"During the LSU game. That last play of the game, with one second left on the clock," Mond said at SEC Media Days. "He asked me what I wanted to run, and the play I said was the one that he had already told upstairs in the box."

The play ended up being a 19-yard touchdown pass to Quartney Davis, which allowed the Aggies to tie the game at 24 with no time on the clock and sent it to what would become the first of a record seven overtimes and a 74-72 A&M win.

The pass was arguably the best Mond made during a turnaround sophomore season, after a difficult first year at A&M. He was forced onto the field in 2017 after Nick Starkel suffered a broken leg in the season opener at UCLA and the results were less than stellar: he completed 51.5% of his passes for 1,375 yards, 8 touchdowns and 6 interceptions, and was benched when Starkel returned.

"You're a deer in the headlights," he admitted.

A new opportunity came when Kevin Sumlin was fired and replaced by Fisher, who re-opened the quarterback competition. Learning from from his new coach, who arrived in College Station with a stellar record of developing quarterbacks, Mond's numbers jumped across the board. He completed 57.3% of his passes for 3,107 yards, 24 TD and 9 INTs while starting every game.

His performance was even more impressive when, as Fisher noted, it is considered that Mond still had yet to grasp all the intricacies of a very complex offense.

""You take Algebra 1. Algebra doesn't change, but Algebra 2 gets more complicated. You just keep adding more to the formula as you go. That's where he's getting to," Fisher said of Mond. Part of the learning process for the young quarterback has not only been figuring out all the elements of Fisher's scheme, but developing a better understanding of all parts of the game. As Fisher told the assembled media in Hoover, college football is now a non-stop activity.

"(Mond) understands he has to be a student of the game, and I think that's the most fun we have. He works his tail off. Nobody works any harder, but he also works in the film room, too. You know from the conversations you had with him, the questions he asked you, it's starting to be really fun ," Fisher said.

For his part, Mond is relishing the opportunity to learn as much as he can from his head coach. The two have spent enough time together that some of Fisher's West Virginia mannerisms have rubbed off on the San Antonio native, including how Fisher describes the game.

"He’s just developing more trust in me, and that comes from developing more knowledge and me proving to him that I can take that type of knowledge and we can talk ball literally all day. He’s mind is like a hamster wheel...he’s constantly thinking ball," Mond said.

Mond is not the only person who is enjoying the growing relationship between quarterback and coach.

"It's really fun to have conversations with him now. Because he understands our language, our lingo, what to expect, what things (to do) when we see certain looks, certain defenses, certain blitzes, what to go to, how to go to it -- and even he comes up with some ideas now. We share ideas," Fisher said. "It's fun to really watch him grow, and he's embracing the whole concept that it's not just throwing the ball or handing it off, it's a year-round process to be the quarterback and the leader of the football team."