Texas A&M Football: Christian Kirk one of the best in the country

There are 3 days till college football season, and today we talk about one of the SEC’s most dynamic playmakers.

Christian Kirk arrived in College Station in 2016, and immediately took the conference by storm. In the first game of his Texas A&M football career, the Aggies took on Arizona State in Houston and Kirk put on a show. On the third touch of his career, he took a punt 79 yards for a touchdown, and the legend was born.

Along with his punt return, Kirk had six catches for 106 yards, including a 66-yard touchdown reception that put the Aggies up 31-17 late in the game. Kirk put the college football world on notice in his first career game, and he hasn’t stopped since.

Like he proved in his first career game, Kirk gets it done in the passing game as well as the return game. And that leads us to no. 3 on the Southbound and Down College Football Countdown.

Texas A&M’s Christian Kirk had 3 punt return touchdowns last season, most in nation

Southbound and Down Countdown: 4: LSU/Tennessee a casualty of conference realignment

There were five different players that returned two punts for touchdowns last season, but Kirk was the only player in the country to return three punts for touchdowns. He had 14 punt returns last season for 282 yards (20.1 yards/return) and three touchdowns.

He took two punts to the house in the Aggies’ 52-10 blowout of New Mexico State. And he also took a punt 93 yards for a touchdown against Mississippi State. As a freshman, Kirk returned 14 punts for 341 yards and two touchdowns.

He is now tied for 14th in NCAA history with five career punt return touchdowns. Antonio Perkins (Oklahoma) and Wes Welker (Texas Tech) hold the NCAA record with eight career punt return touchdowns.

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To put Kirk’s numbers in perspective, Georgia’s Isaiah McKenzie, one of the nation’s most dynamic return men for the last few years, who is also nicknamed “The Human Joystick”, had five career punt return touchdowns in his three years with the Bulldogs. Kirk has matched that in just two years, while also being one of the best receiving threats in the SEC.

As a freshman, he had 80 receptions for 1,009 yards and 7 touchdowns. Then as a sophomore, he put up almost identical numbers with 83 receptions for 928 yards and 9 touchdowns.

Kirk is 99 receptions away from Jordan Matthews‘ SEC career record for receptions, and 89 receptions away from Ryan Swope‘s school record for receptions. Both of those guys played four years.

Next: Top 10 games of the 2017 SEC football season

Christian Kirk will most likely leave for the NFL at the end of the season, but not before he puts his name in the SEC record books.