WEBVTT - S3 Episode 5: The Mental Game 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.040 Drafted is a production of tree Fork Media, Clutch Sports Group, 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:07.040 and I Heart Radio. I've only missed one game, A 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:13.160 killings my entire life. One game. Welcome back to Drafted. 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:19.599 I'm Steven Johnson and this is episode five of season three. Previously, 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:24.160 we followed Alabama stars Davante Smith and Alex Leatherwood on 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:29.440 their journeys to the first round of the NFL Draft. Now, 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:33.040 in these next few episodes, we'll be continuing with a 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:41.040 new group of prospects, wide receiver Desmond Fitzpatrick and quarterback 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:47.919 Kellen Mond. Amen. About to see him a night, man, 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:51.120 tell him off man, about to see him a night 0:00:51.120 --> 0:01:01.360 in the draft man. And now yeah, yeah, that's Kellen 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:04.080 Mond getting his haircut on the day of the draft. 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:07.240 Over the last four years, a few players have been 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:11.000 as closely associated with their college program as Kellen has 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:16.760 been with Texas A and m uh Texas. Now, yeah, 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:34.319 college stations that one year and Kellen has been the 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:37.200 face of Texas A and M football for better and 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:41.200 for worse since the legendary seven overtime game against l 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:44.399 s U his sophomore year. That's the game they're talking 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:48.080 about in the barbershop right now. Everyone wants to talk 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:50.320 about this one L s U game, which they wont 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:54.200 Let's just clutch sports agent Kelton Crenshaw. You know, when 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:56.040 you're not really on, you're not going to try to 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:59.440 throw yourself back into a game, which a lot of 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:03.120 times can cause necessary turnovers and you can create momentum 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:05.520 shifts and things that a nature. So to me, that's 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:08.400 a sign of maturity and that that shows that you know, 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:10.520 you know what you're doing out there. I mean, sometimes 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:12.840 you gotta you know everything's not gonna be clicking. You 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:15.919 gotta go out there and just kind of manage the 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.960 game and come away with the victory. Kellen received a 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:22.360 lot of criticism for doing just that. Critics say he 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:25.720 only managed the game despite winning seventy four to seventy 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:29.480 two and what became the highest scoring game ever and 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:33.840 throwing six touchdowns with no interceptions. Now two and a 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:37.040 half years later, everyone from strangers in a barbershop to 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:40.760 his cousin the barber, to draft analysts and NFL scouts 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:44.840 all continue to talk about that game, even mere hours 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:53.919 before the start of the NFL Draft. Uh seven a night, Yeah, oh, 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:57.640 let what I thought? It was a six? Boy? You 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:00.880 get me a whole not out man. Now it's at 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:04.640 six tomorrow, we're gonna get Kellen and his parents are 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:08.359 hosting the huge draft party tonight, even though most experts 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:10.359 say he could go anywhere from the first round of 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:13.320 Night one to the third or fourth rounds on Day 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:17.200 two or three, and that draft range is exactly what 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:19.200 his cousin asked him about between the buzz of the 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:23.240 clippers on his headline. It's probably like the back half 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:26.160 of the first to the top of the second, because 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:30.959 I usually like, if a team called me, like they're like, hey, 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:34.440 we're gonna select you, then it's gonna get out somewhere. 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:37.360 And then that's they're gonna be like, oh shoot, we 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:39.000 we ought to take in with He's gonna be taken 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:41.520 in the second, so then it's gonna be a little 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:44.520 easier to quarterback. Yeah, so all the quarterback said have 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:46.240 been taking him, be like, okay, well they need a 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:51.480 quarterback then exactly. Kellen's draft range is unusually broad because 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:53.360 teams see very different things when they look at his 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:57.200 body of work, which is extensive and features some dramatic 0:03:57.240 --> 0:04:00.120 peaks and valleys. In fact, he's been under of the 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:02.960 football microscope ever since his senior year of high school, 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:07.800 when he transferred to IMG Academy in Florida. I AMG 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:10.760 recruits top players from all over the country and many 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:17.919 call it a football factory as much as an academy. 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:21.719 How I am going up, I think they're still good. 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:26.400 They totally changed, like the rules whenever I was there, 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:31.640 like they would have probably like recruited guys and it 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:34.320 was basically a scholarship, but they called it a financial benefit. 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:39.159 But now supposedly they have to have sixty to eighty 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:42.120 guys on the team who pay. But like obviously the 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:45.480 top recruster not going there and paying seventy dollars a year. 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:50.039 Kellen had to decide whether or not to move away 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:53.719 and attend IMG Academy for his senior year, and his 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:58.120 decision had little to do with leaving San Antonio. He explains, 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:04.280 you know, when you're at your regular high school, guys 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:06.640 who you play with football at times can be just 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:09.680 a hobby and so they're they're grind necessarily, it's in 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:12.039 the same ground that you have. You know, what's different 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:14.160 from i MG is everyone is trying to, you know, 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:16.320 one be a great college player, but also make it 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:19.440 to the NFL. Whenever I moved out to i MG, 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:23.239 which is destroy competition and just the work ethic was able. 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:25.120 I was able to elevate my game to a whole 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:30.920 another level. Kellen's desire to play tougher competition and surround 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:34.240 himself with hyper focused teammates occurred at least in part 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:37.080 because of his dad, who also doubled as his coach. 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:41.080 Inn episode two, we heard how Alex Leatherwood's life changed 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:43.760 when he got a new coach who saw potential in 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:47.760 him for the first time. This coach, Charlie Ward, encouraged 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:51.200 him to take football seriously and view it as a 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:54.200 path to a different life. Alex might not have ever 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:56.800 gotten to the NFL if it wasn't for that lucky 0:05:56.839 --> 0:06:00.719 break with his new coach. Maybe DeVante Smith wouldn't have 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:03.359 become the tenth overall pick if he didn't have his 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:07.279 mentor Vincent Sanders in his life either. That's the difference 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:11.480 one person can make, and Kellen Mon's dad, Kevin, never 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:14.279 wanted to leave any part of Kellen's trajectory up to 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:19.680 fate or luck. Here's Kellen's dad and coach, Kevin. I 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:22.120 started grooming him at the early age to play quarterback. 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:24.920 Everything we did was football in this house. So at 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:26.960 the age of two, I had him doing things like 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:29.279 getting on his knees and throwing nerve balls and and 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:31.720 teaching body tork and things like that. And I'm six 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:34.440 ft five, so I figured if he had any thing 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:37.200 close to my size and high, he would probably turn 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:40.280 into maybe a good athlete. And Kellen took to it 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.160 right away. Wanted to be somebody special. And then when 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:46.240 all the athletic talents started taking over, I realized that 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:49.200 he had a chance to be somebody. Kevin was laying 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:52.560 the foundation for Kellen's career long before he was even born. 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:57.200 Kellen's mom, Leticia, explains how football became ingrained in the 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:03.159 family DNA from the very beginning. One of our first 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:07.560 dates was like Friday night football. Okay, I mean, that's 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:10.280 just the way it is. Even before we had kids, 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:13.760 I had been to like every single state championship game. 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:18.400 We traveled all throughout Texas. It was literally just part 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:21.720 of were part of our relationship, and then obviously it 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:23.680 was part of the kids, you know. Thank god. Once 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:26.480 Kellen was to Kellen started going to the football game, 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:28.480 so I no longer had to go to all of 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:31.040 the Friday night football games. But it was literally a 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:34.040 family affair. And you know that's how things are in Texas, right, 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:38.160 it is really all about football. As Kellen got older, 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:40.600 they enrolled him in youth leagues and camps and all 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:44.400 the other possible football related outlets. Like his mom, Letitia said, 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:48.040 it was all about football. And eventually this led Kellen 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:51.080 to the Texas State playoffs his junior year in high school. 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:55.520 Here's Kellen's dad, Kevin Mond. Again. He had played a 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:58.040 playoff game here at Reagan High. We were ranked like 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:00.360 eighth in the state of Texas. We were undefeated Tenno, 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:04.520 we lost the game opening round of the playoffs. Who 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:06.880 want our arrivals from off the highway about twenty minutes 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:10.360 from here. And from that point on I knew there 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:12.000 were some things that I saw in Kellen where he 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:14.440 had to get better. I wasn't the type of dad 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:16.360 to sit back and rest on my laurels or us 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:18.280 as a family to say, Okay, Kellumn is the best 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:21.040 player in San Antonio. That's good enough. No, it's not 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:23.040 about that. It's about being the best player you can be. 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.040 And a lot of this to me as as a 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:28.120 dad and a former coach has to do with development. Um, 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:30.920 it's not always about winning games. A lot of this 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:35.600 is still development. Kellen's decision to move away his senior 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:38.160 year of high school and attend I AMG Academy in 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:42.960 Florida seemed obvious against this backdrop, so he joins IMG 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:47.880 Academy and thrives, becoming a five star recruit. He's named 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:51.160 the top dual threat quarterback and the entire recruiting class, 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:54.880 and ultimately accepts a scholarship to play for coach Kevin 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:59.200 Sumlin at Texas A and M. Kellen describes his early 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:04.959 arrival on the college station campus. So, I early in road, 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:08.880 went through spring ball and going through fall camp, and 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:10.920 I actually thought that I was going to be the starter, 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:12.880 and a lot of people thought that I was going 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:14.600 to be the starter, at least should be the starter. 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:17.160 But at the time they were saying the other quarterback, 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:18.800 he's gonna start, but you know, you're gonna play a 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:20.480 little bit. So you know, I was still kind of 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:23.440 kind of piste off that I wasn't starting. So first 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:26.320 game against u C. L A, the starter ended up 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:29.199 breaking his foot, I think in the third quarter, and 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:31.199 so I ended up coming in and we're you know, 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:34.120 three fourth scores, and that's when, you know, Josh Rosen 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:36.400 led the Rose Bowl come back and came back and 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:39.480 beat us Kellen get up a thirty or four point 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:42.480 lead the current NFL quarterback Josh Rosen and the U 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:46.080 c l A Bruins. Rosen became the tenth overall pick, 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:50.800 and Callen quickly develops a stigma as a run first 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:54.439 quarterback who can't throw after he only completes three passes 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:58.120 in the game. I mean, this is my first game, 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:01.719 I'm eighteen, you a, and fans already can can be 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:05.040 pretty brutal, so just adding on to you know, me 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:09.160 being a quarterback and being a true freshman, it was 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:12.520 pretty brutal after that, and you know, I got death threats, 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:14.439 you know, people calling me the N word like it was. 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:17.240 It was pretty bad. And then so going into week two, 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:20.439 I ended up starting that game, went down, we threw 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:22.120 a touchdown in the first drive, and then we kind 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:24.760 of stalled for the rest of the game and ended 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:27.679 up getting benched that game. And so the backup at 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:30.040 the time we ended up coming in, he was an 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:32.520 older guy, so crowd loved him gave him kind of 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:35.800 like the standing ovation. So for me, it was kind 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:37.360 of like a slap in the face at the time. 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:39.800 And that guy who ended up playing, he ended up 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:41.960 getting hurt. So it was just kind of me by myself, 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:44.679 and so I ended up playing pretty well throughout the season. 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:47.200 We beat you know, South Carolina in the fourth quarter comeback. 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:50.680 We went played at Florida and let a fourth quarter comeback, 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:53.720 but ended up getting benched against Auburn whenever the true 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:57.160 starter Week one ended up getting back and so that 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:00.360 was pretty much my freshman year. This all began to 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:03.440 take a mental toll on Kellen and for his parents, 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:06.840 watching it unfold in the stands felt almost as upsetting 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:10.400 as experiencing it on the field. Here's Kevin Mond again 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:12.520 and what it was like for him to see Kelln 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:17.959 struggle his freshman year. Yeah, he was booed. Uh, that's 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:19.640 tough as a parent, you know, when you're sitting at 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:21.480 a game. A little over a quarter into the Auburn 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.199 game and he got benched, but during the game getting booed, 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:25.920 and as a parent, you know, it's tough. That is 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:27.959 your kid, you know, and these people when they go 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:30.760 to college, you know, these are eighteen year old. The 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:33.880 team struggles continued to be blamed on their young quarterback 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:38.400 throughout that season, and somehow labeled Kellen has the new 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:41.559 permanent scapegoat. I probably didn't have much respect, you know 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:43.640 as an eighteen year old guy, you know, first game ever, 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:46.920 who gave up a huge lead. So I mean since 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:50.000 my first game in college, it's it's been rough. So 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:52.439 it's always been kind of hard to gain that respect back, 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:55.920 even just from ain and fans um, from just even 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:58.719 the media too. So it's just always seemed like in 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:01.199 my career, everything that I've in, if it was you know, 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:03.559 if it was good, then it just wasn't good enough. 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:06.920 But I mean I got death threads honesty for multiple years. 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:10.360 But but you know, my freshman year for sure, stophomore year, 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:12.760 junior year, and like I've been booed in my my 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:16.960 own stadium multiple times. So um, yeah, it's been it's 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:33.800 been pretty brutal. We'll be right back. Kellen's freshman year 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:37.440 becomes a dark string of getting benched, booed, and threatened, 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:41.280 and the season ends with even more drama. Texas A 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:44.599 and M fires their head coach, The school brings in 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:48.199 former Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher as the new head coach, 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:52.080 and suddenly Kellen is starting over for the third time 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:55.840 in three years. Here's Kevin Mond on those challenging days 0:12:55.920 --> 0:13:01.040 for his son. I always look back. I think that 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:03.600 made him stronger, made him want to go to work 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:05.959 and not make some of the mistakes he made, and 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:08.640 I think that has to do with his development going forward. 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:11.280 And nothing's ever gonna come easy. You're gonna have your 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:13.640 ups and down. His own life and the bounce back 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:15.600 plan for him was to just go to work. Okay, 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:17.000 I'm not as good as I need to be, I 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:19.640 gotta go to work. Kellen would be in the film 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:21.880 room eleven o'clock at night, go home, and be right 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:23.760 back at six am in the morning. And that was 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:27.319 on a routine, regular basis. That kid is around the 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:30.120 A and M campus. If not studying doing work, he's 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:33.080 in the film room where he's at practice almost eighteen 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:35.280 hours a day, go home, sleep six hours, and then 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:38.559 back at it. Kellen was prepared to work as hard 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:41.079 as he could, and he knew of coach Fisher's reputation 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:45.480 as a quarterback google. However, he was recruited by and 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:48.720 signed with the coach who was let go coach someone. 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:52.079 So this change wasn't exactly what he signed up for, 0:13:57.040 --> 0:13:58.960 going from coach someone who was more of a laid 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:02.599 back person um to where coach Fisher was, you know, 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:04.800 super hands on with these quarterbacks. You know a lot 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:06.880 of people know about all the yelling that he does, 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:09.880 you know, in practice and with the quarterbacks and in 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:12.480 the game. So it was a total one eight for me. 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:15.880 Here's coach Jimbo Fisher on what he saw when he 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:18.880 first met and began working with the raw sophomore quarterback. 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:25.360 I said, you know, I don't care what's happened in 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:29.880 the past, your slatest straight with me, and you trust me. 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:32.280 I'm gonna put you in a position to have success. 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:35.520 I'm gonna let me figure you out. I'm not thinking 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:37.400 that's one of the things. I don't ever judge somebody 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:39.320 that way, because you know how guy has been coached, 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:40.920 or what he's been told, or what's going on with 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:43.160 the guy. It's very hard to ever judge. And I said, 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:44.920 but the big thing you gotta do is be consistent 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:47.400 and give me everything you got. And I'm gonna tell 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:50.160 you what it was like he started a coach, I'm 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:51.720 gonna do this every day and if I told him something, 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:53.880 he did it. But he was I work a holic 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:56.160 every day and he bought into everything. And I also 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:58.640 give him a lot of input on I said, where 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:00.240 do you feel here? What do you feel? How do 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:01.560 you do? How do you like this play? How do 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:03.640 you like what we're doing here? And if we worked 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:05.800 and tweaked and it we just and actually he did 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:07.800 it from day one. He did it from day one. 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:11.680 The new coach and the sophomore quarterback did a dance. 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:15.680 During these first weeks of practice, Coach Fisher would get 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:18.640 on killing about mistakes and Kellen would try to adjust 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:24.680 and improve, and Coach Fisher would yell a lot. Kellen's dad, Kevin, 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:28.240 watched as this all took place. He recalls one specific 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:33.480 afternoon when Kellen walked off looking flustered during one of 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:35.920 the first practices when Coach Fisher got to Texas a 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:38.520 and l he came over to me after practice said, man, 0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:41.040 Coach Fisher is hard. He's always yelling at cursing at 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:42.840 me and staff and was one of the first few 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:45.200 practices and I said, son, remember when you used to 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:46.680 tell me when you were young, Dad, why are you 0:15:46.760 --> 0:15:49.760 so hard on me? And Kellen said yes, I said, Callen, 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:51.480 I was just trying to prepare you for the real world. 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:53.880 I said, remember, Jim Ball can yell at you, but 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:58.840 he'll never be as hard as your dad is. And 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:02.080 from that moment on he laughed and the reality kicked in. 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:05.240 That's right. My dad was always harder than anybody, So 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:07.680 anything that anybody else dishes out, I can take it. 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:11.120 In some ways, Kellen did spend his childhood playing for 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:15.560 coach Kevin on and off the field. He was super 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:19.400 strict and sometimes I think sometimes or people would kind 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:22.240 of label it overprotective. But you know now that I'm 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:23.960 at an older age and you kind of look back 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:26.520 and you realize that my dad's thinks. Whatever he was 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:28.280 teaching me and the way he was acting, it wasn't 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:30.840 too crazy. But you know, sometimes as a young kid, 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:33.440 you just want to be free and outlandish and um. 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:36.440 But you know, I've known a person who had never 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:38.960 done drugs or never did anything because I was scared 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:42.200 of what my dad would do. Kellen wasn't only shaped 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:46.320 by kevin strict parenting and disciplined life. The mons have 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:49.600 a long storied military tradition in the family on both sides, 0:16:50.640 --> 0:16:53.760 and beyond that, everyone in the Mond family is always 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:58.240 playing to win. Here's Kellen's mom, Leticia, with her husband 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:06.240 again Kellyn. Yes, he lives and breathes football, but all 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:10.560 of us we cannot stand. We are the worst losers 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:14.359 as a family. And so sitting around and playing like 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:18.119 a game of backgammon or whatever, checkers, whatever it is, 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:22.600 that stuff does not happen in our household because only 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:25.280 one person can win, you know, and that's just not 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:28.520 going to happen in our house. So, yeah, that's not 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:31.160 such a good thing. But it's true. I played chess 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:33.440 every night, like twelve midnight, one o'clock in the morning 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:35.640 on the computer, and I don't go to bed until 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:37.280 I win a game. If the computer beats me two 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:39.119 times in a role, I play until I beat the computer. 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:42.520 True story, true story. I go to bed one o'clock, 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:44.280 two o'clock in the morning until I beat the computer. 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:47.639 I don't go to bed. And when it comes to 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:49.600 laying their son or daughters win at anything at a 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:57.760 young age, never ever, ever, that would be cheating the system. 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:02.840 Never ever. I think I actually probably did because I 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:05.680 didn't want to have to deal with any of our kids, 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:08.280 you know, falling out. So I think I would have 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:10.560 I would have been the ones to say, it's okay, 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:16.000 let's let him win. Ever, that's how you developed tough skin, 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:18.000 and we didn't allow it to happen, whether we played 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:19.879 basketball in the backyard or whatever it was. You know, 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:21.840 that's how you get them tough, and it gets them 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:24.200 to learn how to compete at a high level and 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:30.640 what it takes. What it takes is grit and thick 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:35.680 skin and toughness. Unfortunately for Kellen, Kevin and latitious parenting 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:39.680 equipped him with these skills, the exact tools he need 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:43.679 to handle adversity on the field, harsh criticism off the field, 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:46.040 and even with a new head coach who liked to yell. 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:50.359 Earlier in my career, there was such a stigma of 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.240 me not being able to win big games and me 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:57.200 being inaccurate and inconsistem which is a true stigma of 0:18:57.320 --> 0:19:00.880 a freshman Kellen Mond. But you know me three years later, 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:04.040 it's been so hard for people, just because people naturally 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:07.840 listen to media experts instead of actually doing their own research. 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:11.879 Sometimes when those things stick to somebody's head. Then it's 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:16.720 it's kind of hard to reverse. H Kellen makes huge 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:20.399 strides under coach Fisher during his sophomore year, including winning 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:24.399 that epic seven overtime game against a supremely talented L 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:27.920 s U team. It appears the long hours and tough 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:32.359 criticism and new hands on coaching is working. Then his 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:34.680 junior year he doesn't make the jump to the next 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:40.359 level that everyone was expecting. So after my sophomore year, 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:42.760 I just had certain goals of myself from my team, 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:45.800 and you know, going into a brutal schedule, we ended 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:48.800 up playing three number one so Alabama when we played 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:51.200 that much number one at the time, Clemson went to 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:55.280 top team L s U and Joe Burrow. So all games, 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:58.240 you know, going into where I thought that we would 0:19:58.280 --> 0:19:59.879 have a chance and we would go in and win 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.080 that we end up losing all those obviously of phenomenal teams. 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:05.560 Kellen was battling some of the best teams in the 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:09.200 country on a weekly basis, and he was also fighting 0:20:09.240 --> 0:20:12.359 against the fans who couldn't let go of the struggling 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:15.960 underclassman Kellyn used to be, and he was competing against 0:20:16.040 --> 0:20:19.840 his own idea of himself some theoretical version of who 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:23.960 Kellen Mond was supposed to become. Here's coach Fisher, who 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:29.679 saw this all unfold. Throughout Kellen's junior season. We had 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:31.639 a very tough schedule. We had some tough breaks in 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:34.399 some situations didn't go our way. But I think he 0:20:34.480 --> 0:20:37.280 puts some pressure on himself. I think we didn't play 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:40.080 as well around him as we should have. I think 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:41.680 we had a lot of drop balls and some big 0:20:41.760 --> 0:20:44.000 games and some big situations, and he missed him throw. 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:47.480 He made some mistakes, and I thought, dealing with expectations, 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:49.480 they never had to do it. Here, he never had 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:50.639 to do it, you know what I mean? Dealing with 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:53.440 all right, we're supposed to be good. That's a different level. 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:56.760 And it wasn't from not want to. It's from sometimes 0:20:56.840 --> 0:20:58.879 you put too much pressure on yourself to be perfect. 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:00.960 You can't play this game per thing. You just gotta 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:03.160 play the best you can and trust your instincts and play. 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:06.840 The tough losses from his junior year, along with the 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:14.159 ever increasing pressure and expectations, finally got to Kellen. And 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:16.880 so after my junior year, I was trying to overcome 0:21:16.920 --> 0:21:21.600 certain expectations of myself, um, and you know we're just 0:21:21.720 --> 0:21:24.440 never able to overcome them, and so um, you know, 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:27.240 after all of that, and so me just going through 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:29.640 that mental strain it wants to be perfect and practice 0:21:29.720 --> 0:21:33.080 and sometimes even see guys not take practice as serious 0:21:33.200 --> 0:21:35.360 as me and then go to the games and don't 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:38.280 see that certain things translate. By times, it was hard 0:21:38.320 --> 0:21:41.399 for me, and you know, like people necessarily don't understand, 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:43.720 especially playing for coach Fisher, what type of mental strain 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:46.280 that it takes to be a phenomenal player and to 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:50.399 go out and have success. On Saturdays, Latitia watched her 0:21:50.480 --> 0:21:54.159 son's struggle and it became difficult for her personally. She 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:58.280 especially felt the weight of Kellen's inner conflict. Kellen had 0:21:58.320 --> 0:22:01.960 been like say, after you know that games, when allously 0:22:02.040 --> 0:22:04.680 the fans were on and whatever, I think that I'm 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:07.760 I am similar in that I am also very hard 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:10.680