Kyle Allen Has His Shot, and He Needs to Take Advantage vs. Auburn

Kyle Allen's debut as Texas A&M's starting quarterback didn't exactly mirror that of sophomore Kenny Hill, who lit up South Carolina to the tune of 511 yards and three touchdowns in the season opener this year.

After Hill lost his job and was subsequently suspended for two games for violating team rules, Allen started last week against Louisiana-Monroe and completed 13 of 28 passes for 106 yards, one touchdown and one interception in a 21-16 win over the Warhawks.

Head coach Kevin Sumlin was careful not to give his young quarterback—who was the top-rated pro-style quarterback in the Class of 2014—too much of the playbook too quickly.

"There's a balance between what you ultimately want to do, and what that young man can handle," Sumlin said on Wednesday's teleconference. "The hard part for first-time quarterbacks is to be able to communicate what they're comfortable with and what they're not. They're always trying to please you and feel like whatever the game plan is, they can handle. It's important, in that relationship, that they have the ability and courage to speak up at the end of the week."

That playbook better open up this week at Auburn for Texas A&M's sake and for Allen's sake; otherwise, the Aggies could enter the offseason with an interesting quarterback battle on their hands.

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This isn't the kind of game Texas A&M can compete in if it goes ultra-conservative. Auburn's offense is averaging 498.1 yards per game, 6.98 yards per play and 38.8 points per game and is fresh off back-to-back games in which it's topped the 500-yard mark, including last week against the stingy Ole Miss defense.

"I think [Auburn head coach] Gus [Malzahn] will tell you that they want to start with their run game, run power football out of the spread, and then the play-action off of that has been deadly for a lot of different people," Sumlin said in his Tuesday press conference.

Auburn will force A&M into a shootout, and it'll be up to Allen to keep up.

Player	Comp./Att.	Comp. %	Yds.	TDs	INTs
Kenny Hill	214-of-321	66.7	2,649	23	8
Kyle Allen	36-of-66	54.5	370	4	3

If he can't, where does that leave Texas A&M?

The coaching staff made it a point to emphasize that Allen's ascension to the starting role had nothing to do with Hill's suspension. If Allen struggles for a second straight game, though, then Sumlin and his staff have quite an issue on their hands.

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Hill isn't going down without a fight.

He hired former NFL quarterback Sean Salisbury as his private quarterback coach, according to Kate Hairopoulos of The Dallas Morning News, and intends to win his job back as soon as he can.

"It’s a critical, critical point in his career not only to win the respect of his coaches back and trust," Salisbury said on his Yahoo Sports Radio show, according to Hairopoulos. "They respect him, trust...and get back to trusting himself again that he can make these plays because he's quite capable of it."

Is that agreement set in stone?

According to Kenny Hill's father, Ken Hill, Sr. (via: Jeff Tarpley of GigEm247.com), not yet. Although the elder Hill does concede that the family has spoken with Salisbury, and the former NFL quarterback can help his son through these trying times.

Either way, it's clear that Hill intends not only to stick around at Texas A&M, but win his job back as quickly as possible.

There's going to be a battle this offseason regardless, no matter who starts vs. Missouri, LSU and in the bowl game. This is Allen's time to shine. 

A strong performance on the road against Auburn will set the tone for Allen to take the job and run with it for the rest of the season and into the offseason, while a sluggish performance will send Allen, Hill and the staff back to the drawing board.

No pressure, kid.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.