A&M (5-2, 2-2 SEC), a top-10 team on October 17, heads into Saturday’s game against South Carolina (3-4, 1-4) with a two-game losing streak and lots of lingering questions about an offense that has been dysfunctional and turnover-prone in consecutive losses to No. 7 Alabama (41-23) and No. 19 Ole Miss (23-3).
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That brings us to this week’s ongoing evaluation of three candidates to be the Aggies’ starting quarterback against South Carolina. Sumlin discussed the incident on Tuesday without addressing specific details of what happened. Kyler Murray is going to be given every opportunity to steal away Allen’s job.
Offensive coordinator Jake Spavital talked about what they’ll need to see from Allen this week for him to keep his job.
The quarterbacks were told “you are going to be evaluated not only on your practice percentage in drills and everything else, but you’re also going to be evaluated on your leadership skills, your communication with your teammates, your communication with your coaching staff and general overall play and demeanor”, Sumlin said.
The starter will be announced Friday. You kind of want a guy to play himself out of it, but it wasn’t happening and we made the change. Murray is the son of Kevin Murray, who played quarterback for the Aggies from 1983-86 and was inducted into the Texas A&M Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999.
Texas A&M’s quarterback competition is back on.
Spavital said Allen’s poor play hasn’t been because of injury.
“Hopefully this is a learning experience for him”, Sumlin added.
In his last two starts, which were losses to Alabama and Ole Miss, Allen has thrown four interceptions and one touchdown. Sumlin referred to how detrimental it can be at the position for players to be looking behind them, which can disrupt any hopes of establishing a rhythm and asserting oneself as the leader of an offense or team. Allen went 12 of 34 for 88 yards against the Rebels with no touchdowns and one interception.
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That unfortunate episode from Murray nevertheless leaves the door open for the dark horse in Hubenak, a junior college transfer, to possibly take over.
