How Texas A&M’s quarterback broke down the Gamecocks defense

The South Carolina football team’s defense did yeoman’s work for nearly three full quarters Saturday.

USC built on a strong first half by getting stout inside its 40 on the opening possession of the third quarter and forcing a three-and-out on the next. Then Texas A&M started to get going, and did it primarily behind one player: quarterback Kellen Mond.

“I think that some of those were scrambles,” USC coach Will Muschamp said. “Some of those were in man-to-man coverage, getting displaced in a gap. Had a hard time running him down.”

The coach noted some designed runs eventually hurt USC in the late going.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound freshman passer started breaking the Gamecocks defense that was already stretched thin. While USC players were occupied by the Aggies’ deep set of playmakers, Mond started getting loose, working past the pass rush and racing into open space.

“We were just basically trying to tell the D-linemen to play their gaps,” cornerback Chris Lammons said. “And everybody didn’t just do their assignment and we just let him get away.”

On the final drive of the third quarter, Mond ran for 17 of his team’s 55 yards. In the final stanza, he had 52.

Mond was the No. 3 dual-threat passer in last year’s recruiting cycle, No. 108 prospect overall in the 247Sports Composite ranking. Passing consistently has been a challenge, but one-on-one, he could shake almost everyone on the Gamecocks roster consistently. (He definitely dodged Gamecocks freshman Brad Johnson in the hole on one occasion.)

Once given the extra help of pass routes clearing space, it proved lethal. USC didn’t try any quirky spying tactics (and probably lacked the luxury to do that effectively) and tried to rely on something else.

“We try to let the pass rush handle that,” linebacker Skai Moore said. “We try to not run past the quarterback, keep contain. So we’ve just got to do a better job of that.”

This story was originally published October 1, 2017 at 2:31 PM with the headline "How Texas A&M’s quarterback broke down the Gamecocks defense."