Sumlin needs strong finish on recruiting
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M has failed to put together a strong finish to a solid start for a fourth consecutive year, meaning it’s imperative Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin put together a strong finish on another front: the recruiting hunt.
Sumlin, like most every other coach this time of year, has long had a list, has checked it twice and is making the rounds to some of the Aggies’ top targets.
With national signing day about two months away, A&M is currently ranked fifth in the country by Rivals, eighth by 247Sports and 10th by ESPN. SEC West division opponent Alabama, as per custom under coach Nick Saban, is ranked first by all three websites.
The Aggies are 8-4, having won their first four SEC games before losing the next four, with a bowl destination announced Sunday. Most prognostications point A&M toward the Texas Bowl on Dec. 28 against a Big 12 opponent in NRG Stadium, but that’s to be determined.
The Aggies last played in the Texas Bowl in 2011 under interim coach Tim DeRuyter, a 33-22 victory over Northwestern. Mike Sherman had been fired a few weeks earlier following a 6-6 regular season in his fourth year at A&M, and Sumlin officially took over in January 2012.
Gig on the line
While Sumlin’s worst record at A&M is 8-5 (each of the last two years), he’s also to the point in his tenure where he must show he can get the program over the eight- to nine-win hump, and compete with Alabama for an SEC title.
A&M spent nearly a half-billion dollars to rebuild Kyle Field, and Sumlin is among the nation’s highest-paid coaches at $5 million annually. Defensive coordinator John Chavis ($1.5 million) and offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone (nearly a million) also are handsomely paid to get the job done at A&M.
Are they? Not yet, and that’s where a class like this one comes in, with Sumlin’s gig on the line entering the 2017 season. He will have two years remaining on his contract after 2017, meaning a $10 million buyout.
In addition to losing their two starting offensive tackles in Avery Gennesy and Jermaine Eluemunor and starting quarterback Trevor Knight (all seniors), the Aggies lose a handful of key contributors on defense. Junior defensive end Myles Garrett is expected to turn pro and be a top-five selection in this spring’s NFL draft. Defensive end Daeshon Hall, safety Justin Evans, linebacker Claude George and defensive tackle Hardreck Walker all are seniors. A&M desperately needs a strong signing class to try and climb among the upper echelon of the SEC West, and it’s a class that right now includes nine four-star prospects among 23 pledges, with quarterback Kellen Mond, linebacker Santino Marchiol, defensive end Jayden Peevy and defensive back Derrick Tucker highlighting the haul.
Still feeling 2013
Verbal pledges are nonbinding, and Sumlin likely wishes most of his 2013 class would have exercised that right back then, considering the Aggies’ lack of upperclassman depth.
Of the 31 signees four years ago, only 10 will be taking part in practice this month in preparation for the bowl. The 2013 class was made up of bad injuries and some plain bad players — with “bad” applicable on and off the field — why Sumlin has said his program has adjusted its recruiting philosophy, in search of more character and less characters.
That 2013 class was ranked 11th nationally, another example of why classes can’t truly be judged until about five years after signing day. While his current class ranks as a consensus top 10, it could still use a boost from highly rated defenders, including four-star linebacker Anthony Hines of Plano East.
He’s heavily favoring the Aggies over Oklahoma, Texas and Baylor, according to 247Sports. Linebacker, as it’s been under Sumlin, was a weakness this season, and a prospect like Hines would earn every opportunity to play immediately in 2017.
It’s been a year since two A&M starting quarterbacks in Kyle Allen and Kyler Murray transferred, and the pressure on Sumlin from an unsatisfied A&M hierarchy at the same time intensified. The Aggies responded with a 7-1 start and No. 4 slot in the first College Football Playoff ranking, before their wheels rolled off in November with league losses to Mississippi State, Mississippi and LSU.
Status quo won’t cut it
To show he can reach double-digit victories for the first time since his first season of 2012, Sumlin will need solid contributions from veterans and youngsters alike in 2017. Rest assured the status quo won’t soon cut it for Sumlin, with everything seemingly in place but actually competing for SEC titles.