On Saturday, Texas A&M will have a spring football scrimmage.
On Sunday, Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher will be unhappy.
“You want a lack of self-inflicted wounds … turnovers on offense,” Fisher said. “But you want to create them on defense. On one side, you’re happy. One side, you’re not.
“As a head coach after a scrimmage, I’m never happy.”
The scrimmage may leave Fisher unhappy, but he said he has been pleased overall by what he’s seen through the first five practices of spring drills, especially from the defense.
“I always think defenses come together quicker than offenses do. That’s just the nature of the beast and how you do things,” Fisher said on Thursday. “But offense, I have been pleased. We’ve got some new guys up front working hard, playing well.
Meredith Tabor, TexAgs
Early enrollee Evan Stewart could be the first true freshman wide receiver to have a significant impact in his rookie campaign.
“Some of the younger receivers and new receivers are doing well. Some of the new quarterbacks are starting to grasp what’s going on, why we do things, why we don’t do things. A lot of interesting battles going on across the board. We’ll find out Saturday in the scrimmage what they can take to the field.”
Of course, the most interesting of those position battles is at quarterback.
Haynes King, who won the starting job in 2021, has fully recovered from a broken leg that prematurely ended his season.
Max Johnson, who transferred after starting last season for LSU, is picking up Fisher’s system.
Conner Weigman, the heralded five-star freshman, is showing signs he’s as good as advertised.
Johnson may have an edge because he has the most starting experience in Southeastern Conference competition. Or maybe he doesn’t.
“Being able to play in games, that’s an advantage. No doubt,” Fisher said of Johnson. “That’s not a tell-all, but at the same time, he’s done some things.
“You can see sometimes he misses a play or something. He has the ability to come right back and make another play.”
That maturity is definitely an asset. But King has it, too.
“Haynes has always done that,” Fisher said. “Haynes was doing that in (last August) camp. He started for us. In bowl practice, when he started to come back, you saw that.”
Meredith Tabor, TexAgs
Left-handed Max Johnson is locked into an intense QB battle that also involves Haynes King and Conner Weigman.
And Weigman?
“I think Conner does it very naturally,” Fisher said. “He does some things instinctively with throws and reads. He’s a very natural player.”
The quarterback competition figures to remain intense throughout the spring. It will likely extend well into August.
Fisher is fine with that. Indeed, like all coaches, he wants intense competition at every position.
“That’s the only way you raise your game and raise your team,” he said. “You have to fight for playing time. You play the best ones. How you find out what’s the best of a guy is he’s getting pushed every day, and knowing that if he slips up, another guy is going to take his job.”
Fisher is hoping a sense of urgency is already on display during the scrimmage.
But as much as anything, he just wants the Aggies organized and disciplined.
“You want to see guys who don’t have the selfish pre-snap penalties,” he said. “Can you get lined up the right way? Can you get the signals from the sidelines and get the right call, the right check whether it’s offense or defense?
“The functionality of the basics. That’s what you’re trying to get into. I want to find out who’s going to compete, who can play, who can do the fundamentals well.”
