Texas A&M QB Kyle Allen Set Up for Heisman Trophy Run in 2015

DESTIN, Fla. — Welcome to the "Summer of Allen."

Texas A&M quarterback Kyle Allen came to College Station last year as "the next big thing."

A 5-star pro-style passer who can move from Scottsdale, Arizona, Allen was the perfect candidate to blend the offense that head coach Kevin Sumlin was successful with while dual-threat quarterback Johnny Manziel was at the helm with the Air Raid offense he employed at Houston that got him the job in Aggieland in the first place.

It didn't work out—at least not initially.

Allen was beaten out last summer by then-sophomore Kenny Hill, who held down the job for two months.

"To start the year, he was devastated," Sumlin said at the SEC spring meetings.

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Good things come to those who wait. 

Allen was inserted into the starting lineup on Nov. 1 against Louisiana-Monroe and thrived in the starting role. He dispatched the Warhawks, tossing four touchdowns, and earned a win in his second career start—a road tilt vs. No. 3 Auburn.

Against West Virginia in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, Allen threw four touchdowns, ran for another and helped cap off A&M's roller-coaster season with a 45-37 win.

"He goes through the middle of the year and gets to be the starter the last four or five games and has a good game at Auburn and gets to be the MVP of the bowl game, and he's a confident kid coming off of that," Sumlin said.

That set the stage for 2015, a year in which Allen is going to make a run at the Heisman Trophy.

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With Hill transferring out, Allen has not only been the unquestioned No. 1 quarterback in College Station, he's been more or less the only option. As a result, Sumlin has had plenty of time to work with Allen on and off the field.

"We've talked about him becoming a better leader, No. 1," Sumlin said. "No. 2, increasing his football awareness and making him a student of the game. Since he was really the only scholarship quarterback during the spring, he got a lot of reps. The leadership role really came to the forefront, because he was the guy. I think he's got confidence right now."

As he should.

Not only will first-team snaps for an entire offseason help Allen skyrocket even further into stardom, he has a medium-sized village of experienced wide receivers to work with.

Six of his top seven receivers from last year return, including leading receiver Josh Reynolds (who missed most of spring), matchup nightmare Ricky Seals-Jones (6'5", 235 lbs) and the ultra-athletic Speedy Noil. What's more, early enrollee Christian Kirk—a 5-star prospect in the Class of 2015 who's also from Scottsdale—enrolled early and worked with Allen at times this spring.

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From a Heisman standpoint, the deck is stacked in Allen's favor. He plays in a system that is notorious for helping quarterbacks produce video game statistics, which always pleases voters. Plus, he has weapons all over the place to use to his advantage.

The only missing piece is Texas A&M winning enough to stay in the national spotlight for a full three months.

Enter John Chavis—Texas A&M's new defensive coordinator who has plenty of pieces to work with and a much greater margin for error than he did at LSU. In Baton Rouge, two-touchdown leads were mythical. At Texas A&M, they're the norm.

That should keep A&M at least in the discussion for the SEC West title into November, which is when the Heisman Trophy is typically won or lost.

Will there be pressure? Sure. Three-time Texas state champion and undefeated legend Kyler Murray will enroll on June 2, along with junior college transfer Jake Hubenak.

That's a good thing for Allen.

"They'll give [Allen] some competition and also take some stress off of his arm, so that he can continue to get better," Sumlin said. "With the new rules and us being able to meet with players [over the summer], that accelerated his growth last summer and can also help him this summer."

If all goes according to Texas A&M's plan, the Summer of Allen has a really good chance of becoming another Heisman-level fall from an Aggie quarterback.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com unless otherwise noted, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports' composite rankings.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and college football video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on Sirius 93, XM 208.

Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.