Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher hopes to thrive under the bright lights of high expectations.
Texas A&M’s new football coach clearly can see — and embraces — challenges ahead
COLLEGE STATION — Football coach Jimbo Fisher has cranked up the lighting in Texas A&M’s locker room, which could have passed for “Club Kyle” before his arrival.
“I like to see who the heck I’m talking to,” Fisher said Thursday of making clear eye contact with the Aggies he inherited.
A couple of days earlier this week, Fisher, 52, was smoothly riding a horse at RodeoHouston while serving as a celebrity judge, and back in College Station it’s become crystal clear there’s a new sheriff in town — one who will try to lead the Aggies to a league title for the first time in 20 years.
“There are so many great players and so many great programs out there,” Fisher said of competing in the Southeastern Conference and beyond. “There are so many places that are committed to winning.
“To make yourself elite, what are you willing to do that separates you from everybody else?”
Fisher, lured from Florida State in December, sat down with a handful of local writers Thursday in the Bright Football Complex to address a whirlwind of topics three months into his new gig — including how he handles recruits who like to keep their options open.
Visits make sense
Or at least their travel options open. Fisher, whose last four full recruiting classes at FSU averaged No. 4 nationally according to 247Sports, said he understands when a recruit verbally pledges to play for his program but then also wants to continue taking visits to other universities.
“How many of y’all wouldn’t go on five different free vacations?” Fisher said, grinning.
He added, “You can’t stop them from taking visits, but you also have to be aware that you can’t quit recruiting other kids, either. If you quit, we quit. It’s not a threat, but it’s a part of what we have to do.”
Fisher then relayed the amusing anecdote he passes along to recruits concerning the matter.
“I always ask them this: ‘When you want to get married and she says she’ll marry you, but then says she wants to go on two more dates … are you going to let her?’” he said.
Fisher reiterated that he grasps where recruits are coming from in angling to see new places.
“It doesn’t make them bad kids,” he said. “You have to look at it from their perspective.”
On another subject dear to A&M fans pining for more fight from the players, Fisher said all position battles are open headed into spring drills, including quarterback. He made sure to mention freshman Connor Blumrick of Pearland as part of the quarterback battle, along with incumbent starters Nick Starkel and Kellen Mond, both sophomores.
“Everything is wide open,” Fisher said. “Even if I was coaching here last year, it would still be wide open. How players develop yearly, you don’t ever know. The best players play.”
Blumrick impresses
Blumrick (6-5, 210) is an intriguing option, considering he missed most of his senior season in fall 2016 at Pearland High with a foot injury. He impressed Kevin Sumlin’s final A&M staff last season while redshirting, and has made a quick impression on Fisher, who coached the Seminoles when they won a national title in 2013 and quarterback Jameis Winston won the Heisman Trophy.
“He works his tail off,” Fisher said of Blumrick. “He’s big, athletic, long. It looks like he can throw the football from (watching) bowl practice. He’s another great looking athlete.”
The Aggies open spring drills March 20 and play their annual spring game April 14. A&M last won a conference championship in 1998, when the Aggies still competed in the Big 12. A&M flopped time and again in Novembers under Sumlin, the primary reason he was fired in late November following a 7-5 regular season.
Fisher knows with his 10year, $7.5 million annual contract, much is expected of his program. A month ago, A&M chancellor John Sharp halfjokingly presented Fisher a national championship plaque with a fill-in date at an A&M donor shindig.
“I wouldn’t be here if those weren’t the expectations,” Fisher said. “Now, you have to understand, there’s a process to get to your expectations.”
And Fisher has left no doubt that process has begun in College Station, including brighter lights in the locker room.