Prospective QBs center of attention
Johnson, King and Weigman vie to be starter
COLLEGE STATION — Safety Demani Richardson, a three-year starter for Texas A&M, has one more season of spending his game days on the grass at Kyle Field.
In one fun way, however, Richardson is exactly like the most ardent Aggie in the upper deck: He’s looking forward to watching who runs the A&M offense in 2022, too.
“They’re all good quarterbacks,” Richardson said of a talented trio fighting for the nod this summer from coach Jimbo Fisher. “I can’t wait to see who gets the starting job.”
Sophomore Haynes King, junior transfer Max Johnson and freshman Conner Weigman will be in action together during the annual spring game, set for 1 p.m. Saturday at Kyle Field.
Fisher describes the spring game as “one of the next steps” in the progression of picking a starter for a program that should enter the season in the Associated Press top 10.
“There are people in the stands, things are going on (around them), the coaches aren’t out there holding your hand,” Fisher said of the game simulation for the quarterbacks. “Can you manage? Can you run? Can you function? Can you do all the things you’ve got to do? In that regard, it’s the next step in the progression of where you’re going and what you’re doing, and how the team reacts to you.
“It’s a big thing.” King of Longview won the starting job a year ago over Zach Calzada but broke his leg in Week 2, a 10-7 victory over Colorado in Denver. He was replaced by the erratic Calzada, who has since transferred to Auburn.
Based on the results of a year ago the gig would appear to be King’s to lose, but Fisher has ramped up the talent level at quarterback. Johnson, son of former Super Bowl-winning quarterback Brad Johnson, started at LSU last season and beat the Aggies in the regular-season finale.
Yes, that tidbit routinely arises at practice between competitors, Richardson said with a slight chuckle.
“Max, y’all have seen what he can do against … sadly, what he did against us,” Richardson said. “I like his competitive nature. We always talk trash to each other. I’ll talk trash and he’ll be like, ‘You saw what I did last year …’ We just go back and forth — I like him.”
Weigman is the most mysterious of the trio, considering he’s yet to play in a college game and is A&M’s first five-star recruit at quarterback since Kyler Murray in 2015. Following his freshman season Murray transferred to Oklahoma where he won the Heisman Trophy in 2018.
Weigman, also a standout baseball player, skipped his final semester of high school at Bridgeland to take part in spring drills.
“He has maturity and doesn’t get overwhelmed by the moment,” Fisher said. “He’s a very quick learner and very instinctive.”
Fisher is entering his fifth year in College Station, and by far his most successful season at A&M occurred in 2020, when he had veteran quarterback Kellen Mond running the show and the Aggies finished 9-1 and fourth in the country. Fisher’s offense is considered complex — he says it helps prepare his quarterbacks for the NFL — and relies on plenty of split-second decision making by the passer.
“We’ll see how it goes,” Fisher said when asked if he anticipates the quarterback battle to stretch well into the summer. “You know when you know. All three guys have had their moments, and they’ve all played well.”
Senior receiver Ainias Smith has caught passes from each this spring and offers the most hands-on analysis of their varying skills.
“They’re all unique in their own way,” said Smith, in an unintended nod to the late prose pro Yogi Berra. “They all have special gifts that they’ve been given from God, and they use them very well. … I applaud them for their work, and it’s going to be scary come summer.”
Smith means scary in a good way for the Aggies, considering their multiple options at quarterback. And message board posters already are trying to figure out who transfers among the trio, perhaps especially a possibility for who finishes third in the feisty competition.
“Right now, it’s hard to say who’s upfront or what not,” Smith reasoned of the early leader of the passing pack. “It’s tough, because they’re all battling and playing really well.”