Need to fix the passing game. Only area beside special teams (return teams) that hasn't had any improvement. If they could open that up, I think we would see that next jump from 9-4 team to 10-2 or 11-1 type team.
After three seasons, it's time for Aggies to fully trust Jimbo Fisher
“Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him and to let him know that you trust him.”
— Booker T. Washington
The above comment is among hundreds regarding trust.
Trust is vital.
We want to trust. We need to trust. We seek out those we can trust. We all wish we had a trust fund.
Though that last sentence is accurate, it doesn’t really apply to the point we’re making. Trust is a valuable commodity. To some, it may be the most valuable commodity. Scottish author George MacDonald once wrote: “To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.”
Oh, but what if you are both?
Texas A&M football coach Jimbo Fisher is. Or certainly should be. Aggies love their coach because he’s down-to-earth, and… well… because he wins.
Aggies should trust him, too. But that’s not easy. Aggies have trust issues.
Too many times, their trust in football coaches only wrought second-half collapses, false bravado, bizarre on-field decisions and empty promises.
Fisher is different. Over the last four years, he has proven to be trustworthy. Trust comes in truth, and a look back on several Fisher quotes indicates he can be trusted to tell the truth. For example, at his introductory press conference on Dec. 4, 2017, Fisher said:
“We're built on four principles: toughness, effort, discipline and pride. If you're mentally and physically tough, we call that grit. Most successful people have it. It takes effort to be a good person, student and player. It takes discipline to pull those things off, too. Sometimes pride has to drive you. On those long days, there has to be pride in what you do. We want to bring people to Texas A&M that exemplify these qualities.”
The Aggies demonstrated those principles last season when they finished 9-1 and were ranked No. 4 in the final polls.
In six of their victories, the Aggies outscored opponents in the fourth quarter. In the three wins in which they did not outscore opponents, they held three-touchdown leads going into the final quarter.
In three of their wins, they trailed Florida, Auburn and North Carolina going into the final 15 minutes. A&M outscored those three opponents, 58-17.
Is that not the very essence of playing with toughness, effort, discipline, pride and grit?
Fisher has had several other comments that proved true.
“I think the new crop of guys are seeing the vision we have for Texas A&M and what we can go to. I think it’s selling very well, and we’ve got to go get this next class and be a top-five class. We have to be there.”
Fisher said that after assembling the nation’s No. 17-ranked recruiting class in 2018. The next year, the Aggies’ class was ranked third. He followed that with the sixth-ranked class in 2020 and the eighth-ranked class in 2021.
“You’ve got to have a national brand. In today’s world, there are going to be guys outside this state that you’d love to have on your team. It has nothing to do with guys here (in Texas). There are tremendous players here. We’re going to get everyone we can.”
Fisher has signed 35 players from 18 states other than Texas. He has also signed two from Australia.
“Those tight ends may not have 80 or 90 catches, but they’re going to have 30, 40, 50 catches. It’s how they get them… big third downs, red zones, to keep drives alive.”
Fisher made that statement before the 2018 season. In the previous six seasons, A&M tight ends caught 35 passes for 294 yards and three touchdowns.
In 2018, Jace Sternberger had 48 catches for 832 yards and 10 touchdowns. Jalen Wydermyer exceeded 30 catches and 440 receiving yards in 2019 and 2020. He also had six touchdowns in both seasons.
“It ain’t like it used to be. It ain’t gonna be how it used to be.”
That oft-repeated quote was apparently made during Fisher’s first spring practice at A&M.
Under Fisher, A&M is 2-1 vs. LSU, 4-1 vs. the Mississippi schools and 12-3 after Halloween. The Aggies have also finished at least in a tie for second in the SEC West Division in two of three seasons under Fisher. Rest assured, that ain’t how it used to be.
“You tell your kids to go play every play hard, give everything you’ve got and you’re going to let the clock run out? That ain’t what competitors do. That ain’t what Texas A&M is going to do. Texas A&M is going to play until the horn blows.”
Fisher said that to answer why he called a time-out in the final minute of a 45-23 loss to Alabama on Sept. 22, 2018. Later that year, the Aggies defeated No. 13 Kentucky in overtime and outlasted No. 8 LSU in seven overtimes.
“He (Ainias Smith) is, I’d say, an ankle breaker. He can play in the slot, play outside. He’s a great return guy. A guy you can get the ball to in his hands very quickly and a lot of different ways.”
Fisher lauded Smith, who was a mere three-star recruit, on signing day in 2019. Since then, Smith has caught 65 passes for 812 yards and nine touchdowns and has rushed for 347 yards and four touchdowns while shifting between receiver and running back. He has also averaged nearly nine yards on 31 punt returns.
“Let me tell you this: We ain’t done yet.”
Fisher made that proclamation in a postgame speech following a 41-27 Orange Bowl victory over North Carolina on Jan. 2.
A&M looks to build on that with six offensive and nine defensive starters returning this season. The Aggies figure to be among the Top 10 in preseason rankings.

Beyond that, Fisher showed he wasn’t done yet on May 6 when he told a Houston Touchdown Club audience that A&M would not have to wait until coach Nick Saban retires to beat Alabama…
“We’re going to beat his ass when he’s there, don’t worry.”
Obviously, that’s a ballsy statement. Alabama has lost just five times over the last five seasons. Three of those losses were to the national champion. That would suggest the Aggies would likely win the national championship if/when they beat Alabama.
Maybe the idea isn’t too farfetched. Fisher has made a lot of other statements and proved trustworthy.
It’s like Ernest Hemingway once said: “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”