re: How happy is A&M with Sumlin?

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gimmick offenses

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Very excited and what is great is we are winning this year without top SEC level talent and depth on defense. Yes we have a couple of good guys on D but nothing close to Bama, LSU, USC or the Gators. Sumlin has stated that this is one of his main focuse areas to improve. If he is able to do that; I like our chance in the next few years.

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You may want to check our rushing stats...


You may want to check your upcoming attrition on the Oline. They wont be as good up front next year.

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This kind of thing just shows how much folks look at A&M and think "Air Raid" and stop there. A&M leads the SEC in rushing by 40 yards PER GAME and leads the SEC in YPC by nearly .5 per carry and A&M has 10 more rushing TD's than any other SEC team.

"Oh, but it isn't "Power Rushing". Against LSU and Bama there were 4 times A&M had 1st and Goal inside the 10. On all 4 occasions A&M ran the ball UP THE MIDDLE and scored a TD.

"A&M is going to lose all those OLineman."

A&M has 1 Sr on the OLine and his replacement was probably the top rated Center out of HS last year, his name is Mike Matthews. That may sound familiar because his brother is Jake Matthews that is one of the 2 Stud Jr OT's that are eligible to leave. Jake wants to stay in school and play along the line with his little bro. They don't need the money either because Dad is Bruce Matthews who was a HoF OLineman and 13 time Pro Bowler that is now an NFL Coach.

Luke Joekel is more of a risk because he is currently the #1 OL on some boards. He has said he plans on staying though and he ALSO has a brother on the team (his twiin) that is our 3rd string QB. If he does leave likely Matthews shifts over to LT, A&M shifts Obuehi from Guard to his natural RT spot but he will have to battle with Louis Cheek who is a stud as well. A&M also has at least 2 other guys who are RS'ing right now that have looked great. Will there be a dropoff? Maybe, but it won't be a "fall off the table" dropoff unless both OT's go pro early and there are injuries.

The other thing to consider is A&M has 2 RB's right now that are waiting out a transfer year and another stud commit. One is Brandon Williams who is a complete back with power, speed, and shiftiness that was a former 5 Star that transferred from OU. The other is a huge power back named Tra Carson (250lb variety) that transferred from Oregon. The stud RB is James White that somehow is rated a 3 Star but is a bruising power back with speed as well. The only RB A&M loses is Michael but they get Malena and Trey Williams (former 5 star who mainly returns kicks, had the 85 yarder against LSU) back.

Oh, and yes Aggies are thrilled with Sumlin. So far he looks like the perfect hire.

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Very excited and what is great is we are winning this year without top SEC level talent and depth on defense. Yes we have a couple of good guys on D but nothing close to Bama, LSU, USC or the Gators. Sumlin has stated that this is one of his main focuse areas to improve. If he is able to do that; I like our chance in the next few years.

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This is the kind of response I was looking for. As I stated, I think he is a great coach. However, being in the SEC is not like being in the Big 12. It will take a few seasons for you guys to realize what I mean by that. Yall have had a great first year and right now it looks like it will only get better, but dont think that you will improve and the SEC coaches wont know how to adjust. They will and it will get tougher and tougher.

I'm as happy as an 'ole hoot owl

:rotflmao:

I don't think A&M has any misconceptions about the difficulty of the SEC. Even if you can find a way to claw your way to the top you have at least 6 other programs that are willing to do anything to take you down. It's the definition of "big boy football". Teams can go from on top to also ran in a flash (see Arkie and Auburn).

I also agree the biggest weakness for A&M is by far on the defensive side of the ball. We have very good front line starters but don't have the depth we need. Sumlin is aggressively trying to fix that with recruiting but by definition that means we will have a lot of youth so it may still take a year or two to get close to Bama/LSU/UF/UGA level there. So the offense and coaching and especially S&C have to make up the difference in the meantime. That likely means we aren't quite there yet but I would be surprised to see us take a step back next year considering the schedule, talent, and time in the program.

Two things I think actually has helped A&M as a program and as a fan base get ready for the SEC honestly were the Arkie series and the LSU Cotton Bowl. I remember that first Arkie game when A&M came out and looked good early only to get trounced by the overwhelming physicality of Arkie. Then the next year we got better. Then the next year we should have beaten them. Then this year we know what happened. The LSU Cotton was similar. A&M had just rolled through OU, NU, and Texas and we were feeling good. We came out and got an early lead on LSU. Then the speed of that defense from the Tigers took over and crushed us. We saw just how far we had to go. This year we didn't win but we certainly competed and then of course the Bama game happened.

My point is that the SEC transition kind of got a jump start at A&M because we had played good SEC teams before actually joining. We understood how much we needed to step up and we still realize we have a ways to go. I firmly believe it had a huge effect on how well the Ags have done this year though, we understand that SEC football is a completely different level from the Big 12.

Looking forward to pulling for A&M against Longhorns in a bowl game! SEC, SEC, SEC

Once JFF is gone we'll see how good Sumlin really is. He lucked into that.