Following the poor 3-5 end to the 2015 season, which only looked worse after losing former five-star quarterbacks Kyle Allen and Kyler Murray, how hot is Kevin Sumlin’s seat at Texas A&M heading into the fall? According to one A&M insider, the Aggies’ head coach shouldn’t be too worried.

Billy Liucci of TexAgs was a recent guest on the latest SEC: Smothered and Covered podcast and gave his take on the Aggies heading into the season. Liucci also spoke at length on job security of Sumlin as he heads into Year 5 with A&M.

“I really don’t think his seat is as hot as what people want to make it out to be,” Liucci said on the podcast. “I’ve heard people say ‘at 8-4 he’s gone,’ I actually don’t believe that. What (Sumlin) needs to do is reclaim momentum on the recruiting front. I think what happened down the stretch last year and (both quarterbacks transferring out of the program) was very concerning for the decision makers and the people who matter at A&M, and rightfully so, absolutely rightfully so.”

According to Liucci, one area the Aggies to improve upon is recruiting. After the Johnny Manziel era, A&M took over as the “it” school in the state and routinely out-recruited Texas on a number of high-profile recruits. Now under Charlie Strong’s leadership, Texas has once again risen to a top recruiter in Texas. In fact, the Longhorns landed a higher ranked class in 2016 – according to 247Sports – and won several head-to-head recruiting battles against the Aggies last recruiting cycle.

“They’ve started to do that. I’m not ready to say everything is back the way it was but I think they’ve started to do that. I think they’ve really stabilized things at quarterback with Trevor Knight and Jake Hubenak, I think they have a good situation there.”

One issue that clearly plagued the Aggies last season was the culture of the program, something the departed Allen noted shortly after leaving the team, something Liucci believes has been alleviated.

“I think he’s fixed the locker room,” Liucci said. “The culture of this team and he’s said it enough in the offseason and I’ve been around it enough to get a feel for the team and these players and I think it’s a really good locker room which hasn’t necessarily been the case but it ends with on-field results. I think this is the best coaching staff he’s had since he’s gotten here.”

Liucci isn’t the only one saying that either, as junior receiver Ricky Seals-Jones recently tweeted this out:

Feeling really good about this upcoming season…team chemistry is at an all time high 👍🏾 — SweetJonesJr (@RickySealsJones) June 15, 2016

Here’s an incredible stat: For the first time in the Sumlin era, A&M will begin the season with a starting quarterback who is not an underclassmen. With a veteran presence at quarterback and two of the most experienced coordinators in the nation to assist Sumlin, don’t be surprised if Texas A&M makes a move to the top half of the West this season.