Kellen Louis Mond (born June 22, 1999) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

, where he was a four-year starter and became one of three SEC quarterbacks to record over 9,000 career passing yards with 1,500 rushing yards. Mond was drafted by the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

in the third round of the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 2021 ...

High school career

Mond originally attended Ronald Reagan High School in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

, before transferring to

IMG Academy IMG Academy is a preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. IMG Academy is set across over 600 acres and features programs consisting of sport camps for youth athletes, adult camps, a board ...

Bradenton, Florida Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries ...

, prior to his senior year. As a senior, he passed for 1,936 yards and 20

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

and rushed for 775 yards and 18 touchdowns. Mond was rated by the

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

recruiting network as a five-star recruit and was ranked as the number one dual-threat quarterback in his class. He committed to

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

to play college football under head coach

Kevin Sumlin Kevin Warren Sumlin (born August 3, 1964) is an American football coach who is the head coach and general manager for the Houston Gamblers of the United States Football League (USFL). Sumlin served as the head football coach at the University of ...

College career

Mond entered his freshman year at Texas A&M in 2017 as a backup to Nick Starkel, but took over as the starter after Starkel was injured during the first game of the season against the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). ...

. In his first career start, he completed 12-of-21 passes for 105 yards and a touchdown. Prior to Texas A&M's first game of the NCAA 2018-2019 season,

Jimbo Fisher John James "Jimbo" Fisher Jr. (born October 9, 1965) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies Football, Texas A&M Aggies. Previously, Fisher was the head coach at Florida State Seminol ...

, who was in his first year as Texas A&M's head coach, replacing Kevin Sumlin, announced that Kellen Mond would be the starting quarterback for the season opener. Despite an initial feeling that Mond and Nick Starkel would continue to battle for the job after a long competition over the summer, Mond held on to the starting position for the remainder of the season, guiding the Aggies to an 8–4 record and a #19 ranking in the regular season College Football Playoff rankings. The Aggies' season culminated in a historic 74–72 seven-overtime win over SEC rival

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

. This game set several records, including the most points ever scored in a game in the FBS era, and tied a handful of other games for the longest college football game of all time with seven overtimes. Entering the 2019 season, expectations were higher for Mond, though his overall performance failed to meet them. While his pass completion rate improved, his total yards and yards-per-attempt slightly decreased. In the 2020 season, however, he was able to improve with career-highs in pass completion percentage (63.5%) and yards-per-attempt (7.6). The Aggies finished the 2020 season 9–1 and ranked fourth in the final AP Poll. Mond performed at the 2021 Senior Bowl and was named its most valuable player. He finished his career at Texas A&M as one of three SEC quarterbacks, along with Tim Tebow and

Dak Prescott Rayne Dakota Prescott (born July 29, 1993) is an American football quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Mississippi State, where he twice received first-team All- SEC honors, a ...

, to record over 9,000 career passing yards with 1,500 rushing yards.

Statistics

Professional career

Minnesota Vikings

Mond was selected by the

in the third round with the 66th overall pick in the

. He signed his four-year rookie contract with Minnesota on June 15, 2021. Ahead of the Vikings' Week 17 matchup against the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

Kirk Cousins Kirk Daniel Cousins (born August 19, 1988) is an American football quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Michigan State and was drafted by the team then known as the Washingto ...

was ruled out after testing positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Head coach

Mike Zimmer Michael Zimmer (born June 5, 1956) is an American football coach for the Colorado Buffaloes. Prior to this, Zimmer was with Jackson State, both college programs being led by Deion Sanders. He previously also served as the head coach of the Minn ...

named Mond the backup to Sean Mannion. Mond's debut came in the fourth quarter after Zimmer benched Mannion. He completed two of three passes for five yards in the 37–10 loss. On August 30, 2022, Mond was waived by the Vikings.

Cleveland Browns

On August 31, 2022, Mond was claimed off waivers by the

References

External links

Minnesota Vikings bioTexas A&M Aggies bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mond, Kellen 1999 births Living people Players of American football from San Antonio American football quarterbacks IMG Academy alumni Texas A&M Aggies football players Minnesota Vikings players Cleveland Browns players