Texas A&M's Christian Kirk declares for the NFL Draft

Texas A&M junior All-American receiver/kick returner Christian Kirk officially ended his collegiate career today by declaring to enter the NFL draft.

College players opting for early entry into the draft must declare by Jan. 15. Although the week before the Belk Bowl Kirk insisted he had not made a decision, it was understood the 2017 season would be Kirk’s final collegiate campaign.

Former A&M coach Kevin Sumlin even acknowledge it while speaking to the Houston Touchdown Club last summer.
 

Lindsay Caudle, TexAgs

Caption

Though Kirk ended his career prematurely, he leaves A&M as one of the most prolific players in school history. He demonstrated from the very beginning that his career would be special.

Kirk returned a punt for a touchdown and turned a short pass into a long touchdown in his first collegiate game to lead the Aggies to a 38-16 victory over Arizona State in the 2015 season-opener.

He followed with frequent big performances against Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi State, among others.

Kirk completed his career with 13 catches for a 189 yards and three touchdowns in the Aggies’ 55-52 Belk Bowl loss to Wake Forest.

All were career highs and set or tied A&M school records for bowl games.

He finished his career with 234 receptions for 2,856 yards and 26 touchdowns. His receptions total is second on the all-time A&M chart behind Ryan Swope, who had 252 catches in four seasons from 2009-12. His yardage total and his touchdowns total are third all-time. He is also third in all-time purpose yardage.

Further, Kirk proved to be one of A&M’s greatest threats on kick returns.

He is seventh all-time with 1,058 kickoff returns yards. That includes a clutch 100-yard fourth quarter return in a 50-43 victory over Arkansas this season.

Kirk was even more dynamic as a punt returner. He returned punts for 840 career yards (sixth all-time) and set a school record with six career punt returns for touchdowns. He averaged a school record 21.5 yards per return.

Unfortunately, Kirk’s greatness was not enough to lift the Aggies to championships. A&M was 23-16 in Kirk’s three seasons. Still, there was no question about his prowess on the field or off. Kirk was never suspended and was always a perfect representative of A&M’s program.

Some analysts project Kirk was a first round draft choice, which would mark the eighth consecutive year an Aggie would be selected in the first round.