Sumlin will survive Texas A&M angst with his strong recruiting

The recent issues at Tennessee and Ole Miss took have taken away from one of the more interesting situations since the end of the 2015 season — the anger at Texas A&M.

With the transfer of five-star quarterbacks Kyle Allen and Kyler Murray came the claims that head coach Kevin Sumlin was losing control of the program. Losing talent is always tough, but the quarterback issue wasn’t going to end pretty and frankly the Aggies are better off without the circus it was creating.

The Aggies’ fan base is a demanding group. Give them a little bit of success and they want it all. I get it. But Sumlin still gives this program the best chance to win in the SEC West. He has to tweak his recruiting, but he has the mind to adjust. Bringing in Noel Mazzone as the offensive coordinator tells me Sumlin wants to do more with the running game even if the quarterback still won’t line up under center.

One thing we can’t argue about is Sumlin’s ability to recruit. Let’s look at his five-year run at A&M and the five years before he got there.

Texas A&M recruiting under Sumlin

Texas A&M Recruiting Before Sumlin

(* 2011 class included three-star prospects Johnny Manziel and Mike Evans).

So even Sumlin’s worst class at A&M is comparable with the best class the program had in the five-year span before he arrived.

The problem clearly isn’t recruiting … transfers are another story. Over the past couple of years the Aggies have certainly experienced some turnover and another one is heading out the door. Most of the attention is on the Aggies losing three quarterbacks in two years.

In some ways that could be a situation of addition by subtraction and make the Aggies program a little better.

For starters Sumlin needs to switch the offense a little bit and become more reliant on ball control and running the football.

Such a simple switch could help build a tougher team and a more acocuntable team. Allen, who started the great migration of Aggies after the 2015 season questioned the culture at A&M. Allen talked about a team that failed to come together and “scrap for wins.”

Allen’s point is backed up by Texas A&M’s SEC conference record of 17-15 under Sumlin and more so by its inability to capitalize on early success.

In 2014 and 2015, the Aggies started 5-0 and went 3-5 the rest of the way. In 2013 the Aggies started 5-1 and went 4-3 down the stretch with Johnny Manziel at quarterback.

What this tells me is Sumlin isn’t recruiting players who have the mental toughness to go through the gauntlet that is a conference schedule in the SEC West. The high-octane offense Sumlin installed gave Texas A&M more identity and more interest from recruits, but it has led to more problems.

The defense has improved with five-star recruits like Myles Garrett and Daylon Mack on the line, but the Aggies need to continue to recruit better quality depth behind those top players to run the offense Sumlin wants to run in the SEC.

The physicality of the league is well noted, many of the Aggies’ mid-season swoons can be attributed to a lack of depth and the exhaustion of a defense that has to work harder as the season goes on and the Aggies’ offense isn’t as productive.

So, yes, changes need to be made.

However, there’s no reason for all the angst in College Station.

Yes things have gotten out of hand a little bit, but Sumlin is a good coach who has done a good job at A&M despite the move to the SEC.

He’s coached a Heisman winner and had an 11-win season. A&M is one of the few conference teams to beat Alabama since 2010 and as the graphic above showed, he’s recruiting the best talent the program has seen in years.

Unless A&M thinks they can lure Tom Herman away from Houston, there’s no reason to put Sumlin on the hot seat. There’s a better chance of Sumlin finding more success at his next job than A&M finding more success under a new coach.

Corey Long

Corey Long is a freelance writer for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Corey on Twitter @CoreyLong.