Tim Heitman, USA TODAY SPORTS
The Texas A&M Aggies have had their ups and downs over the last three seasons. There were two fun years with Johnny Manziel at quarterback, which brought Aggie football back to the national spotlight. But there have also been some tough times in College Station. Take last season, for example. A&M raced out of the gates, winning their first five games of the season. Kenny Hill looked like a Heisman Trophy candidate and head coach Kevin Sumlin looked like a genius.
Then, turbulence hit. The Aggies lost three in a row, Hill was benched and things didn’t turn out so well. The Aggies did finish at 8-5, but not without taking some bumps along the way. The initial hiring of Sumlin drew some criticism. Was he ready to be the coach of a team that was headed to the mighty SEC? Could he be the guy to bring the Aggies back from some down years?
In season one, Sumlin started a certain freshman quarterback who led the Aggies to an 11-2 record, including a big win over the Oklahoma Sooners in the Cotton Bowl. The 2013 season saw the Aggies slip just a bit, finishing the season at 9-4. Manziel declared for the draft, so the 2014 season was going to be a season of transition.
By the time the season ended, true freshman Kyle Allen was starting at quarterback. Sumlin thinks Allen can be the quarterback of the future for A&M, but that remains to be seen.
All of this is to say that Sumlin’s seat in College Station is a little warmer than it was two years ago. There has been a step back since 2012 and the big money donors in Aggieland won’t stand for that too long. But Sumlin built up enough goodwill in his first two seasons to keep him safe for a while.
Hot seat monitor: 3 out of 10
Tim Letcher is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimLetcher , on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
