Kenny Hill vs. Lamar: Stats, Highlights, Twitter Reaction

By the end of the 2014-15 season, Kenny Hill hopes to be known on his own terms, rather than simply as Johnny Manziel's successor at Texas A&M. He got a jump-start down that road when he led the Aggies to a record-setting 52-28 win over South Carolina in Week 1, and he continued his dominance against Lamar Saturday. 

Against the Gamecocks, Hill set a school record with 511 passing yards and became just the sixth player in SEC history to throw for 500-plus yards in a game. Despite his impressive performance, coach Kevin Sumlin still thinks he can do better. 

"He's got a lot of things to work on," Sumlin said, via The Associated Press. "His eyes are too much all over the place, but he was able to get past it the other night. He took care of the ball except for a couple times."

Hill appeased his coach with his performance against Lamar, leading the team to a solid 28-point lead in the first half before Sumlin sat him with 4:52 to go in the second quarter due to the large lead. But Hill was back out on the first possession of the second half, adding to the point total on the first drive.  

Hill wasted no time coming out strong versus the Cardinals despite a lightning delay that lasted two hours and five minutes. On his first play from scrimmage, he connected with Speedy Noil for a 44-yard strike down the middle of the field, taking advantage of a one-high safety look from the Cardinals. 

Kate Hairopoulos of The Dallas Morning News provided comments on Hill starting fast out of the gate. 

Hill's first two connections with Noil and Josh Reynolds set up a Trey Williams 33-yard touchdown run, demonstrating how adept the sophomore is at marching the offense down the field and orchestrating scoring drives. 

Of the Aggies' 12 drives in Week 1 with Hill at the helm, only two ended in punts.

After a brief stumble on his second drive when he fumbled the snap and recovered it, Hill got back on track quickly with a 24-yard toss to Ricky Seals-Jones for a touchdown.

The efficient 63-yard drive took just 2:05 off the clock.

For the third consecutive scoring drive he led and his second touchdown pass of the night, Hill rolled out to his left and threw across his body to find Sabian Holmes for a 51-yard score in a drive that took just 59 seconds.

Hill established a momentum early on that Lamar just couldn't slow. As Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle noted, the rout began early. 

At the end of the first quarter, Hill was 8-of-10 for 173 yards and two touchdowns, getting multiple weapons involved in the passing game, as Texas A&M's student newspaper The Battalion noted. NThose receivers were Noil, Holmes, Seals-Jones, Reynolds, Edward Pope and Malcome Kennedy. 

If there were any criticisms of Hill, one was that he needed to improve his touch on his deep attempts. As Greg McElroy said on the SEC Network broadcast, there were a couple of attempts on which Hill "put too much mustard on that dog."

Hill had two incompletions that sailed high to start the second quarter after going 8-of-10 in the first, but it was hard to nitpick about that when he connected with Pope for his third touchdown of the night. 

In the second quarter, with the rout well underway, Coach Sumlin pulled Hill and Kyle Allen made his first appearance for the Aggies. Hill ended the first half 12-of-16 for 233 yards and three touchdowns. 

Somewhat surprisingly, Sumlin brought Hill back out to start the second half after most thought his night was over, including ESPN's Sam Khan Jr. Allen's interception late in the second quarter may have factored into the decision.

"

Well, Kenny Hill's night wasn't done. Came in to start the 3rd and just threw a TD pass to Malcome Kennedy. 38-3 #Aggies, early 3rd.

— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) September 7, 2014"

Hill got right back to work to start the second half, throwing his fourth touchdown pass of the night behind the No. 2 offensive line. 

McElroy noted in the SEC Network broadcast that the reason Sumlin may have kept Hill in the game late into the third quarter was so that the Aggies could continue to practice the uptempo offense. But after he took a scary low hit and had his first drive to end in a punt after a few incomplete passes that sailed high, perhaps he shouldn't have. 

Howard Chen of CSN Houston remarked on how rare an occurrence it has been for Hill to lead a drive that doesn't end in a score. 

Midway through the third quarter, Hill came out for the second and final time. Jimmy Burch shared his impressive final stat line:

Hill proved in the decreased minutes he got Saturday that his emergence onto the NCAA stage with his record-breaking performance against South Carolina was no fluke. But he won't be climbing up any Heisman watch lists if Sumlin continues to pull him in games. 

Sumlin reportedly wants Hill to avoid Johnny Manziel-like exposure. NFL.com college football writer Chase Goodbread revealed that Sumlin told Hill not to have his photograph taken with fans.

While it no doubt can only help Hill to keep a lower media profile than his predecessor, he's playing at an incredibly high level, and his popularity will only continue to grow. 

Sumlin can shorten his playing time and try to keep him out of the spotlight, but the fans are excited about Hill and, if he can get enough playing time on the field, Heisman voters likely will be as well.