All things considered, it was a rather quiet offseason in SEC circles. Attention-grabbing headlines were somewhat few and far between.

But one of the more surprising stories surfaced at the conference’s spring meetings in Destin, Fla., when Texas A&M athletic director Scott Woodward essentially announced that coach Kevin Sumlin is on the hot seat.

The news didn’t come as a major surprise, per se. Following an 11-2 debut in 2012 — the Aggies’ first season in the league — Sumlin slipped to 9-4 in 2013. Each of the last three years, A&M has dropped even further to 8-5. With all the money being thrown around College Station these days, that’s simply not good enough.

We figured Sumlin was on a short leash, but to hear his own AD confirm that speculation on live radio/television was shocking.

We figured Sumlin was on a short leash, but to hear his own AD confirm that speculation on live radio/television was shocking.

“Coach Sumlin knows he has to win,” Woodward said May 30 during an appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show. “He has to win this year. He has to do better than he has done in the past.”

Basic math suggests that “do better” means Sumlin has to win more than eight games in order to keep his job. And based on how much top-end talent he lost off the 2016 roster, it’s hard to imagine this team winning nine or more.

His two top pass rushers, Myles Garrett (below) — he went No. 1 in the NFL Draft — and Daeshon Hall, are gone. So are his top two tacklers in linebacker Shaan Washington and safety Justin Evans. Keep in mind that even with those players, the Ags were 10th in the SEC in total defense a year ago and an abysmal 13th against the pass.

Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Not to mention the fact that Sumlin still has no idea who will replace departed graduate transfer Trevor Knight at quarterback.

“Can you be a better football team with the same record? Can you be a worse football team with the same record?” Sumlin wondered last week at Media Days. “I can sum it up that by looking at how we’re going to play and what tempo we’re going to play at, what kind of physicality we’re going to play at and how we’re going to finish.

“And if we’re doing that, the wins will come the way these guys are approaching it.”

There are conflicting opinions on just how warm Butch Jones’s chair is at Tennessee. The Volunteers were arguably the biggest disappointment in the conference last season. But the hottest seat in the league belongs to Sumlin, hands down.

"I feel like it’s wear and tear, injury. But this year, we have to be in the weight room more, training room, take care of our bodies, doing the little things right so we can be able to compete every week at our highest level." -- Armani Watts

“That is really not a lot of my concern,” said offensive tackle Koda Martin. “I just know that I love Coach Sumlin, I love the program he has put together and I love the staff that he has put together. I believe that he is doing everything he can to make sure we are going to win.

“We have been getting after it this summer. We have a new strength staff that is doing a lot to help us prepare. There is a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that people just don’t see.”

Texas A&M has been one of the best teams in the nation the last four years through the first two-thirds of the schedule. Nevertheless, once the calendar flips to November, the wheels fall off. The Aggies are just 7-9 the final month of the regular season since 2013. In 2014, 2015 and 2016, they went from the Top 10 to unranked.

“I feel like it’s wear and tear, injury,” said safety Armani Watts (below). “But this year, we have to be in the weight room more, training room, take care of our bodies, doing the little things right so we can be able to compete every week at our highest level.”

Credit: Adam Hagy-USA TODAY Sports

What Knight may have lacked in skill, he made up for it in intangibles. Last year’s squad was never the same once he banged up his shoulder in Week 10 at Mississippi State.

“I have wanted to step into a major leadership role,” said receiver Christian Kirk. “Last year it was Trevor Knight, who had to lead the team as captain and was a very vocal person. Now I have to step into that role along with guys like Armani, Koda and Donovan Wilson. We have to as a group step up to become vocal leaders to lead this team now.”

Kirk’s name is all over the preseason All-SEC list, as he was a first-team selection at wideout, return specialist and all-purpose player. However, he still doesn’t know if Jake Hubenak, Nick Starkel or Kellen Mond will be throwing him the ball.

The schedule is far from kind, too. The heat could be turned up quickly on Sumlin if A&M lays an egg in its opener Sept. 2 at UCLA.

An argument can be made for all three to be the new starter. Hubenak is the most experienced but has a limited ceiling. Starkel is coming off a redshirt but hasn’t fired live bullets yet. Mond is oozing with potential but just graduated from high school — Sumlin may not have the luxury of being patient with a true freshman signal caller.

The schedule is far from kind, too. The heat could be turned up quickly on Sumlin if A&M lays an egg in its opener Sept. 2 at UCLA.

“From my standpoint,” Sumlin said, “to say that we’re going to be better, I know that we’re doing the things that we need to do to be better. And I would not be surprised if the results don’t bear that out.”

Since I picked the Ags to finish dead last in the West, I would indeed be surprised. They host Alabama on Oct. 7 and then travel to Florida on Oct. 14. Sumlin’s dubious November record can’t get any worse if he’s axed prior to Halloween.