As Texas A&M headed into its final spring game as an official member of the Big 12, and its first as an unofficial member of the SEC, there were two main focal points.
One, Kevin Sumlin‘s public “debut” as the Aggies’ head coach. And, secondly, would any decision be made on a replacement for Ryan Tannehill under center exiting the spring?
When it comes to the former, Sumlin appears to be fairly pleased with how his Aggies progressed throughout the spring and head into their first summer as an SEC school.
“We had more good days than bad days,” Sumlin said. “I told them that spring is important because you can’t win any championships now but you can sure lose them.”
As it pertains to the latter focal point, things are even less cut and dried. In the days leading up to the spring game, Sumlin very candidly stated that "[w]e don’t have a starting quarterback right now.” Following the spring game, Sumlin was in no mood to name a starter entering the summer, saying "[i]n 15 practices, I can’t see enough to make a decision.”
Sophomore Jameill Showers, who along with fellow sophomore Matt Joeckel, redshirt freshman Johnny Manziel, and true freshman Matt Davis, has been fighting for the right to replace Tannehill throughout the spring, with many projecting Showers as the odds-on favorite to be under center when A&M opens the 2012 season at Louisiana Tech. In Saturday’s spring game, Showers did nothing but bolster that notion.
Showers went 20-of-31 for 203 yards and two long touchdowns, a 50-yarder to Ryan Swope -- one of two 50-plus TD catches on the day for the record-setting receiver -- and a 63-yareder to Malcome Kennedy. Showers’ competition didn’t fare nearly as well, with Manziel going 13 of 27 for 154 yards, a touchdown and an interception; Joeckel 6 of 10 for 36 yards; and Davis 1 of 2 for three yards.
Again, Sumlin wasn’t ready to name a starter, but the coach seemed generally pleased with how the candidates for the starting job have progressed throughout the 15 spring sessions.
“We’re still careless with the football, but we weren’t nearly as careless as we were the first week of practice,” Sumlin said in evaluating the quarterbacks’ play. “We’ve made some progress there, and we made some accurate throws. We also had some drops.”
Despite Sumlin’s reticence to name a starter coming out of the spring, it’s gotten to the point where it’d be a borderline stunner if Showers is not the starter when all of the QB dust settles.