Fisher eager to ‘watch kids grow’ after missing out on spring ball
COLLEGE STATION — For the first time since Jimbo Fisher’s arrival 2½ years ago from Florida State, the majority of Texas A&M’s depth chart this fall should be his recruits.
“The older guys develop and take leadership roles, and the younger guys are ready to push the older guys or battle for open positions,” Fisher said of a couple of items exciting him about 2020. “In college football, it’s an amazing thing to watch kids grow, and that’s one thing I miss.”
He’s missed that this spring because Fisher, like other college coaches, has been separated from his players, save for online, because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Aggies will begin voluntary workouts June 8 per the latest Southeastern Conference directive, and Fisher is eager to get things shaking again around the Bright Football Complex.
That started in part this week, with much of the rest of Fisher’s 2020 class expected to show up for A&M’s first summer school session following a programrecord 13 early enrollees in January.
“Thank You GOD,” Tomball five-star receiver Demond Demas, one of the recruits anticipated to arrive this week, posted to Twitter on Sunday.
Demas might as well be reading Fisher’s mind with a planned
resumption of nearly normal in less than two weeks and, largely depending on whether there is a spike in the region in COVID-19 cases, this summer.
“The main thing is we have to be safe and listen to our medical personnel,” Fisher said this week on ESPN’s “First Take.” “Right now … we’re going to play the nonconference games, and we’re going to play the conference games. But we’re in unprecedented times, so we have to be prepared to do unprecedented things to create the best scenario from a safety aspect for our players.”
No matter the outcome for the 2020 season, one area the
Aggies and their counterparts have continued pressing is recruiting, despite no on-campus visits for anyone in the past couple of months.
A&M’s 2021 class ranks 25th nationally as of Tuesday according to 247Sports.com, and the Aggies’ eight pledges to date are one more than they had at this time last year for a class winding up sixth nationally.
“You’ll see Jimbo Fisher sign either a full class or very close to it every single year,” said Brian Perroni, a national recruiting analyst for 247Sports. “I expect this year the Aggies will again have the maximum 25 guys counting toward the limit, especially with a lot more seniors on the roster this fall.”
The A&M spring roster lists 21 seniors who are either on scholarship
or played significant minutes in 2019, including four likely starters on the offensive line.
“Despite having four running backs coming in (in 2020), the mass transfers in the offseason have left that as a big need, with the Aggies planning to take two,” Perroni said of the Aggies’ most pressing issues for 2021. “The offensive line, especially at tackle, is a big need as well. A&M has several solid young guys on the line, but most are better suited for the interior.
“Defensive end and cornerback also are big positions of need.”
Five of A&M’s eight pledges are on offense, with three on defense. Three of those on offense are from the Houston area: receiver Shadrach Banks of
North Shore, tight end Fernando Garza of Katy and offensive lineman Matthew Wykoff of Magnolia.
Quarterback Eli Stowers of Denton Guyer is the other Texan in the class, with the four remaining (including all three defenders) from out of state. A&M, with four four-star commitments and four three-star commitments, is tied with Georgia (16th), Oregon (20th) and Auburn (24th) for fewest pledges among the top 25, but much like last summer, Perroni expects that number to jump in the coming months for the Aggies.
“A big reason a lot of schools are ahead of A&M at this point is many have a lot more commitments,” he said. “There are about twice as many commitments nationally as there were at this point a year ago. Teams are trying to use the scarcity of spots to get kids to commit earlier than they had planned, and that could end up backfiring with a lot of decommitments later in the cycle.”
In his first two full seasons of recruiting to A&M, Fisher has produced two of the program’s top three rated classes since 2000.
“You’ll see a lot of guys jump onboard this summer for A&M, and that will definitely bring up the team ranking,” Perroni said. “There is a good chance that once again this will be a top 10 class, and it should be pacing closer to that by the end of the summer.”