Fisher provides program update during Brazos County Coach's Night

Comparatively speaking, Texas A&M football coach Jimbo Fisher was rather understated at Coach's Night with the Brazos County A&M Club on Tuesday.

He made no jokes at the expense of TCU as he did in Fort Worth. He didn’t repeat his comments in Houston about not losing sleep over the prospect of beating Alabama.

Nor did he announce the signing of a player from the transfer portal as he did in Houston with the addition of running back David Bailey.

But during his appearance at the Legends Event Center in Bryan, Fisher did hint that the Aggies could add to their roster before August camp.

“The roster is going to keep changing all the way, probably, until camp,” Fisher said before taking the dais. “You can still sign guys. Could it be exactly where it’s at today? Yes. Could it be changed tomorrow? Yes.

“I mean, there’s nobody leaving. But you could still have guys added in to what you do.”

That’s the new reality of college football. Between NIL and the transfer portal, Fisher said, recruiting has become an almost year-round endeavor.

In fact, Fisher cut short his speech and Q&A session to attend a recruiting meeting later in the evening.

“It’s a non-stop thing,” Fisher said. “April, May and June are more intense in recruiting than probably in December and January.”

Fisher has added 11 players from the transfer portal. Some are expected to provide depth. Others, like cornerback Tony Grimes, linebacker Jurriente Davis and receiver Jahdae Walker, could make a major impact.

“We like the guys we’ve got,” Fisher said. “We’re very excited about the guys we’ve got. Now, getting them here and getting them acclimated to what we do and how we do it.”

Though A&M has been active in the transfer portal, Fisher expressed concern with how it’s affected high school recruiting.

For example, some programs are waiting to find out who’s available in the transfer portal to offer a scholarship that previously would go to a high school prospect. Or a Power 5 program with a specific need may take a lesser talented player with college experience over a high school prospect.

“It has changed high school recruiting, there’s no doubt,” Fisher acknowledged. “It doesn’t help high school recruiting.

"I love the portal. It’s great in a lot of areas. It’s great for kids that transfer. But I do think it hurts the number of kids that are signing.”

A&M had no trouble signing star high school players in 2022. Their recruiting class was ranked No. 1 in the nation.

Almost all of those recruits were forced to play in some capacity last season as A&M had 34 players miss multiple games with injuries or other issues.

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

Mostly due to signing the No. 1 recruiting class, A&M entered 2022 as one of the youngest teams in the country.

Fisher said last year’s injury problems may be a blessing in disguise this season.

“There’s no doubt what our Achilles heel was last year,” he said. “Having guys hurt. Having to play young guys was a tough thing at times. I think it will really benefit us in the future.

“I think we have confidence in guys. We believe in our guys. The leadership has been really good. Spring ball was really good.”

Fisher pointed out just one more touchdown in each game last season would have resulted in A&M finishing 10-2. That adds optimism for 2023.

So does the attitude and energy level demonstrated in spring football.

“We were one score away in all those games,” Fisher said. “You can flip it right back. It’s about finding the inches and finding those plays at critical moments in the game.

“There was never a day in practice in the spring that you went ‘OK, we’ve got to kick them in the butt a little bit today because they’re low in energy.’ We never had one of those days in the spring. Guys were really energetic to play and compete.”