Fall Camp Q&A: Jhamon Ausbon

Texas A&M has completed one week of drills and the Aggies return to the practice field Saturday for their ninth workout of the fall.

During the week, Will Johnson caught up with a key member of one of the country's top wide receiving units, Jhamon Ausbon. Their conversation is below. 

Coverage of fall camp is brought to the 12th Man all August long by Academy Sports + Outdoors.
 

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WJ: Last year you get started you have the injury but you do come back before the end of the season. But when you get a little bit of it taken away, a few games in there, does it make you a little hungrier for the next season?
 
"Yeah. You gain a different passion for the game that you think you never had. Me being out and seeing my teammates compete and take some losses, it hurt me. But I just tried to be there every step I could and be ready to go when I got back healthy."
 
WJ: We've talked about this a lot and plenty of people have thrown this at you. When you have basically all your pass catches back from the receivers, there are a lot of expectations. But that hasn't seemed to have bothered anybody, any of the receivers we've talked to, when expectations are placed on you.
 
"Yeah, because we practice like that. We want that pressure because we feel like when pressure hits our habits are going to come out. Our practice and our fundamentals are going to come back to our play. We're going to be ready to go."
 
WJ: A few receivers I wanted to ask you about, one of them Quartney Davis. Just how far has he come since arriving at A&M?
 
"He had two big injuries, ACL tear and labrum tear. I think mentally it was pretty impressive to see him stay in there strong, two years in a row back-to-back injuries, come back, make the big plays for us that you saw last season, and be that leader on the team that we need."
 
WJ: Kendrick as well, we saw what he did in the LSU game and also in another big game against Clemson. What are his capabilities and is the deal with him to do it consistently?
 
"He's a big-play guy. Y'all saw what he can do, but we need him to do that every game. We're just working in practice at being consistent, every play, every period, and building into that every rep kind of guy so we can see him every game bring it along with the other receivers."
 
WJ: And what about you? We've seen you catch plenty of balls here, but what's left? What's next for you as a receiver?
 
"I'm just trying to be that big-play guy. I know I have great hands and am that possession receiver that everyone talks about, but I'm trying to be this big-play guy. I'm trying to make more plays down the field and just keep being a great leader. But really just trying to be a big-play guy in addition to Kendrick and Quartney."
 
WJ: How much is the deep ball talked about? You guys did have a lot of good possession catches, and even intermediate routes you guys were able to catch and get yards after the catch and turn them into big plays. But that home-run ball, that deep ball. Is that talked about a little bit? Maybe not as many of them last year?
 
"Yeah, it's definitely a focus. It comes down to timing and preparation. I feel like our first year in the offense we're not really too sold on the outcome of certain plays but now we know what we're going to get with coverages and schematic-wise. I feel like we're a lot more comfortable with the playbook, so you're going to see us open up the playbook a lot this year."