COLLEGE STATION, Texas – For the first time since Johnny Manziel left campus, a quarterback battle will not be one of the headlines when Texas A&M opens camp next week.
Junior Kellen Mond has solidified himself at that position after starting all 13 of A&M’s game in a 9-4 season in 2018.
Mond battled his way to the back-up job in 2017, before an injury to starter Nick Starkel forced him back on the field. Mond was then benched in a game against Auburn as Starkel started the rest of the way.
“Just because one year didn’t go my way, I didn’t think about leaving or going anywhere else,” Mond said at SEC Media Days. “In my head, it just means I had to work a little bit harder and that’s kind of what I did last offseason.”
With a full season as the starter under his belt Mond wants to make a similar leap entering 2019.
“I just went to work and obviously my teammates — I felt like they saw that in me and Coach Fisher saw that in me,” he said. “Kind of seeing the growth that I made in the offseason — not only with my leadership — on my quarterback skills, I really hit my stride, and that’s kind of the jump I want to take, if not bigger, going into my junior year.”
Mond and the Aggies will open fall practice on August 1st.
