Texas A&M Football: How Long Will It Take A&M to Learn Sumlin's Offense?

The Texas A&M Football Team will learn Kevin Sumlin's fast-break offense quickly and will immediately be an offensive threat in the Southeastern Conference. Even with an underclassman under center, the Aggies will be efficient and prolific on offense.

When a new coach takes over a team there is generally a one-year grace period that fans allot for the players to adjust to the new schemes and coaches. This one-year period is often referred to as the "honeymoon period" by fans.

There will be no time for a honeymoon period with the Aggies because they are entering the toughest division in the toughest conference in the country. There are a lot of people in the state of Texas and the Big 12 who are expecting to see the Aggies fall on their faces in the SEC. Luckily for the A&M, Sumlin has been through quick transitions before and has proven adept at getting immediate results from his teams.

Sumlin took over as the offensive coordinator at A&M before the fourth game of the 2002 season. In one week's time, Sumlin changed the offense from a ground and pound attack that was struggling to move the ball into a vertical passing offense than had success on the ground and through the air.

The week before Sumlin was promoted, the Aggies passed for 118 yards on 35 attempts and rushed for 38 yards on 28 attempts against a very stout Virginia Tech defense. The most yards the Aggies had gained in a game that season was 423 against Louisiana-Lafayette. The most they had rushed for was 179 against ULL.

Sumlin called the offensive plays against Louisiana Tech and the Ags rushed for 206 yards and amassed 444 total yards. More importantly, Sumlin's offense averaged 6.1 yards per play which was 1.6 yards better than the Ags' best performance in the three previous games.

The 2007 Houston offense was Art Briles' best during his tenure at the school. The Cougars averaged 501 yards and 34.5 points per game. They also averaged 6.3 yards per play. When Sumlin took over as head coach in 2008, the Cougars averaged 562 total yards per game and raised their scoring average to 40.6 points per game. Sumlin's Cougars averaged 7.2 yards per play.

Sumlin has an immediate positive impact on the offense wherever he is the coach. There is no reason to expect anything different from the Aggies in 2012.

The Aggies should have an offense that keeps them competitive in their SEC games. Sumlin wants the offense to play at a fast pace without huddling. No one in the SEC plays that style of offense save for Arkansas, who only go no-huddle a small percentage of the time.

The league's unfamiliarity with how to defend a fast-break spread offense should help the Aggies during their first season in the conference. The Aggies have suspect depth on the offensive line right now. If they can stay relatively healthy on the OL in 2012, then the offense will keep them competitive in their first season in the conference.