 season, served as the team's No. 2 quarterback behind Kyle Wright. Freeman first showed his talents in a critical situation at Virginia Tech in his freshman year, when he replaced an injured Wright in the second quarter and led the team to its first touchdown of the game.

Freeman played in nine games as a redshirt freshman, gaining valuable experience. Going into his sophomore year he competed with Wright for the starting role during spring practice, ultimately becoming number two.

He is described as an accurate passer with a rifle arm, and an extremely fast runner was one of the nation's most highly recruited quarterbacks two years ago [ [http://hurricanesports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/freeman_kirby00.html Kirby Freeman profile at Hurricanesports.com] ] .

With starter Kyle Wright suffering a season-ending thumb injury, Freeman started the final four games of the season and led the Hurricanes to a 17-14 victory over Boston College in the regular season finale. The win made Miami bowl-eligible. In the 2006 MPC Computers Bowl, Freeman completed 11 of 19 passes for 272 yards and two touchdowns in Miami's 21-20 win over Nevada. Freeman also rushed for a touchdown en route to being named MVP of the game.

2007 season

On August 28, 2007, Head Coach Randy Shannon named Kirby Freeman the starting quarterback over Kyle Wright for the season-opening game against Marshall [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2994678 ESPN: Kirby Freeman gets nod at quarterback for Hurricanes] ] . Freeman, despite going 9-for-21 for 81 yards with one touchdown, one interception, and 20 yards rushing in his first start, drew praise from Shannon for "controlling" the game, a 31-3 Miami win [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=272442390&confId=1 ESPN: James scores twice as Miami dominates Marshall in Shannon's debut] ] . The following week, Freeman struggled to complete only 3 of 10 passes for 17 yards and was replaced by Kyle Wright for part of the third quarter in a 51-13 loss to Oklahoma. In Freeman's two starts, Miami ranked 118th out of 119 major college schools in passing offense both in average yards per game and yards per attempt. On September 11, 2007, Shannon announced that Wright would reclaim his starting role for the September 15th game against FIU [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3014083 ESPN: Wright to replace Freeman as Hurricanes' starting QB] ] .On October 20. 2007, Freeman threw the go-ahead touchdown pass that he didn't even see against Florida State, arguably the most important pass of his college career.He then followed this up with one of the worst performances by a starting QB in Hurricanes' history. Kirby went 1-14 with one touchdown and three interceptions. [ [http://64.246.64.33/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sun-sentinel&page=cfoot/scores/final/W17180.htm Sun Sentinel: Miami vs. NC State game wrap] ] Freeman finished his final season with Miami by passing for 256 yards and throwing for 3 touchdowns. Freeman transferred to Baylor after the season, citing differences with head coach Randy Shannon. [ [http://www.wacotrib.com/sports/content/sports/college/2007/12/29/12292007wacfreeman.html "Waco Tribune:" Freeman confirms transfer plans] ]

2008 Season

After winning the quarterbacking job at Baylor University in spring practice, Kirby Freeman started against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in the first game and proceeded to go 4-11 for 31 yards and 2 costly interceptions. He has since been replaced by Robert Griffin as the starting quarterback.

References