Kellen Mond seeks to be the difference maker for A&M against Bama
Kenny Hill was assaulted. Kyle Allen was faulted. Trevor Knight was halted.
Since 2014 Texas A&M quarterbacks have had difficult — even painful — showings in losses to Alabama. Hill was sacked five times in a 59-0 blowout loss. Allen threw three pick-sixes in a 41-23 defeat. A Knight fumble that was returned for a touchdown derailed an A&M rally in a 33-14 setback.
Kellen Mond hopes to be different when the Aggies travel to face the No. 1 Crimson Tide on Saturday. Frankly, he has the talent, temperament and — perhaps — the team to leave Bryan-Denney Stadium … well, exalted.
In fact, last season Mond came closer to leading a win over Alabama than the three preceding A&M quarterbacks did. Mond passed for 237 yards and a touchdown and ran for another 43 yards in a 27-19 loss to the national champions. He was a wide-eyed true freshman then. Now, he’s seemingly a rising star with the experience of lessons learned against Alabama.
“Every play matters,” Mond said on Monday when asked what he learned in last year’s loss to the Crimson Tide. “With their defense they try to force you to make mistakes. That’s something we’ll have to do — minimize mistakes, minimize negative plays. I always feel confident in the offensive line, the running backs and receivers to make plays, so I feel like we’re going to be fine going in there.”
A year ago, Mond threw an interception at the goal line and lost a fumble at midfield against Alabama. Thus far, he hasn’t thrown an interception or lost a fumble. He’s passed for 824 yards and six touchdowns while completing 63 percent of his passes. He followed up a 430-yard, 3-touchdown passing performance against No. 2 Clemson with a very efficient 210-passing yard, 3-touchdown effort against Louisiana Monroe.
“Kellen was really sharp in the game as far as understanding what he was doing with the ball, where he was going,” A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said. “Even in our run checks. He controls a lot of that, too, and getting us in and out of the right plays and protection. I thought he did an outstanding job.”
His absolute best will be required for the Aggies to have a chance against Alabama. That means making correct reads. Avoiding turnovers. And getting all out of his athletic ability. So far, Alabama has posted 10 sacks and forced six turnovers in three games against Louisville, Arkansas State and Ole Miss. As A&M knows all too well, Alabama has a penchant for forcing turnovers and turning them into touchdowns. Some coaches might call for a conservative approach to avoid such pivotal turnovers, such as throwing the football away rather than trying for a big gain on 50-50 plays. Fisher said that’s not the plan.
“You coach the same way,” he said. “There’s nothing you can do any different. We should coach it no matter who you play. It’s the same as last game. It’s the same as next game.”
Mond echoed that plan. However, he also acknowledged the need to avoid turnovers, especially against Alabama.
“Coach actually always says you want to play aggressive but still play intelligent. Turnovers and bad plays don’t really come into our mind. We try to do our best to avoid them. I feel like if we do a really good job preparing this week we can eliminate those."
Alabama doesn’t lose often, but when Saban's teams have struggled it has usually been against dual threat quarterbacks like Johnny Manziel or Deshaun Watson. Mond showed off his ability as a dual threat by frequently eluding pressure and extending plays against Clemson’s vaunted defense.
“Just keeping the defense on their toes,” Mond said. “A lot of times dropping in man or dropping in zone teams don’t really spy a quarterback. I feel like they will have somebody doing their best to contain me in the pocket. We’ll have some designed quarterback runs, but we will definitely mix up the plays to keep them on their toes.”
That ability is obviously a great asset against Alabama. But Mond has a cool, calm and collected temperament that may be an even greater asset in a big game in a hostile environment. Regardless of the situation, he never seems to get rattled.
“Kellen is very even-keeled, straight-laced,” fullback Cullen Gillaspia said. “You never really know what’s going on inside his head. He always has that same expression on his face. He knows what he’s doing. He has a very confident persona. You know he’s going to play to the best of his abilities and he’s not going to let the outside noise affect him.”
