For Texas A&M, the 2012 football season brings about a new frontier and a lot of unknowns. The Aggies will be in a new conference, with a new coach and a new starting quarterback.
Head coach Kevin Sumlin said the team is embracing all of the change. Sumlin, who was the head coach at Houston last year, will bring a new wave of offensive explosion to the defensively dominant SEC. Houston’s pass heavy offense averaged 49.3 points and 599.1 yards per game last season under Sumlin.
Sumlin said he recognizes the SEC’s defenses are in a different class compared to the rest of college football. He also said adjustments will have to be made if A&M hopes to have success against its new opponents.
“Yeah, we need to be bigger and faster against the SEC defenses,” Sumlin said. “We’ve been able to adapt to do things to utilize our personnel… But certainly we’re comfortable with how we do things in the system we have in place.”
Sumlin wasn’t the only Aggie praising the SEC for its defensive prowess. The consensus throughout college football is that defensive line play is what makes the SEC so dominant, and offensive lineman Luke Joeckel echoed those sentiments.
“It’s a defensive lineman’s league, and speaking as an offensive lineman, it’s going to be great to face tough competition every week,” Joeckel said.
“There’s so much speed at every position, but our offense will be ready for it, and we’re excited for the challenge.”
For wide receiver Ryan Swope, who caught 89 passes for 1207 yards and 11 touchdowns, he sees the new opportunity as a chance to showcase his and the team’s talents. The SEC has a long track record of placing players in the NFL, and Swope said the national exposure will help his dreams of playing on the next level. Swope said the Aggies will be looking to make a statement in the team’s first season in the league.
“It’s really going to be a privilege to play against some of these defenses,” Swope said. “But we don’t want to be overlooked because we have a great group of guys and a great group of coaches. We’re here to win football games.”
Last season, the Aggies showed promise early on in games, jumping out to first half leads, but consistently showed an inability to close, resulting in a 7-6 season. Joeckel said the team’s lack of mental toughness and leadership was its main downfall.
“Any time anything went wrong last year, it hit us hard mentally,” Joeckel said. “We didn’t have any guys step up and take control of the team. We’ll have to fix that this year.”
The Aggies will kick off the 2012 season on Aug. 30 with a road game against Louisiana Tech, followed by its first SEC game at home against Florida on Sept. 8.
