COLLEGE STATION — Kevin Sumlin spends half the year coaching football games at Texas A&M and the entire year recruiting to Aggieland. The second-year Aggies boss chuckled Wednesday when relaying what he claims is the recruiting pitch making the rounds among A&M foes.

"I'm amazed in one year how people want to flip the situation we have here," he said. "A year ago, we were a team moving into a league (the SEC) we didn't know anything about — the toughest league in the country. We had a bunch of coaches from smaller schools, and we were going to run a gimmick offense, and they were telling guys that we were going to get killed.

"A year later, the recruiting pitch out there right now against us is, 'You can't play there, they've got good players. And their coach is going to the NFL.' I think it's funny either way."

But about that last part concerning the NFL. ...

Sumlin led A&M to an 11-2 record in its first year in the SEC, and quarterback Johnny Manziel of Kerrville Tivy became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy. At 48, Sumlin still is considered a rising star in coaching circles, and based on his college success (he was 12-1 with the Houston Cougars in 2011), his name has become popular concerning future NFL openings.

On Wednesday, Sumlin said he'd already been given the chance to be a head coach in the NFL.

"I don't have to say anything," Sumlin said in response to his name being associated with future pro jobs. "Everybody knows what I do (now). I've never coached in the NFL. I've had plenty of opportunities to do that, both as an assistant coach and even as a head coach. But there's a reason I coach college football, and we've got a lot of work to do here. We're still playing catch-up, and we finished third in the SEC West last year (behind Alabama and LSU).

"By no means have we arrived."

As for his long-term future concerning the pros?

"Maybe later — some time later," said Sumlin, who received a $1.1 million pay bump (to $3.1 million annually) in the offseason. "But it won't be anytime soon. My family likes living here and I like living here. Heck, we just got here. People ask me to respond to the (NFL talk), and I say, 'You've got to be kidding me.' Because I remember what was being said at this time a year ago.

"I didn't really respond to that last year, and there's no reason to respond to this now."

While Sumlin didn't name names concerning who pursued him in the offseason, TexAgs.com co-owner and A&M insider Billy Liucci has said the Philadelphia Eagles and Auburn offered Sumlin head-coaching gigs after A&M's stunning showing last season, including a 29-24 road upset of national champion Alabama.

The Aggies also earned their first top-five finish (fifth) in 56 years, as Sumlin managed in his first year what celebrated past A&M coaches Jackie Sherrill and R.C. Slocum never did. Sumlin spent five seasons as an assistant to Bob Stoops at Oklahoma — Stoops dubbed Sumlin "an incredibly bright coach" prior to the Aggies' 41-13 whipping of the Sooners in the 2013 Cotton Bowl — so Sumlin was a longtime witness to a successful, young college coach dealing with persistent NFL speculation.

"It's always going to be that way if you have success," Sumlin said. "In five years as a head coach, we've had four assistants become head coaches. Dana Holgorsen (West Virginia), Tony Levine (UH), Kliff Kingsbury (Texas Tech), Brian Polian (Nevada). ... That's what you want to surround yourself with, and when you're successful, that's going to happen.

"Those (NFL) discussions I hope come up all of the time. Because as long as they do, we're doing something right."

bzwerneman@express-news.net

Twitter: @brentzwerneman