Texas A&M QB Kyler Murray Key to Aggie Offensive Turnaround

The future became the present for the Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday afternoon in College Station.

Kyler Murray—he of three straight Texas high school state titles and an unblemished record as a starter at Allen High School—kept his winning streak intact in a 35-28 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks. 

In that game, Murray threw for 223 yards and a touchdown, rushed for 156 yards and a score, and joined some rather prestigious SEC company.

While the yards and touchdowns are what will dominate headlines, there are much bigger stats that tell the real story on just how important Murray is to the Texas A&M offense.

First, the completion percentage.

Murray connected on 20 of his 28 passes against the Gamecocks, which is partly due to the inconsistency South Carolina has shown over the last two seasons, but it's still impressive considering how Murray has looked through the air.

Used primarily as a changeup to former starter Kyle Allen prior to Saturday, Murray looked apprehensive and not up to speed on the speed of the game during the passing situations he had previously found himself in, but this time he looked poised, in control and ready to lead the passing attack.

"I don't know if it had anything to do with being a more confident passer," head coach Kevin Sumlin said. "It had to do with a complete game plan for him. He had been used in situations throughout the year, and I think when you're the starter and have access to the complete game plan, that gave him more tools in his tool box to utilize on Saturday."

Eric Gay/Associated Press

It's not that Murray is able to simply kick-start the offense, but he allows Sumlin to run the full offense.

Former quarterback Johnny Manziel opened everything up for Sumlin at Texas A&M due to his ability to make plays on the ground. That benefited everybody, including the running backs.

You saw Murray have a similar impact. While his 156 rushing yards were great, the numbers "122" and "5.81" were far more important to Texas A&M on Saturday and in the future. Those were the total rushing yards and yards per carry, respectively, for running back Tra Carson. The threat of Murray opened things up for Carson, which finally brought balance to the struggling Aggies ground game.

"Kyler's ability to put pressure on the perimeter had to help," Sumlin said. "It loosens things up and creates profile-type tackling situations at the line of scrimmage for Tra rather than head-on tackling situations. Those things work hand-in-hand. Schematically we changed some things up front and picked up the tempo more so than we had done."

Eric Gay/Associated Press

Murray is going to make "freshman mistakes."

He's one year removed from high school, played a weak South Carolina secondary last week and simply hasn't seen all that the SEC has to offer through his limited playing time this year. 

But that inexperience, and the lumps that will inevitably come with it, will be mitigated by Murray's ability to fun the full Sumlin offense, make his running game better and provide much-needed balance to the once pass-happy Aggies.

Be excited, Texas A&M.

The future is now the present. 

If Murray can build on his first performance as a starter, it's a huge sign for Texas A&M's SEC title hopes in 2016.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Statistics are courtesy of CFBStats.com.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.