In Year 3, Fisher far behind Gators’ Mullen
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher will save any self-assessment until the end of the season. Right now he’s got his hands full facing consecutive topfive opponents.
“At the end of three years, we’ll look and see where we are in our evaluations and what we need to do,” Fisher said when asked if the Aggies are where he expected them to be early in his third season.
Some agitated Aggies aren’t willing to wait until January to voice their frustrations after No. 2 Alabama bashed then-No. 13 A&M by four touchdowns in Tuscaloosa, Ala., last weekend. The Aggies, who dropped eight spots to No. 21, host No. 4 Florida at 11 a.m. Saturday in what’s likely a more accurate assessment of the program’s progress under the former Florida State coach.
The Crimson Tide and their fleet of five-star playmakers might not lose a game this season and appear incensed after missing the four-team College Football Playoff for the first time in its six seasons last year.
“We’ve got to get the big plays taken care of on defense,” Fisher said of the Aggies’ allowing touchdown passes of 87, 78 and 63 yards to Alabama receivers who regularly jetted past A&M’s defensive backs. “But I think we’re making tons of progress. And a lot of our ( guys) who are making those contributions are very young football players.”
Fisher and Gators coach Dan Mullen, late of Mississippi State, took over their respective programs at the same time in December 2017. In his first two seasons, Mullen led Florida to a 21-5 record and seventh- and sixth-place finishes in the Associated Press poll.
The Gators are on a roll again after double-digit victories by a combined 30 points over Mississippi and South Carolina, and they’re 5.5-point favorites at A&M. Florida fans love what Mullen has done with the place after Jim McElwain’s failed 201517 run.
A&M fans aren’t quite as enamored of Florida’s old nemesis, Fisher. After finishing unranked last season at 8-5, the Aggies began 2020 by edging Vanderbilt 17-12 at Kyle Field in a sloppy opener before being run off the field at Alabama.
Mullen took up for his acquaintance this week, with the Gators’ trek to College Station nearly at hand.
“(Fisher) does a great job and is a great offensive coach,” said Mullen, also known for a handson approach to offense and developing quarterbacks. “He’s innovative and understands how to utilize the personnel he has to build his offense. He plays to the strengths of his players, and you can see on film why (A&M) is a legit football team.”
Fisher, who won a national title at Florida State in 2013, inherited nearly the entire 2018 recruiting class from the fired Kevin Sumlin. Since then Fisher has turned in the nation’s No. 4 and No. 6 classes, according to 247Sports.com, two of A&M’s top three hauls this century.
Those players are all still underclassmen, and for the first time since his arrival, the Aggies’ two-deep is mostly composed of Fisher’s recruits. Here’s the other part of that equation: Still-ripening freshmen and sophomores aren’t likely to lead a program to an SEC title.
“We feel like we have a great recruiting class coming in,” Fisher said of his 2021 haul. “We love our young players, and the older players have gotten better.”
Some impatient observers might dispute that last part, considering Alabama registered its widest margin of victory in Fisher’s three games against the Crimson Tide as A&M coach. But the Aggies’ biggest defensive play Saturday came from Fisher’s highest-rated defensive recruit since he arrived, five-star lineman DeMarvin Leal.
Leal snagged a deflected pass from Alabama quarterback Mac Jones, hurdled Jones and nearly scored on a 43-yard return on the first play of the second quarter. A snap later, Kellen Mond fired a touchdown pass across the middle to Ryan Renick, and the game was tied 14-14. Briefly.
“Our mentality is to be great,” Leal said of the approach under Fisher and third-year defensive coordinator Mike Elko. “It’s time to pay attention to every detail and start getting all the crumbs.”
Crumbs?
“Paying attention to detail — we can’t have 10 people doing their jobs and one person not paying attention and messing up,” Leal explained. “Everything we’re given, we need to take advantage of.”
While A&M’s inaugural SEC season in 2012 was celebrated because redshirt freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel won the Heisman Trophy and A&M won at top-ranked Alabama a month prior, Fisher already owns the program’s highest finish (second in the West in 2018 behind Alabama) since the Aggies joined the powerful league.
Fisher, who turns 55 on Friday, signed a 10-year contract worth a guaranteed $75 million three years ago. Even if some fans don’t believe the program is headed in the right direction early in his tenure, they probably should settle in. Fisher is onboard for the foreseeable future — and he says he’s driven to lead A&M to its first national title since 1939.
“The progress is there, but until you win ’em all, you’re never satisfied,” Fisher said. “Those great runs we had at Florida State … we won 29 games in a row, and I was still not happy.”