Heading into its sixth season as a member of the Southeastern Conference, Texas A&M has to feel relieved it jumped from a conference that currently has a cloudy future to the strongest overall conference in the nation. If you ask Dave South, affectionately referred to as “The Voice of Aggieland,” the Aggies’ decision to jump from the Big 12 to the SEC was one of the ‘best moves ever made’ by the school.

South was a recent guest on WJOX 94.5 The Opening Drive and gave his thoughts on the football team heading into what appears to be a crucial season for A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin. With the Aggies going 8-5 the last three seasons after going 9-4 in 2013, some are wondering if the Sumlin has already taken the program as far as he can. Considering Sumlin’s buyout grows smaller with each passing season, it will be down to $10 million following the 2017 season, speculation is running wild regarding his future in College Station.

That fact has not been lost on South, who spoke on behalf of both Sumlin and a growing fan base that appears to be growing weary of the same record year in and year out.

“There was a time when people would have been thrilled to win eight games or nine games,” South said on the air. “Now, the benchmark seems to be 10 or 11, and everybody’s not going to do that every year. That’s just not going to happen. Yeah, I hear the rumblings, and I go out to speak to a lot of Aggie groups. They won’t necessarily talk openly in front of the whole group, but they’ll come up before or after I’m through talking to say they’re not happy about eight wins. So that may be the consensus right now — that this team needs to win nine or 10 games this year.”

During his appearance on the air, South was also asked about conference expansion. The longtime Aggie announcer believes neither Texas or Oklahoma would receive a consensus vote to enter the SEC, which he stated was necessary for a school to join the conference via expansion.

“The other thing that keeps coming up is that I’ve heard that no matter what, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are attached at the hip, that one can’t do without the other,” South continued. “That was kind of the situation when Texas and Texas A&M moved to the Big 12.”

South closed the segment on a high note when asked about Texas A&M’s move to the SEC. Here’s what South, who has been a member of the Aggies’ athletic department since 1985, had to say regarding the SEC.

“This is one of the best moves ever made. I have worked now in all three conferences that A&M has been a member of, the Southwest Conference, the Big 12 and now the SEC. The SEC, and I don’t mean any anything… I’ve got friends that work in the the Big 12, SEC just totally blows those other two conferences away.”