HOOVER, Ala. -- For the first time in three seasons as Texas A&M's coach, Kevin Sumlin doesn't have 2012 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel as his quarterback.
With Manziel passing for 7,820 yards and 63 touchdowns and rushing for 2,169 yards and 30 touchdowns the past two seasons, the Aggies were 20-6 with Cotton Bowl and Chick-fil-A Bowl victories as SEC newcomers.
Texas A&M schedule
DATE;OPPONENT
Aug. 28;at South Carolina*
Sept. 6;Lamar
Sept. 13;Rice
Sept. 20;at SMU
Sept. 27;vs. Arkansas#
Oct. 4;at Mississippi State*
Oct. 18;at Alabama*
Nov. 1;Louisiana-Monroe
Nov. 8;at Auburn*
Nov. 15;Missouri*
Nov. 27;LSU*
*SEC game
at Arlington, Texas
Texas A&M at a glance
LAST SEASON 9-4, 4-4 (fourth in SEC West)
COACH Kevin Sumlin (20-6 in third season at Texas A&M, 55-23 in seventh season overall)
RETURN STARTERS Offense 5, defense 7, special teams 2
KEY RETURNING PLAYERS OT Cedric Ogbuehi, RB Trey Williams, CB Deshazor Everett, WR Malcome Kennedy.
SEC TITLE SCENARIO With Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel gone, Texas A&M will need to see a marked improvement on defense from last season and find a capable starting quarterback — either Kenny Hill or Kyle Allen — to have any shot to contend for the SEC West title. A weak nonconference schedule should help Texas A&M win at least six games and play in a bowl game.
Now Manziel has moved on to the NFL as the Cleveland Browns' first-round draft pick.
"I understand there's not going to be another Johnny Manziel, the way he played the game. That's all part of it," Sumlin said at SEC media days. "Now does that mean that we change offensively? Maybe. Does that mean that we changed offensively for him. That might be the case, too.
"What we have done is we've gone out and been able to recruit very, very well to a system we believe in."
Sophomore Kenny Hill, the Texas high school player of the year at Southlake Carroll, and freshman Kyle Allen, the top-rated quarterback nationally at Scottsdale (Ariz.) Desert Mountain, are competing to replace Manziel as the starting quarterback.
"In college football, every two or three years you're going to have turnover, and you have to have a plan for that," Sumlin said. "Whether it's quarterback, whether it's a great defender, whatever it is.
"To me, that's what's exciting about college football. You wouldn't be so excited if you hadn't recruited the Gatorade player of the year out of the state of Texas and the No. 1 quarterback in the country behind him."
Hill played in four games last season against Sam Houston State, SMU, Vanderbilt and Texas-El Paso, and completed 16 of 22 passes for 183 yards. Allen enrolled at Texas A&M in January and went through spring practice.
Sumlin said he's not ready to name a starting quarterback, that the process will play itself out in preseason practice before the Aggies open at South Carolina on Aug. 28 in a Thursday night game on the SEC Network.
With four returning starters on the offensive line and a talented group of receivers and running backs, Sumlin said the new quarterback will have strong support around him.
"It's incumbent on the other 10 guys who are on the field to make the offense quarterback friendly," Sumlin said. "Our guys understand that, because whoever that is, is going to be a young guy going into a very hostile environment in Columbia that first game."
Aggies at SEC media days said they've been impressed by Hill and Allen.
"They're young, but they're playing like they're older. That's good," senior offensive tackle Cedric Ogbuehi said. "Kyle is more of a pocket guy. Kenny is a little bit more mobile.
"I see a lot of similarities in that they are both playmakers as well."
Senior cornerback Deshazor Everett said both quarterbacks have challenged the defense in practice.
"I'd say Kenny is a little bit more conservative. He'll take the check-down route a lot more than Kyle will," Everett said. "Kyle will take a shot at you.
"If you make a play on them, they're coming back at you. They're not afraid to challenge anybody."
Sumlin said it will be tough to know how the Aggies' new quarterback will react to playing an SEC road game in his first start.
"Probably whoever the quarterback is, I'll be his only friend at that point," Sumlin said. "We'll get to know each other really well in that locker room before we go out there, and a lot during the game."
Manziel was a redshirt freshman replacing a first-round draft pick, Ryan Tannehill, when he became the starter for the Aggies in 2012 as they went into the SEC coming off a 7-6 season that cost Mike Sherman his job as coach.
After the Aggies went 11-2 in Sumlin's debut, they were expected to contend for the national title last season but finished 9-4.
"We have our own expectations," Sumlin said. "We have to, because Year 1 nobody expected anything out of us. Last year, we were expected to beat the Green Bay Packers."
Sumlin said the Aggies' expectations to be SEC contenders haven't changed with Manziel's departure.
"We don't have time for a bunch of rebuilding years," he said. "There would be another guy standing up here real quick."
Everett said with a laugh there is less media attention when he was asked what it's like not to have Manziel on the team.
"I love the guy to death, but the camera followed him everywhere," Everett said. "He definitely made a name for himself.
"Hopefully, we can get some other players to step up and they can make a name for themselves, too."
Up next: South Carolina
Sports on 07/18/2014