San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
A look ahead to football signing day for A&M, UT.
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher prides himself on planning for the future, but a year ago even Fisher never envisioned he’d utter these five words late in the 2021 recruiting season: “Our Zoom calls were outstanding.”
The Aggies, like all programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, relied on technology to help carry recruiting, for example video teleconferencing in pitching a program. Receiver Yulkeith Brown of Miami (Fla.) Central High, among others, signed with A&M without taking an official visit to campus.
Fisher added with a grin of virtual tours via high-definition lenses: “It’s amazing what you can see nowadays.”
Fisher, entering his fourth season at A&M, has leaned on the latest innovations in wooing recruits to College Station, although a more old-fashioned approach has paid even bigger dividends: winning. The Aggies (9-1) ranked fourth in the final Associated Press poll, their highest finish since winning the national title in 1939.
“We told (recruits) at the beginning of the year we thought we had a chance to have a very good football team and do some good things,” Fisher said. “And when you say things and they come (true) and people get to see that, they say, ‘Coach knows what he’s talking about, he knows what he’s building and I want to be a part of that.’
“(Winning) definitely helps, without a doubt.”
Wednesday’s traditional national signing day will cap Fisher’s third full recruiting class at A&M, and the Aggies are on the verge of signing a third straight top 10 haul for the first time in the past 20 years.
Fisher already owns two of the program’s top three finishes (fourth in 2019 and sixth in 2020)
since 247Sports began tracking such things over the past two decades, and his 2021 class ranks seventh.
“The Aggies, as has been the case every year under Fisher, should close very strong,” 247Sports national recruiting analyst Brian Perroni said of A&M perhaps adding a few highly rated prospects this week to his current class of 22.
Long gone at A&M are the helicopter (the “swagcopter”) previous coach Kevin Sumlin used to
drop in on recruits around the state, and the hollow brag of “We Run This State” and its accompanying hashtag “#WRTS” A&M football once used in an official capacity under Sumlin.
Fisher prefers a more grounded approach, with the realization other prominent programs within the state will sign their fair share of recruits, as well. For example, when A&M finished fourth nationally in 2019, recruiting rival Texas finished third.
Fisher, who routinely signed
top-10 classes during his eight seasons at Florida State, said ultimately he tries signing players with lofty long-term goals in the sport. Fisher won a national title in his fourth season with the Seminoles — with his recruits firmly entrenched in the program.
“There are guys who like to play football, and there are guys who love football and everything that goes with it,” Fisher said. “When you’re wanting to go to the highest levels (of the sport) … I don’t need guys who participate in football, I need guys who want to be champions and pay the price and do all the little things.”
Fisher’s situation at FSU four seasons in was a bit different than at A&M, considering he served as Bobby Bowden’s offensive coordinator before the iconic coach’s retirement following the 2009 season.
For the first time since his arrival to A&M a little more than three years ago, Fisher’s recruits will dominate the 2021 depth chart. The Aggies open their season Sept. 4 against Kent State at Kyle Field, and on Oct. 9 welcome reigning national champion Alabama to Kyle in a showdown that should feature two top-five, undefeated programs.
“It shows the trajectory we’re on and what we’re trying to accomplish, that we’re relevant in national conversations,” Fisher said of the Aggies’ established path in becoming a recruiting stalwart year in and year out. “Our brand is becoming a national brand, which you have to have in today’s game.”
Thirteen of the Aggies’ 22 members of the class of 2021 are from Texas, and nine hail from out of state.
“We’ve got a great state here in Texas that we want to recruit the heck out of, but we’ve also got to brand ourselves nationally across the board,” Fisher said. “It sends a sign to players out there that, ‘Hey, A&M is on the rise, (they’re) doing the things (they) need to do to have success and this is a tremendous program.’
“And hopefully they’ll want to come be a part of it.”