Texas A&M currently has 16 signees in the class of 2023, with a few more on the way as the Aggies close on another strong. Jimbo Fisher spoke to the media on Wednesday afternoon about the current group of signees.
The following are live, paraphrased notes from Jimbo Fisher’s Wednesday afternoon media availability:
- Great to get another signing day started. A lot of really good players. Marcel Reed is a coach’s son and outstanding athlete. Rueben Owens is as a good as a back as there is. Micah Tease has all the tools to be an underneath and over the top guy. Jaden Platt is an aerospace engineering guy. He has a 5.17 GPA. Never heard of that. TJ Shanahan is a local guy. He’s big and physical. Chase Bisontis is he first offensive lineman to be named New Jersey Player of the Year. Rylan Kennedy has only played for a year but really come on. Tyler White is an outstanding punter. 14 of those guys are multi-sport athletes. We will continue to add to this class. This is just the first part of it.
- I do not have a target number for this class. With the portal, we can get back to even. Last year, we had the least number of transfers with 12. We did not have a great year, and we had 12. We will have a great year, according to the portal, if we take more.
- My pitch never changed. Our program is in a good position with the guys coming back. You look at what you have in experience. It never affected anything.
- Guys want to be Aggies, but guys want to play. At Alabama, they had 22 transfers. Everybody wants to play. We had young guys play so much that it pushed out older guys. Every year is going to be everchanging.
- We had no issue recruiting without naming an offensive coordinator yet.
- I knew eventually pay-for-play would come. There are no rules. There is so much tampering going on like what the UTSA coach said the other day. It’s ridicoulus. The ones that do things the right way will be rewarded.
- I have known Chantz Johnson since he was a kid. He can run. You don’t get guys like Chantz. He is a tremondous kid. His dad is a mean son of a gun. He was talented.When you get a chance to sign a kid you know, it’s awesome. You don’t take a kid who can’t play.
- The three amigos: Dalton Brooks from Shiner, Rueben Owens from El Campo and Bravion Rogers from La Grange. Small town kids. Those three kids can do it all. They did everything for their teams.
- You keep recruiting guys for long periods of time. When guys commit, you never know. You call once a week and check up.
- You hear about illegal portal tampering all the time. They have their people call him and do other things. It’s horrible for college football. I don’t feel that has happened with the players that are leaving A&M. There are reasons to tranfer. With freshman being the starters and getting ahead of them, some guys will want to go.
- There is no timeline in the offensive coordinator hiring. We are looking at a multitude of options. We will get the right guy who we think will fit and move the football.
- TJ Shanahan is nasty and plays the game the right way. Chase Bisontis and Naquil Betrand too. I’m excited about the line coming back. It’s a really good group.
- We are consistently recruiting. Everybody does not want to announce of day one. The consistency and relationships are what matters.
- I make the decision on if I will call plays. I hope to give it up because there are other things head coaches have to do nowadays.
- Mike Leach had a great heart. He was comfortable is his own skin. College football is going to miss him.
- Some transfers come in have a long conversation. Some call you. Some enter the portal and are scared to talk. If a guy wants to come back, that’s up to the numbers and who we have taken. I have taken guys back before.
