Texas A&M Football: Why Aggies can make first playoff appearance in 2021

What if Kellen Mond was holding Texas A&M Football back?

You’re probably taken aback by the bold text that you just read, as you should be. Saying that Kellen Mond was holding the Texas A&M Football program back is a ridiculous statement.

But there’s more than meets the eye to this.

Mond was a great quarterback. Any smart coach will start a guy like that in the blink of an eye. But number 11 had some very distictive limitations under center.

In Mond’s senior year and his best season as the quarterback of this team, Texas A&M’s offense finished 33rd in the country in total offense and 59th in the country in passing offense. These rankings aren’t horrible, but anything sub-30 is pedestrian for a team that wants to compete for a title in the SEC.

Rewind to when Johnny Manziel donned the Maroon and White. As an Aggie, Johnny Football led Texas A&M a 7th spot and a 3rd spot in the country in total offense during his two years as a starter. He was a superstar and one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time.

If he was paired with 2020’s defense, there wouldn’t be a team in the game who could keep up with the Aggies. That’s the idea behind this slide. The Aggies had a good quarterback, but they could have had more explosiveness on the offensive end.

We don’t know what kind of production we’ll get from QB1 in 2021, but any one of the quarterbacks on the depth chart could be the next superstar waiting for his opportunity. Drawing comparisons between Haynes King and Johnny Manziel may be premature, but anything is possible at this stage.

A strong passer could be the difference between another season watching the College Football Playoff from a living room and competing for a national title.