Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M football return to the Coolidge Practice Fields on Monday afternoon for their first full-team workout of spring ball. Before putting the pads back on, Fisher and Ainias Smith addressed the media.
The following are live, paraphrased notes from Jimbo Fisher’s Monday afternoon media availability:
Jimbo Fisher
- Very excited about getting into practice. Spring is a great time. It’s about fundamentals and basics. Practicing right until you can't do it wrong. Practicing hard every day. It's always an exciting time. The guys are excited. We need to play with great assignments. It comes back to the fundamentals. Like the NCAA Tournament. The team that wins has the best fundamentals. I've been watching wrestling, too, and they worry about that.
- Out for spring: Hunter Erb, Bryce Foster, Matthew Wykoff, Trey Zuhn, Deuce Harmon, Max Wright and Jaden Platt.
- We are base fundamentals right now. The scheme is later.
- Every position is an open competition. I don't care what position you are in. The guys that play with the most consistency. It's a competition. What is your ability to compete?
- Tyrin Smith is debating if he wants to stay at A&M or go back.
- We believe in execution. It's not about the scheme. It’s execution. Alignment, assignment, technique. Go watch the film. Everyone does the same things.
- I didn't go back to Bobby Petrino. He never left. I was talking to Bobby Petrino at Missouri State. I had not made a decision yet.
- Experience is something, but you have to prove it every day. You have to be hungry and push yourself.
- Availability and accountability are the biggest abilities you got. If don't do those, the rest doesn't matter.
- Bobby Petrino, Marquel Blackwell and Bryant Gross-Armiento will do great things on our staff. Marquel has done great things with running backs.
- No players will be changing positions.
- Steve Addazio is a productive coach. We brought back those who will be productive.
- We’ll go through it as we go. I plan on Bobby Petrino calling plays. No problem with that at all.
- We have a lot of guys like Ainias Smith that just want to ball. We have no control over NIL. We don't worry about it, and they don't. I couldn't tell you who does and doesn't have a deal.
- You are able to spend more time defensively, on special teams, recruiting and overall as the head coach with an offensive coordinator. Football has changed as much for a coach in the last two to three years in a long time.
- Muhsin Muhammad III loves being inside. We will move all the receivers around.
- Those young guys have had good off-seasons.