Kenny Hill Shows He Has Johnny Manziel's Magic in Comeback Win

We knew Kenny Hill was talented. We knew he was prolific.

What we didn’t know was how he would respond when he was challenged—when he and Texas A&M were backed into a corner. It was bound to happen at some point in the SEC season. We just didn’t know when.

Saturday, that moment came against a plucky Arkansas team at the Southwest Classic inside AT&T Stadium.

And Hill’s response has to have Aggie fans ecstatic for what lies ahead for the rest of the 2014 season.

Hill and the A&M offense erased a two-touchdown fourth-quarter deficit with a pair of long touchdowns, and the No. 6 Aggies used that momentum in overtime to secure a 35-28 victory.

Hill completed 21 of 41 passes for 386 yards with four touchdowns against one interception, but most importantly, he didn’t look fazed under pressure.

That was a trait his predecessor, Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Johnny Manziel (who watched from the Aggies’ sideline Saturday), had in spades. While Hill looked incredibly impressive in setting an A&M single-game passing-yardage record in the season-opening 52-28 rout of then-No. 8 South Carolina (breaking the Gamecocks’ 18-game home winning streak), A&M was never really tested.

That wasn’t the case Saturday. The Houston Chronicle's Brent Zwerneman shared Hill's comments about the team's overall performance:

Through three quarters, Arkansas led 28-14, and while Hill had two touchdowns against one interception, he had been a bit uneven. And given the Razorbacks’ propensity to control the ball on the ground, that deficit looked a lot bigger than two touchdowns.

Three minutes into the fourth quarter, Hill changed the equation with an 86-yard touchdown pass to Edward Pope, cutting the deficit to a score.

Arkansas had a chance to all but ice the game with under three minutes to play, but a missed field goal gave A&M another chance.

That was not smart.

This time, Josh Reynolds turned an intermediate pass and a bad Arkansas secondary angle into a 59-yard touchdown and a tie game.

In overtime, Hill threw a beautiful 25-yard strike to Malcome Kennedy for what turned out to be the game-winner.

Under pressure, he was unflappable, and it was exactly what A&M needed.

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

“I can’t say enough about the guys,” Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin told CBS’ Allie LaForce afterward, speaking in general about his team. “It was a real test for us to come back from behind and keep playing the way we did with a bunch of young guys. It was a heck of a ballgame.”

A&M will face bigger tests in October. Over the next three weeks, the Aggies travel to No. 14 Mississippi State, host No. 10 Ole Miss and travel to No. 3 Alabama. That’s the beauty of undoubtedly the nation’s toughest division: Over the course of a season, your flaws will be exposed, and you’ll have to improve.

Hill found that out Saturday, and he and his teammates will only be better for it moving forward.