Dallas’ defense gets chance to redeem itself.
Mond makes film study top priority as he looks to carve out place ina&mlore
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M senior quarterback Kellen Mond’s reflection in the offseason on seasons past didn’t involve a mirror or plenty of quiet time, but a big screen and remote control.
“I evaluated myself throughout the entire offseason, throughout quarantine,” Mond said of how he spent a sizable chunk of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I looked at every single play I ran my junior year, to evaluate myself and find out what I could do better. To figure out the best way to improve myself.”
As a rare four-year starter in college, Mond already has been a good quarterback for the Aggies and is primed to snap a handful of A&M individual career passing records this season, which starts Saturday night against Vanderbilt at Kyle Field.
He’s pleased to be in a position to do so — but also knows the only way to truly etch himself into Aggies lore is to win big. The Aggies are still seeking their first Southeastern Conference title since joining in 2012.
“This year I’m on a mission, not only for myself but for my teammates,” Mond said. “I want to be a
great leader and elevate everybody — take them to higher levels.”
Mond, one of the top dualthreat prospects in the nation out of IMG Academy in Florida in 2017 after starting his high school career at Reagan, also has become one of the most polarizing A&M figures in recent memory, thanks to his unwavering stance concerning a controversial statue on the school campus.
Multiple A&M athletes have protested the century-old tribute to Sul Ross, a Confederate general and one of the school’s first presidents, Mond is merely the highest profile Aggie to do so. Ross, who fought for the preservation of slavery of Black
Americans in the Civil War, also is credited with saving A&M from closing in the late 1800s.
“No matter the type of pushback that I get, I’m going to be open-minded,” Mond said. “But I’m also going to stand firm in what I believe in.”
Mond has done exactly that this summer, and third-year Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher said his team leader entered camp in August with an unparalleled focus and resolve to make something great of his final college season.
“From the day he got here this camp, he hasn’t changed a lick, and it’s been outstanding,” Fisher said. “His demeanor, his ideas with the team, the way he’s played, his personality, his influence on guys, the way he’s pushed guys, it’s been exactly the same.”
It stayed the same, too, when
Mond’s closest friend on the team, senior receiver Jhamon Ausbon, unexpectedly opted out of playing his final college season, citing the desire to begin preparing for the NFL. Suddenly, Mond and the Aggies had lost their top returning receiver, only weeks before what was thought to be a final swing through the SEC by a plethora of A&M veterans.
“What you saw was the maturity of Kellen. You didn’t see anything different,” Fisher said of Mond’s stoic reaction to Ausbon’s exit. “I’m sure inside it hurt him — I know it did. But the responsibility he has to this program and to his other teammates, it’s a tribute to him and how he handled that situation. It’s been the same Kellen the whole time.”
A year ago Mond, low-key and reserved by nature, uncharacteristically
boasted he was the best quarterback in the SEC entering his junior season — a league that wound up featuring the 2019 Heisman Trophy winner in LSU’S Joe Burrow and a couple of top five 2020 NFL draft selections in Burrow and Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa.
This week a reporter asked Mond if he considers himself as good as Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and Ohio State’s Justin Fields, and Mond politely declined to grab the dangling bait. Mostly.
“Every time I step on the field, my mindset is I’m always thinking I’m the best player,” Mond responded. “If I said I wasn’t, then I don’t think I would be doing the right thing, in (not) giving my teammates confidence.”
Mond added that he “feels really confident” about 2020 and left it at that. If he is to excel this season, he must do so with a whole new set of starting receivers following Ausbon’s exit. Mond said he considers it just another challenge in a challenging career — one he and a slew of unproven receivers are up for starting Saturday.
“Just making sure (I’m) prepared, that was my mentality this entire offseason, and I’m ready,” said Mond, who added that he never once considered opting out with an eye on the NFL. “For a beginner, every offense is hard to learn, because every offense is basically a foreign language. … This offense allows you to have a lot of freedom, and once you’ve mastered that freedom, you can be a phenomenal player in it.”