Aggies’ versatile Kirk difficult to slow down
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin urged football fans at a Houston gathering this summer to catch Christian Kirk while they can.
Sumlin’s advice, meant to convey that the dynamic receiver likely will turn pro following his junior year, also could have applied to the Aggies’ foes. Because Kirk has long been a difficult catch for air-grabbing foes.
“Christian Kirk is as good
of a player as there is in college football, as far as a returner and receiver,” South Carolina coach Will Muschamp said this week.
Muschamp’s Gamecocks are next in line to try and slow Kirk’s record-setting pace at A&M. The Aggies (3-1, 1-0) play host to South Carolina at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, and Kirk is coming off his most impressive game of many in three seasons at A&M.
He broke loose behind Arkansas’s defense for an 81yard touchdown catch from quarterback Kellen Mond in the first quarter, scooted 100 yards on a kick return for a touchdown to get A&M back in the game in the fourth quarter, and finally hauled in a game-winning 10-yard
touchdown pass from Mond in overtime.
“He’s powerful, he’s fast and he (not only) has wide receiver skills, but running back skills to move in traffic,” Sumlin said. “He’s got great awareness – what all great returners have. Some of his returns have been in traffic, and he’s gotten yards where there didn’t seem to be any to find.”
Kirk (5-11, 200) is the lone player in more than 120 years of A&M football with six returns for touchdowns, five by way of punt and one via kickoff. Defenses have keyed on the All-American through the first third of the regular season, admittedly frustrating him leading to the Aggies’ 50-43 victory against Arkansas in Arlington’s AT&T Stadium a week ago.
“I hold myself to a very high standard, a standard nobody else can hold me to,” Kirk said. “I felt my game against (Louisiana-Lafayette) was one of the worst games I’ve had since I’ve been here. It ate me alive inside.”
Kirk was one of only three Aggies with touchdown catches in A&M’s 45-21 victory over the Ragin’ Cajuns, but his three catches for a lean 34 yards and a fumbled punt stuck with him long after the final whistle.
“He was really, really frustrated by his own performance,” Sumlin said. “But pride is a great motivator, and Christian has got tremendous pride and a tremendous work ethic. When he walked off the field he was mad at himself. But he came back, went to work and I wasn’t worried about him the next Saturday.
“That’s the kind of guy he is.”
Kirk, the face of the Aggies, is an early favorite for the Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation’s top receiver, with the meat of the Aggies’ SEC schedule at hand.
“There were some blocking things I could have been better at,” said Kirk when asked about his outstanding game against Arkansas. “If you go into the film room after a game and you can’t find anything or just say, ‘I’m good.’ Then you’re not going to get any better.”