Welcome to the Extra Points, our weekly college wrap-up at Dave Campbell’s Texas Football. This is your one stop to quickly get up to date with all the most important FBS happenings in the state from Week 2.
COLLEGE STATION and DALLAS -- Texas A&M fell on Saturday night 28-26 against No. 2 Clemson, but that doesn’t really matter. A star was born at Kyle Field.
Quarterback Kellen Mond put forth one of the best games by a quarterback at Texas A&M since Johnny Football walked the halls in College Station. He completed 23-of-40 passes for 430 yards and three touchdowns against the best defensive front in college football.
A year ago, Mond seemed very skittish under even the lightest pressure. He tended to tuck the ball and run. But this year, Mond’s footwork is astonishingly better, he feels comfortable moving in the pocket and he delivers pinpoint passes when hit.
“I always felt like I did pretty well with pressure, but I think Coach [Jimbo] Fisher figured out where I can get the ball out quickly,” Mond said. “I sometimes used to put the ball away and run, but he’s done a good job with trying to help me find the quickest read.”
RELATED: Texas A&M flashes newfound resilience in narrow loss to No. 2 Clemson
The performance was a marked improvement from the 2017 season. He completed just 51.5 percent of his passes and averaged 6.06 yards per pass attempt as a true freshman. That was up to 10.8 yards per pass attempts against Clemson. Several were on broken plays or late reads. His last touchdown passes to Kendrick Rogers was his third read on the play.
“There were a lot of times that he got in trouble because of [the offensive line], and he escaped and made a play,” Texas A&M center Erik McCoy said. “He’s got a bright future ahead of him.”
As Mond has gotten more composed, so has the rest of the roster. Several different underused wide receivers – including Rogers and Camron Buckley – made game-changing receptions across the field. The offensive line did a decent job standing next to him and handling the ferocious Clemson front. They adopted Mond’s demeanor.
“I’ve always felt like people feed off of me being a quarterback,” Mond said. “I know everybody sees it.”
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