Texas A&M Football in the Film Room: Spring Game Quarterback Review

Kellen Mond

Mond proved what many of us believed prior to the opening of spring camp. He’s a dynamic talent with a very high ceiling. However to reach that ceiling he’s going to have to work through some expected woes during his first season in the maroon and white.

Here we see No. 11 buy his star wide-out some time by quickly looking off the safety who is playing over the top in the middle of the field. What this does is allow Christian Kirk just enough time to get some separation from his defender, and gives Mond a window to deliver a perfectly placed ball where only his receiver can catch it. Great throw.

Mond’s Touchdown Throw

Here was Mond’s lone touchdown of the day. It was drawn up beautifully by the coaching staff, and Mond threw a dart right into the chest of his receiver. The X receiver runs a deep post pattern while the Z receiver runs an out-and-up.

This forces the deep safety to make a choice on who to cover. If he chooses wrong we see the result. And if he does happen to stick with the Z receiver we have single coverage on two deep routes with a couple of 6’3 receivers. Very well done by Coach Mazzone.

Mond has Wheels

Mond posses something that neither of the other two quarterbacks does, excellent mobility. He shows us glimpses of why his skill set is so valuable at the spring game. We had been running the zone-read all game long, however the defense did not even slightly respect Starkel or Hubenak’s mobility, which  obviously led to minimal gains on the play call. With Mond under center the run game has a whole other dynamic we can use to attack defenses, much like Trevor Knight did last season.

Mond Picked on Forced Throw

Here is Mond’s first pick of the day. You can see as soon as the ball is snapped he immediately zeros in on his target and forces the throw to a covered receiver.

Rattled Freshman Keeps Pressing

The freshman never really seemed to recover from that errant pass, as he continued to force throws and under throw his receivers as the game went on.

Mond Throws Across His Body

Here’s probably his lowest point of the day. With a chance to get some points on the board before halftime, Mond throws across his body into the middle of the field to (you guessed it), a covered receiver. It’s these type of throws that SEC defenses will feast on. Freshman or not, plays like this will get you benched.

Despite the errant throws, Mond still managed to wow the crowd and coaching staff at times. The talent is there, but the decision making, consistency, and knowledge of the system seemed to be lacking at times throughout the Spring. The young QB is still in contention, but he has to be willing to put in some serious work this off-season if he wants to walk into the Rose Bowl as the starter this September.