Further review
Coaches get a second chance to evaluate their teams.
Buried amid the fallout from Texas A&M’s crazy week — the 45-44 loss to UCLA on Sept. 3, a regent’s rants at coach Kevin Sumlin and a racist letter delivered to the coach’s home — was the team’s troubles at quarterback. It started when Nick Starkel broke his ankle in the third quarter of the loss to UCLA. Kellen Mond finished that game and started against Nicholls State on Saturday.
Mond played into the third quarter of the 24-14 win over Nicholls State and completed 12 of 21 passes for 105 yards. Jake Hubenak gave the offense a brief spark in the fourth quarter as it pulled away from a 14-14 tie.
With Louisiana-Lafayette up next, the Aggies have another week to sort it out before starting SEC play against Arkansas.
“It’s still a work in progress, but both of those guys are getting better,” Sumlin said of Mond and Hubenak.
Sumlin also delivered a well-thought out response to the racist and threatening letter he received at home last week.
“I’ve done this a long time, and I get lots of mail,” he said. “I get criticism, which is part of the job. I get suggestions, and that’s part of the job. In this situation, for that (letter) to come to my home and for her (his wife) to open it and read that, that is completely different.
“My wife and kids have never called a play. My wife and kids have never done anything football-wise that led to us losing a game or winning a game.”
“The racial (aspect) is one part of it, but the open-ended threat at the end, (sent) to my house … I’ve got to draw the line there,” Sumlin said. “When you cross a line like that with people who have nothing to do with decisions that are made when it comes to my job, that’s not OK.”
The Brazos County Sheriff ’s Department is investigating.