Jimbo Fisher keeping pressure on Aggies as fall camp continues

The best way to describe Texas A&M’s football practice on Tuesday night was as a learning experience.

The lesson coach Jimbo Fisher taught was light practices aren’t to be taken lightly.

Even though the Aggies were not in full pads, Fisher got hotter than the August temperatures at what he perceived as a lack of urgency during early special teams drills.

“Assignments, paying attention to what is going on … (I was) very disappointed in the beginning,” Fisher said after practice. “We picked it up and finished up very well on special teams. That (slow start) will never happen again, I promise you.

“Sometimes you come out, and as soon as you put shorts on, you think I can (relax). It doesn’t mean that. You practice exactly the same.”

Throughout August camp Fisher has typically raved about his team’s effort and attitude.

The aberration possibly could be attributed to a hangover from a Monday night scrimmage. Or it could have been fatigue setting in after 12 grueling August practices. Fisher wasn’t buying that.

“Ask parents: 'What do you attribute to your kid not listening to you?'” he said. “Sometimes he just thinks he doesn’t have to listen. You’ve got to understand maturity and how to practice and what you do, and no matter what you’re in, you’ve got to practice like a champion.

“It’s not that they don’t want to, it’s just sometimes you mentally have a lapse. You can’t do that. We as coaches have to make sure that doesn’t happen and be organized, structured, be on top of it and make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Fisher shrugged it off as a learning point, but also offered a threat.

“If they don’t want to do that (practice hard), we’ll just go in pads every day,” he said. “It don’t bother me. I’ll put them on every day this year.”

Fisher’s mood wasn’t totally ornery. He said he was again encouraged by the physicality and competitiveness he witnessed in the Monday night scrimmage.

“The scrimmage, I thought, was very competitive last night,” Fisher said. “Much more physical than we were in the spring as a group overall. You’re still always looking to be as physical as you possibly can be. I thought we did some good things there.”

He lauded the freshmen defensive backs, receivers and running backs and gave some praise to some veterans, too. The scrimmage gave him a better chance to evaluate how much some players have improved and how much some are grasping his new system.

“The pacifier is out of your mouth,” he said. “You’ve got to go out and take signals, make calls, communicate good, bad or indifferent. Overcome if something good happens or if bad happens.

“It’s a lot, and they learn a lot. You find out a lot - where a guy’s status is and what he’s thinking.”