Kevin Sumlin: QB battle at Texas A&M ‘dead even’ between Kenny Hill, Kyle Allen

As Johnny Manziel made his NFL debut for the Cleveland Browns on Saturday night his former head coach made comments on the competition to be his successor at Texas A&M.

Kevin Sumlin has two young options in Kenny Hill and true freshman Kyle Allen as the Aggies begin life after Manziel in College Station, and after scrimmaging on Saturday, Sumlin wasn’t ready to say one was ahead of the other.

Offensive coordinator Jake Spavital echoed these sentiments last night when asked to breakdown the quarterback battle between the true freshman and sophomore signal-callers.

Allen was the No. 1 pro-style quarterback recruit in the nation last as the five-star and All-American recruit brings a different skill-set than the dual-threat ability Manziel unleashed on the college football world over the last two years.

More from College Football

• Jim Harbaugh facing 4-game suspension over NCAA violations
• College football neutral site games in 2023: Full list
• College GameDay announces surprise Week 1 destination
• College football analyst warns Oklahoma that Texas is doing better prep for SEC
• College Football Playoff national championship game locations for 2024, 2025 and beyond

Hill, on the other hand, has the dual-threat skill-set to provide a seamless transition for Sumlin and Spavital to work with in the offense, but it shouldn’t be considered a huge factor as Sumlin worked with Case Keenum, a statue in the pocket, during his time at Houston when he set NCAA career passing records.

Experience is on the side of Hill after playing in parts of four games last year as a freshman and that could be the deciding factor in this race, but the upside of Allen may be too much to ignore as the battle is sure to wage on leading up to the team’s season opener against South Carolina on Aug. 28 on the SEC Network.

Who do you think will get the nod against the Gamecocks?