How Texas A&M failed with elite QBs Kyler Murray and Kyle Allen
Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from Stewart Mandel's Dec. 16 Mailbag. For his full Mailbag, click here, and to submit a question for next week, email Stewart.Mandel@fox.com.
It's been a couple of weeks now since Kyle Allen and Kyler Murray announced their transfers from Texas A&M. Is the Aggies' mass exodus of quarterbacks more a reflection of Kevin Sumlin or the entitlement of high-profile quarterbacks of today?
-- Drew Stropka, Glendale, Ariz.
The entitled-QB thing is hardly unique to Texas A&M. It's a position with a unique set of pressures; first and foremost, that there's only one spot available on the field, but also the culture of private QB tutors, the Elite 11 circuit, etc., they get exposed to from an early age. It's become a lot like basketball, where the top recruits are made to feel like failures if they're not off to the NBA by their sophomore year. Many elite QB recruits expect to start no later than their redshirt freshman seasons and, if not, will find somewhere else that they can.
That being said, A&M's particular situation seems a fairly unique fiasco given one of those two was most definitely going to start imminently -- beginning with this week's bowl game.
Sumlin falls into the category of coaches I mentioned earlier who get the big-name recruits but then have to manage their expectations. Clearly, in this case, he failed. His offensive staff is a classic case of too many cooks in the kitchen, what with 30-year-old offensive coordinator Jake Spavital working with demoted former OC/running backs coach Clarence McKinney and former FBS head coach-turned-offensive line coach Dave Christensen. I'm not privy to what exactly went down this season, but apparently Sumlin's juggling of the QB and lack of offensive identity drove both guys out. Perhaps that will ultimately prove a mistake for one or both, though Murray's already found himself a pretty sweet landing spot at Oklahoma.
Stewart Mandel is a senior college sports columnist for FOXSports.com. He covered college football and basketball for 15 years at Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter @slmandel and Facebook. Send emails and Mailbag questions to Stewart.Mandel@fox.com.