Texas A&M Football: Kyle Allen Gives Aggies Best Shot to Win out in 2014

The Texas A&M football team has the opportunity to improve on its 2013 record by winning the last three games of their season. The Aggies will have their best chance to win out with true freshman Kyle Allen starting at quarterback. 

Texas A&M's sophomore quarterback Kenny Hill will be eligible to start against Missouri after serving a two-game suspension. Hill leads the Aggies in all passing categories, completing 66.7 percent of his passes and throwing for 2,649 passing yards and 23 touchdowns. 

He was the quarterback when the Aggies endured a three-game losing streak with consecutive losses to Top Five opponents Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Alabama. Hill struggled to consistently produce first downs and put points on the board in those games. 

Allen is the Aggies best choice to lead the team for the remainder of the season. This is a look at why Allen should start all of the remaining games in the 2014 season. 

Emotional Leadership

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Anyone who watched the Aggies during their three-game losing streak knew that there was something wrong with the team. The Texas A&M football team is usually a reflection of head coach Kevin Sumlin. The Aggies are a talented, borderline cocky team that takes the field with a little bit of swagger and attacks opponents. 

During their losing streak, they looked like a team that was going through the motions and did not want to be on the field. The Aggies were conservative on offense and ignored major portions of the field. 

It is unknown whether this was due to the coaches trying to protect a porous Aggie defense or if they were worried about Kenny Hill turning the ball over against more athletic defenses. The bottom line is that when the Aggies took the field against Auburn, they had a lot of emotion, and they attacked the Tigers with their offense. 

Freshman quarterback Kyle Allen threw the ball down the field and the Aggies showed a lot of emotion on the sideline. Allen would high-five players on the sideline and appeared to be emotionally into the game. This was a stark contrast to Hill's laid-back style. 

Leadership is a very hard thing to gauge. Right now it appears that Allen has his finger on the emotional pulse of the Aggie football team.  

Arm Talent

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Kyle Allen has a stronger arm than Kenny Hill. When it comes down to fitting a ball into a tight window, Allen is the one you want slinging it. 

There are some drawbacks to Allen's strong arm in that he is still learning how to take something off of the short passes. He also tends to be long on his misses, which leads to interceptions. 

The positive for Allen is that in a timing-based passing attack like the Aggies run, his ability to zip the ball into tight spaces is very important. Hill would throw a couple of passes every game that were behind the receiver. 

Allen's strong arm allows him to zip the ball to the Aggie receivers in stride, which allows for more yards after the catch. It also means that the Aggies can attack the middle of the field more without worrying about the trailing defender intercepting a ball that was behind the intended receiver.

Allen has an NFL-quality arm, and he is going to get better as he gets more experience with more starts.  

Mobility

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Kyle Allen is faster with the football in his hands than Kenny Hill is. Allen has shown the ability to avoid the rush and make something happen with his feet during his two starts. 

Hill appears reluctant to run and always waits a second too long to do scramble, which allows the defense to react and stop him for a short gain. Allen is much more decisive and more effective at turning a broken play into a first down. 

Allen has had his scrambling limited during his two starts because he had no real backup with Hill suspended. Do not be surprised to see the coaches use Allen more in the zone-read running game with Hill eligible again. 

Do Not Mess with a Streak

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The Aggie coaches need to avoid trying to fix something that is not broken. The Aggies have won two consecutive games, including a win on the road against a Top Five team, with Kyle Allen at quarterback. 

Allen deserves the opportunity to continue to start and try to lead the team. If he struggles, the coaches can always bring in Hill off the sidelines to create a spark.

The Aggies looked like a disinterested team going through the motions during Hill's last three starts. They looked like an emotionally engaged group that was having fun during Allen's last start. 

He has earned the right to start the rest of the games in the 2014 season. Allen is a freshman who will only get better with increased snaps. The Aggie coaches should give him those snaps and allow the offense to grow and improve around him.