Kellen Mond shows development, still hungry for more
Many factors can contribute to the emergence of a budding football star. Acceptance of coaching. Countless hours of film study. Thousands of repetitions in demanding practices. Learning on the job in live action. Then, there is failure — or at least disappointment.
That might be as much a contributing factor to what appears to be Texas A&M sophomore quarterback Kellen Mond’s ascension towards stardom. At least, that’s a theory provided by Jhamon Ausbon, Mond’s receiver, friend and roommate. Like everyone else who witnessed A&M’s heartbreaking 28-26 loss to Clemson last Saturday, Ausbon saw Mond eluding the rush, taking big hits and making bigger throws against the Tigers vaunted defense.
But as his friend and roommate, Ausbon saw Mond up close last season when then-true freshman Mond was benched after struggling against Alabama, Mississippi State and Auburn — three defenses that would’ve made much more seasoned quarterbacks struggle, too.
“For anybody, I think it would be tough,” Ausbon said on Monday. “But I think he showed how it didn’t really affect him. He still came to practice. He still prepared like he was getting in the game.
“In the apartment, I’d ask him ‘you’re good?’ He just had a great mindset about it. It couldn’t have helped him anymore for this point right here. Just kind of like never getting complacent, always staying humble and knowing that football is a competitive sport and you could get your job taken any day. He’s playing with that on his mind. It made him a better player this year.”
What if Mond gets better? A couple more performances like he showed against Clemson and Mond could literally and legitimately get into the Heisman Trophy discussion. He just passed for 430 yards and three touchdowns against the defense that last season was ranked fourth in the nation and boasted a defensive line that Sports Illustrated called the best in college football history.
His team trailed by 13 points going into the fourth quarter. He’d been sacked twice. He was hit several times more. The Clemson rush was in full attack mode. Mond never faltered, especially in the fourth quarter. He dodged a blitz and floated a touchdown pass to Quartney Davis. He stood in the face of pressure to deliver a near-touchdown pass to Davis, who was erroneously ruled to have fumbled into the end zone.
Mond later stepped out of the grasp of Clemson defensive end Clellin Ferrell to hit Kendrick Rogers with a touchdown pass in the final minute.
“He’ll stand right there and take one in the chops and deliver a ball,” A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said. “He gets up, doesn’t say a word, don’t blame nobody. It’s just, hey, let’s go on to the next play.”
That’s just the way Mond is. Ausbon said Mond is a fierce competitor whether it’s playing football, playing Fortnite or a foot race to the car. As for Mond … well, he doesn’t say a lot. Even after posting the best game of his career and the eighth best passing performance in A&M history, Mond was rather soft-spoken.
“I definitely feel like we played our hearts out and definitely played for four quarters, which is something I think we lacked a little bit last year,” Mond said in a deep monotoned voice. “We definitely played all four quarters. You saw guys making big-time plays in a big-time game. That kind of kept us in the game in the fourth quarter.
“We’ve still got a lot of work to do with me and a bunch of other positions, but there is always room to improve and I’m looking forward to a new week to get better.”
Fisher expects Mond to show continued improvement on Saturday against Louisiana-Monroe. And then against Alabama. And then against Arkansas and so on. He saw enough growth from Mond to name him the starting quarterback. He saw more growth from Mond throughout the Clemson
game.
“I don’t know if people really appreciate the multiplicity of things that goes through a quarterback’s mind within about 2.8 seconds and to be able to execute,” Fisher said. “It’s an amazing factor. And then you have four guys like they had running at you and doing some things.
“He never came off the field one time and didn’t know what was going on. He could come off the field and process everything: What was happening. Why he did something. Why he didn’t."
“Even when he was a little bit wrong I’d say I understand why you thought that. Now you’ve got to do this. From his composure standpoint, his ability to process information, I thought was outstanding.”
Mond was indeed outstanding. All the coaching, studying, practicing, playing and — even benching — made it happen.
