Catching up with former A&M QB, starter for UFL's Brahmas' Kellen Mond

After a brief stint in the NFL, former Texas A&M quarterback Kellen Mond has moved on to the UFL and was named the San Antonio Brahmas starting signal-caller last week. Mond joined Friday's edition of TexAgs Live to catch us up on life since his time in Aggieland.

Key notes from Kellen Mond interview

• My journey to the Brahmas has been amazing. I had a conversation with Marc Lillibridge on October, and I signed to the Brahmas in November. We have a lot of talent on the team. We have had 14 training camp days and then practices. We are getting ready for Saturday's game.
   
• I think there are always adverse situations, and I talk back to my high school career, where it started rocky, but I ended up being a really good player and one of the best quarterbacks in the country. Things started off rocky at Texas A&M, but we ended up the No. 4 team in the country my last year. Whether in the UFL or NFL, certain things may not work out. I'm blessed to be in the position I'm in. They made me the starter last week. It's only up from there, and we are excited to show what kind of offense and team we can have.
   
• I’m a way better quarterback now. Fundamentally, you are able to change certain things and, from an intelligence level, understanding defenses and concepts. The amount of systems I've had to learn since being drafted in 2021 is over a handful. Now, you know you have the keys to the car, and the guys are looking at you to make plays.
   
• I follow all of my old teammates on social media. One of my IMG teammates hit me up yesterday. Dan Moore just got paid. I stay in touch with everybody. It’s amazing. Every guy I've played with, from high school to college to the NFL, guys are finally getting their opportunity or getting into a good situation with a good team. I'm always rooting for those guys.
   
• While I was at A&M, honestly, it was a different situation every year. You started really hot in 2018 when Jimbo Fisher made me the starter. In 2018, against Clemson, I had probably 400 to 500 yards of offense. That was one of our best offensive games. Sometime during the middle of the season, we would hit a lull.
   
• Going into 2019, I didn’t think I had my best season. We started off well against Texas State, and then hit another lull. In 2020, Florida was the game for us where we got over the hump, and it led to a lot more success. After that, we beat every team by more than 14 points. Sometimes, it takes that one win to get you over that hump.
   
• It's obviously a lot more difficult than what people may believe on establishing a culture, especially in my early years. Guys like Ainias Smith, De’Von Achane and Jalen Wydermyer were extremely good. A lot of the coaching style changed. It was a little more laid-back and allowed more of the players to do the coaching. There was less yelling. I never missed a game. I never missed a practice.
   
• Whenever I left, multiple quarterbacks battled injuries, like Zach Calzada, Haynes King and Conner Weigman. At the end of the day, it's hard to win games when you announce a starter, and then two weeks later, a guy gets hurt or goes down. Then, a backup quarterback has to run the show. It's not as easy as it seems. There were some situations where I'm sure Fisher would have liked to go back and say, “I wish we would have done this.” Fisher has a lot of respect throughout the college football world.
   
• Marcel Reed is extremely talented. Knowing the locker room and the coaching staff, a lot of guys last year thought he'd be the starter, so he probably had that mindset. Him being extremely mature, even not being the starter... In his first game against Florida, when his number was called, it was like, “Man, this kid is special.” They can develop a system around him. A lot of it may be less on Reed and more on the offensive coordinator trying to use the weapons that they have and succeed with Reed.
   
• I was with Mike Elko for three years, and he has a lot of respect. I think he's done a really good job. He's hard on the defensive guys. He will call them out towards the end of the year. It can't always be a coach. At the end of the day, the players go on the field, and it’s in the player's hands to go out and execute. If they don’t, they find replacements. Great players want that, and he's a great defensive coach and defensive mind. He's surrounded by a lot of great people. I look forward to them continuing to elevate. The offense and defense are finding a way to marry each other and take advantage of it. It’s about playing together.
   
• I'm extremely excited. I haven't played a full game since 2020 in the Orange Bowl, so that’s what I'm excited about. It's a great opportunity. The training camp was a great introduction to see how the offense ran and know the terminology. Week two was really good, and week three was off the chain. In practice yesterday, the ball hit the ground maybe two times in the whole practice. We are ready.