Monday Thoughts

There's no way to sugarcoat it; the Texas Bowl is a disappointment for Texas A&M. So's an 8-4 season. But they have nobody to blame but themselves and it's time to suck it up, pick up the pieces and go out and beat a very ordinary opponent in Kansas State.

There's no doubt the Aggies are more talented than K-State. They were also more talented than Mississippi State and Ole Miss and flopped in both cases. So it's really a matter of whether A&M is tired of saying the right things and is more interested in doing them.

K-State comes into this game at 8-4, but it's not a real impressive 8-4. In fact, it's a pretty weak one. They have wins over Florida Atlantic (3-9), FCS Missouri State and non-bowl teams in Texas (5-7), Texas Tech (5-7) and Kansas (2-10). Their only two wins against bowl teams came against Baylor (6-6) once their wheels came off, and TCU (6-6).

In other words, they didn't beat a winning team in the FBS. Now, they did play West Virginia and Oklahoma State close, but if you were over .500, you beat them. Of course, the Aggies beat five bowl teams (UCLA, Arkansas, Auburn, Tennessee and South Carolina). There's no question who SHOULD win, but A&M has to show up.

K-State is a classic Big 12 team in one sense: they give up a lot of passing yards (111th) but not much on the ground (because nobody's running). But they're different in that they actually try to play defense and will run the football. They're a Bill Snyder team -- smart, disciplined and do the little things right. If A&M goes out and takes them lightly, they're going to be 8-5 again.

When the new Rivals 100 came out this morning, Fletch and Matt quickly noted that Kellen Mond had made a massive jump in the rankings, going from 106th overall to 27th, a 5-star and the nation's #1 dual-threat quarterback (3rd QB in the total rankings).

That, folks, is what can be called a big deal.

At 6-foot-3, Mond already has outstanding height, but he'll probably be around 215 pounds by the time the season rolls around. With A&M running a very similar scheme to what he's using at IMG Academy and Mond having spring practice in his favor, it's going to be really interesting and possibly exciting to see if he's good to go opening day in the Rose Bowl.

But Mond isn't the only Aggie commit to get a boost. A&M was in on Belliare DT Jayden Peevy early and benefited when he had an outstanding senior season, going from a relatively unknown 3-star to a 4-star. Washington D.C. St. John's DE Tyree Johnson also got a bump to 4 stars, and Camron Horry went from 2 stars to a pretty high 3. We don't know how far Anthony Hines will move up in the Rivals 250 yet, but A&M's latest commit is probably going jump a good bit from his current 231.

Now, with 90 offers, it's hard to say that A&M was ahead of the curve against anyone when it comes to Hines -- but John Chavis started recruiting him when he was in junior high. That's pretty salty, and I'll say that probably was ahead of the curve. A&M got in on Peevy and Johnson early and projected Horry as a tight end well ahead of most.

There are other guys in this class that A&M jumped on quickly -- Devin Morris and Myles Jones come to mind immediately -- that have remained under the radar. So have players like Roshaaud Paul and Ondario Robinson. With some of their choices having really good senior campaigns that have resulted in ratings boosts, it makes you wonder just how good some of the other guys that have gotten less attention could be at the next level. Could the success stories be a fluke? Maybe. But I'm intrigued how the rest are doing a couple of years down the line.

This summer, there was a lot of talk that Texas was laughing all the way to the locker room when Baylor released its 2016 signees. Patrick Hudson, J.P. Urquidez, Devin Duvernay and Donovan Duvernay all headed down I-35 and put on orange.

With the exception of Devin Duvernay, none of them played. Duvernay was second on the team in receiving yards (with just 412), and looks like he'll be special. The rest? The jury is out but initial returns were not really exciting for any of them -- not that Texas would want to give them back.

Now, flash forward to 2017 and Texas A&M's recruiting class. Kellen Mond, Jhamon Ausbon, Hezekiah Jones and Jayden Peevy are all 4-stars or better. All were committed to Baylor at some point or another. Mond could start from day one; Ausbon and Jones could be in the two deep at receiver and, while Peevy expects to redshirt, he's only played two years of organized football and has a massive upside.

Who's going to be happiest about the Baylor implosion in a few years? It could well be the guys down Highway 6, not the ones down 35.