Three quarterback prospects had their pro days Tuesday. Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields and Alabama quarterback Mac Jones stole the headlines, again leaving Texas A&M quarterback Kellen Mond an afterthought.
Mond doesn’t seem to care.
“I don’t mind being underrated because at the end of the day especially when you get to the league you’re always going to have to depend on yourself and also the people around you to succeed,” Mond said. “With me, I’ve been through a lot of adversity. I think it’s pretty true and telling on how a quarterback is able to change a whole entire culture, and I think that’s something that is very slept on throughout the process. Multiple guys especially at bigger schools, a first-rounder leaves and then you’re the next man up. You’re just filling a role that was already there. But actually having to change a whole entire culture, I think that’s what kind of makes me different. Before the season if somebody told you, Kellen Mond loses his No. 1 receiver from the year before and loses his three other receivers at the time, would he have his best season, go 9-1? I’m pretty sure 100 percent of people would have told you no.
“I don’t mind being underrated because the chips are going to fall where they may. I try to be even-keeled and everything will happen at the best time for me.”
Texans General Manager Nick Caserio and Raiders senior advisor to the G.M. Walter Juliff attended A&M’s pro day, along with quarterback coaches or offensive coordinators from the Steelers, Panthers, Bears, Bengals, Cowboys and Vikings.
Mond specifically mentioned conversations with the Steelers and Bears.
Mond measured 6-2 1/2 and weighed 211 pounds, and his hand size was 9 3/8, Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy reports. The quarterback ran 40-yard dash times of 4.59 and 4.61.
Mond ran his own pro day, using his own script, and he said most of his throws came from under center.
“Most quarterbacks and most players they have their own quarterback coach, receiver coach, a person who runs their own pro day, a person who comes up with their own scripts for their quarterbacks,” Mond said. “But I think just me being self-critical of things that I need to work on but also things I think I need to show the NFL, I thought that I could come up with my own pro day script and go out and execute it at a high level. So I came up with my own script. . . .. Really just [ran] my own pro day. I’m not going to say I’m the first one to do it, but I really haven’t seen it.
The Aggies went 9-1, with their only loss to Alabama, while finishing fourth in the Associated Press poll in Mond’s senior season. It was the school’s highest end-of-season ranking since its national championship season of 1939.
Mond threw for 2,282 yards with 19 touchdowns and three interceptions in 10 games last season.
He is expected to follow Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, BYU’s Zach Wilson, Jones, Fields and North Dakota State’s Trey Lance at his position in the draft. But Chris Simms ranks Mond as the fourth-best quarterback prospect behind Wilson, Lawrence and Jones.