Enjoy The Last Ride of Charlie Brewer, Sam Ehlinger, and Kellen Mond

This upcoming college football season Texas (the State) will get to witness something pretty incredible. Three P5 programs in the state will be starting senior QBs who have started in games since their freshman year. In an era of the transfer portal and early declarations for the NFL draft, it extremely rare for rival teams to have that kind of continuity at the QB position for consecutive seasons. This makes added fun for fans to track the career trajectory from signing day all the way to the final season. In 2020, Charlie Brewer, Sam Ehlinger, and Kellen Mond all look to cement their legacy, and all of them still have something to prove.

It’s hard to imagine that Charlie Brewer still has something to prove on the field. Out of the three QBs, nobody has done more with less. Charlie played behind average to below average offensive lines since his freshman season, and until the 2019 season had to overcome a shaky defense. And yet all he has done his whole career is make plays. He has arguably been the most clutch out of the bunch. In his career he has accounted for seven 4^th quarter comebacks. He’s thrown for over 7,000 yards and accounted for 60 TDs. But what Charlie doesn’t quite have yet is the marquee win, though the Bears were close on a couple of occasions in 2019. Fortunately, with road games in Austin, Ames, Norman, and a home game against a trendy OSU team, Charlie will get his chance to capitalize when the lights are shining brightest.

In contrast, Sam Ehlinger has led his team to wins in big games. As a sophomore he led the Longhorns to a thrilling victory over Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout, and an upset victory over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. Beyond that, he has put up big numbers. In general, he’s been a fun player to watch compete. Holding his legacy back is the 2019 season. Texas went into the year as favorite to return to Arlington, but instead ended up going 7-5 in the regular season. And at times it looked ugly for the Horns. That’s why 2020 is so important for the Texas signal caller. A Big 12 title or better and he will insert himself into debates with comparisons to Vince Young and Colt McCoy. Well maybe not Vince, but other successful Texas QBs for sure.

Down in College Station, Texas, Kellen Mond has something that neither Charlie Brewer or Sam Ehlinger have; that is the right to be known as the most electrifying QB out of the bunch. He’s made plays that probably looks familiar to Baylor fans when they used to watch a certain #10 do the same thing. Throughout his career Kellen Mond has found ways to split defenders in the secondary and outrun them up the seam. And he does it mainly by pure speed. It’s exciting to watch. Where Mond falls short of his in-state competition is the statistical categories. As opposed to both Brewer and Ehlinger, his career completion percentage falls under 60%. In addition, he has thrown more interceptions than both and has the least amount of passing yards. The Aggie QB has also had to endure more fan skepticism about his play than the others. But with high expectations in 2020, he will have a chance to prove his critics wrong.

Whatever the differences between Baylor, Texas, and Texas A&M, you still cannot deny how similar their senior QBs are. Each of them had to fight off competition to earn the starting spot, all three of them have the capability to make plays with their arms and legs, and they have provided stability and put their programs in a better spot than when they found it.

Again, it’s not every day that you can watch and compare so many QBs as they come of age at the same time. It’s been fun to watch each one grow as a player even if you root against their teams. These seniors will have enormous expectations in the 2020 season and it will go a long way in deciding which of these QBs gets to have the honor of being known as the best of the group.