Jimbo 2023: Watch.The.Tape.

[SHOOTER12 8787]

1 hour ago, Vermin said:

WTF is that? Ankle? Calf? Forearm? WTF?

[Hank_Hill 18484]

14 minutes ago, SHOOTER12 said:

WTF is that? Ankle? Calf? Forearm? WTF?

Have you seen hands before?

[SHOOTER12 8787]

50 minutes ago, Hank_Hill said:

Have you seen hands before?

Now that you mention it,  I can see it. Personally think it's some nasty assed ridiculous shit.

Full disclosure: I  have 7 tattoos. 

[Funk Doctor Spock 11918]

He's this year's Demas. 

[Napoleon 8600]

13 minutes ago, Spider2YBanana said:

He's this year's Demas. 

I believe that is spelled “Dumas”…

But the French don’t pronounce the “s”.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10138]

5 hours ago, texifornia said:

It's him and Leveon Moss, another spiky personality. Should be fine when they split carries. 

Possible, but I don't think Jimbo is letting a freshman RB try and pass block in his offense. I think Moss becomes the Achane replacement and everyone else can just wait their turn.

 

[Rickylovesweed 14154]

It’s amusing that aggys keep talking about how young they were this season and only had 8 seniors on the roster. They haven’t realized this is going to be a yearly problem when they continue to take mercenaries  (like Owens) who won’t be there long-term. 

This is also why “we are just losing depth” narrative is dumb. When you’re losing 20+ players every year you’re never going to have an experienced roster. 

 

[Bill Lumbergh 7168]

8 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

It’s amusing that aggys keep talking about how young they were this season and only had 8 seniors on the roster. They haven’t realized this is going to be a yearly problem when they continue to take mercenaries  (like Owens) who won’t be there long-term. 

This is also why “we are just losing depth” narrative is dumb. When you’re losing 20+ players every year you’re never going to have an experienced roster. 

 

Counterpoint - it gets easier for Jimbo to sell them on "just needing one more year" every year due to youth when they actually have no jrs and srs every year due to attrition.

I'll give the old hillbilly credit, maybe he has actually figured out a scheme by which he can perpetually point to the roster as why his teams aren't performing yet.

You might think aggy would eventually catch on that he's running off every player worth a shit who he coaches for 1-2 years, but this is aggy.  Critical thinking, self evaluation, and pattern recognition aren't exactly their strong suits.

[kilroydos 267]

Now that the tattoo has been posted, who would like the over/under at 502 total yards for Owens during his A&M career?

[Lou_Sassle 2865]

My nephew goes to Needville and knows Owens. They play fortnite, or some such shit, online together.

[RollingPresidential 632]

If NIL is finite, are bags infinite? How can they keep doing this?

[SydneyCarton 47836]

1 minute ago, RollingPresidential said:

If NIL is finite, are bags infinite? How can they keep doing this?

When your self worth and image are inexorably tied to your football teams success, and you have a few billionaires still willing to play the game, you become an easy mark. Shit, it’s not rare for a company to seek a sound round of capital based solely on the idea that it’s the only chance an investor has to get his first round of money back. 
 

Fisher can accurately say “you may not like me, but you can pony up now on the chance I can fix this, or you can do nothing and guarantee this program is fucked for 5-10 years.” On its face, it’s a true statement. 

[Tex Pete 20156]

7 minutes ago, RollingPresidential said:

If NIL is finite, are bags infinite? How can they keep doing this?

They’re paying much fewer dollars through bags than our donors are through legal NIL because we’re paying (or working on paying) all our players something. They’re concentrating dollars on the “big fish.” It’s why they’re having trouble keeping older players bought in.
 

You’d think at some point they would put in the work to build sustainable NIL programs, but they have a tradition of cheating that they’re bound to. 

[Bevo 13516]

6 hours ago, texifornia said:

It's him and Leveon, another spiky personality. Should be fine when they split carries. 

Yeah, jesus, it is going to be interesting. Levon likes his money. He makes a lot, they say. Spends his days counting. And hoping he gets to play.

[closetojumping 62141]

6 minutes ago, Bevo said:

Yeah, jesus, it is going to be interesting. Levon likes his money. He makes a lot, they say. Spends his days counting. And hoping he gets to play.

I wasn’t expecting Elton John to show up in a thread on the recruiting forum, but here we are.  

[Radical Larry 28528]

I believe that is spelled “Dumas”…
But the French don’t pronounce the “s”.

[DigglerontheHoof 21044]

11 hours ago, Beantown Express 2.0 said:

It is kind of “funny” when one of the Top RB’s in the country decides to go to a team where the coach is on the hot seat, just finished a 5-7 season in year 5, doesn’t have a offensive coordinator because they just fired the last guy and a ton of current players are hitting the portal to get away from the program.  It’s one thing if Owens grew up always wanting to go to A&M and that was always his dream school or something but this doesn’t seem fishy at all, right?  Same will go for Hicks, Hill, etc…. 

They haven't learned a goddamn thing...this will blow up in their gloryhole, as well. 

[nnm 36041]

2 hours ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Possible, but I don't think Jimbo is letting a freshman RB try and pass block in his offense. I think Moss becomes the Achane replacement and everyone else can just wait their turn.

 

With Owens, that sounds like an awesome plan, and I hope Bilbo uses it. That will work out incredibly well. For everyone except aggy. 

[NoName 16286]

15 hours ago, closetojumping said:

One thing I am discovering in the world of NIL is that no one has money to burn. Maybe Oregon, I guess. We are in an ongoing street fight to keep up with everything and it is hard as hell. Does Barstool have $12-$15M per year to support Deion's program? That's where we're at in terms of the top tier. That is a lot of fucking money to just be handing over to guys in the portal, to keep guys out of the portal, and to 17-19 year old recruits. 

I love Phil Knight for not giving a fuck and just doing this to Oregon sports:

Wish someone with a couple of B to burn would do that with Texas.

[closetojumping 62141]

13 minutes ago, NoName said:

I love Phil Knight for not giving a fuck and just doing this to Oregon sports:

Wish someone with a couple of B to burn would do that with Texas.

To date, Hildebrand and Dell have provided a combined $0 to anything related to Texas NIL. Same for former walkon Cal McNair and 1969 national title member Jim “Mattress Mac “ Mcingvale. Credit to Mattress Mac, though, as he’s committed millions to UH NIL. 

Quite frankly, the billionaires associated to UT do not appear to give one fuck as it pertains to winning sports for the school. They damned sure want their names on shit though. That’s their victory. 

[Bevo 13516]

19 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

To date, Hildebrand and Dell have provided a combined $0 to anything related to Texas NIL. Same for former walkon Cal McNair and 1969 national title member Jim “Mattress Mac “ Mcingvale. Credit to Mattress Mac, though, as he’s committed millions to UH NIL. 

Quite frankly, the billionaires associated to UT do not appear to give one fuck as it pertains to winning sports for the school. They damned sure want their names on shit though. That’s their victory. 

Are you still trying to put together an NIL package? Have you tried with Cal?

[closetojumping 62141]

12 minutes ago, Bevo said:

Are you still trying to put together an NIL package? Have you tried with Cal?

That’s not really the role I’ve played. But yes, they’ve talked to and met with McNair. They might as well have spent that time in a bar or at a strip club. Either of those things would have been more productive. 

Edited December 8, 2022 by closetojumping
fucking apple autocorrect.

[NoName 16286]

x posting from the Tell me about A&M thread:

 

  

The Athletic --> "Texas A&M had national title hopes, a $94.9 million coach and a No. 1 recruiting class. What went wrong?"

Jimbo is bad at time management:
 

Quote

 

Because of all the young players in key roles, maturity issues bogged down the Aggies. One parent of a current A&M player, who was granted anonymity in exchange for candor, told The Athletic that the narrative that Fisher lost the locker room was a misconception, but noted that many of the young players struggled to adjust to the demands of college life, particularly off the football field.

Freshmen or sophomores who spent some of their final high school years in pandemic-induced hybrid or remote learning situations were slow to adapt to the regimen required of college football players, including meeting punctuality, making curfew and maintaining academic responsibilities, the parent said. The Aggies weren’t alone in the sport in dealing with this, but the prevalence of young players in the lineup magnified it at A&M.

“I think they bought into, ‘Yeah, I want to play and I want to win,’” the parent said. “’But am I willing to do all the (off-the-field) things right?’”

The myriad off-field issues kept coaches busy, sometimes detracting from football, the parent said. An athletic department source, who declined to speak publicly about Fisher’s performance, said the lack of accountability fell in part on Fisher, who often didn’t have enough time to build the offensive game plan and make sure players who committed minor offenses were dealt with in a way that discouraged repeat behavior.

The more serious matters interrupted Fisher’s game-planning. The South Carolina incident occupied much of Fisher’s time while he and the staff were also trying to prep true freshman quarterback Conner Weigman for his first career start.

 

Jimbo is bad at staff management:
 

Quote

 

Though Fisher retained control over the offense, he moved Dickey from quarterbacks coach to tight ends coach, tight ends coach James Coley to receivers coach and receivers coach Dameyune Craig to quarterbacks coach.

The timing seemed curious. Typically, staff changes happen before spring football, allowing players and coaches to get acclimated. Fisher explained the move in August as “the dynamic of how we do things and where we want to go.”

Looking back, it may have been a sign of A&M’s coming offensive dysfunction.

“(As we) had the previous four years, we all had different sections that we were in charge of in terms of game planning and that didn’t change a lot,” Dickey said. “I don’t think there was anything negative that came out of it.”

 

Jimbo is bad at making changes, or makes the same mistakes over and over:
 

Quote

 

Play calling and offensive strategy became a weekly battleground. The Aggies would put on an underwhelming display and Fisher would be peppered with questions about why the offense wasn’t working. As the losses mounted, Fisher grew more irritable by the week.

After a 42-24 loss at Mississippi State, asked if confidence in his offensive system was shaken, Fisher said no.

“The plays are there and we’re there,” he said. “That system is the same system a lot of people use.”

Why wasn’t it clicking?

“We’re not executing.”

The snapshots of the Aggies’ futility were plentiful. The incomplete pass in the end zone of a 24-20 loss at Alabama. A scoreless second and third quarter in a three-point October loss to Ole Miss. A scoreless second half in a home loss to Florida. A 10-point showing against Auburn and a meager 20 against UMass, which finished 1-11.

Fans grew to loathe the images of Fisher shuffling a stack of papers thick enough to make one wonder if he was calling plays or doing his taxes. The Aggies called multiple timeouts to avoid penalties because they weren’t ready to snap the ball. Fisher maintained a firm grip on the offensive operation through it all.

 

Jimbo's offense is bad and not creative, except vs Alabama:

Quote

By season’s end, the numbers were damning. Against FBS teams, the Aggies averaged only 348 yards per game, 97th in the country and 12th in the SEC. Their 22 points per game against FBS competition also rated 97th nationally and 13th in the conference. Texas A&M finished 102nd in third-down conversions, succeeding only 34.2 percent of the time against FBS teams, and last in the SEC. The Aggies’ red zone touchdown percentage vs. FBS ranked 12th in the conference. They endured a more than yearlong stretch where they failed to reach 30 points against a Power 5 team.

On his morning radio show, “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning” on WJOX-FM in Birmingham, ESPN and SEC Network analyst Cole Cubelic ranted in October about A&M’s lack of offensive creativity for everyone except Alabama.

“Texas A&M’s offense will go, two, three, four-game stretches and you’ll see almost no motion, almost no pre-snap movement, almost no different formations, and almost no uneven formations, and then they get in the Alabama game, and it’s a motion on every play,” Cubelic said. “And it’s uneven formations on almost every play. And it’s pre- and post-snap movement … on almost every play.

Jordan Rodgers, a former Vanderbilt quarterback and SEC Network analyst, charted how much pre-snap motion the Aggies used in the first half of the season. In four of the first five games, A&M used it on less than 25 percent of snaps, including 18 percent against App State. Against Alabama, where the Aggies were a play away from a possible upset, it shot up to 43 percent (50 percent if excluding end-of-game two minute offense, which rarely involves motion because of the time crunch).

“How and why can you save something that works for one team every year?” Cubelic wondered.

Jimbo hates tempo offenses:
 

Quote

 

When that time finally arrived Oct. 29 vs. Ole Miss, Weigman dazzled, leading consecutive touchdown drives to open the game.

But A&M went scoreless in the second and third quarters before Weigman triggered a 14-point rally in the fourth. The common denominator in those scoring spurts? The Aggies pushed the offensive tempo, something Weigman did a lot of at Bridgeland High.

Weigman succeeded in hurry-up looks in A&M’s season-ending win over LSU also, raising questions as to why the Aggies didn’t do it more often.

Fisher bristled at the suggestion.

“We’re so caught up in tempo,” he said. “Name me a tempo team that’s won the national championship. … There ain’t one. Tempo ain’t won a national championship, all right?

“So teams line up and play good football. You can run tempo and you can have parts of it and use tempo off and on. But pure tempo teams haven’t won one.”

 

at least one P5 coordinator is smart:
 

Quote

Meanwhile, coaches throughout the country are wondering two things: Who will Fisher hire, and will Fisher stay out of the play calling once the games begin?

Outside the program, coaches will believe it when they see it. “I wouldn’t take that job unless they offered to pay me what they’re paying Jimbo,” said a Power 5 coordinator who is not a candidate for the job.

 

Full text:

Spoiler

Texas A&M had national title hopes, a $94.9 million coach and a No. 1 recruiting class. What went wrong?

Sam Khan Jr. and Andy Staples

Dec 8, 2022

 

22

 

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Everyone wanted a piece of Jimbo Fisher.

As thousands celebrated on Kyle Field on Nov. 26, the Texas A&M coach required an entourage to get to the locker room. Two uniformed officers worked in front of him to clear the fans craning their necks and extending their smartphones for snapshots. Fisher’s wife, Courtney, walked briskly at his side, her left arm locked into his right, with Fisher’s son, Ethan, also in tow.

 

“Yes sir, Jimbo!” a fan yelled. “Yes sir, Jimbo!”

Fisher looked up and gave a “Gig ‘em” thumbs-up. He high-fived athletic director Ross Bjork, who sported a wide grin. Fans and reporters walked along to record the moment following the Aggies’ 38-23 win over then-No. 5 LSU.

However, they weren’t celebrating clinching a College Football Playoff berth or even the SEC West. It was the team’s first Power 5 win since September, punctuating a disastrous 5-7 season, Fisher’s worst in five years in Aggieland.

Texas A&M had national championship dreams when it hired Fisher, one of only five active coaches with a title ring, away from Florida State. The Aggies awarded him two massive contracts – the latest a fully guaranteed 10-year, $94.9 million deal in 2021. Yet despite four top-10 recruiting hauls and the highest-rated signing class in history in 2022, they looked this season farther from that goal than they were under predecessor Kevin Sumlin and in the mostly mediocre Dennis Franchione and Mike Sherman eras.

There was a stunning Week 2 home loss to Appalachian State. A six-game losing streak, A&M’s longest in 50 years. Instead of 100,000 swaying fans at Kyle Field, there was an embarrassingly sparse home crowd in the penultimate game vs. UMass.

Multiple freshmen from the Aggies’ record-setting class missed games because of suspensions. Injuries and maturity issues plagued the roster. Texas A&M’s 2022 season was an unequivocal nightmare that left the program at a critical crossroads, with questions about the direction of the offense, the stability of the roster and even Fisher himself, as fans called for his firing.

But it would have cost the university $86 million to do so.

Such a move was never on the table, two Texas A&M sources, who declined to speak publicly about Fisher’s contract, told The Athletic. The buyout is too prohibitive. In fact, said a source with knowledge of internal athletic department discussions, it wouldn’t have been on the table if the buyout had been half that.

 

But the next year likely will determine whether the Fisher and Texas A&M marriage will work long-term. Can the Aggies keep the core of a talented but as-yet unaccomplished roster from entering the transfer portal? Can Fisher rein in the disciplinary issues that plagued the team this season? And, perhaps most importantly, is he willing to relinquish control of the offense once and for all?

---

Things felt different in Aggieland in February when Texas A&M signed the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class, an honor claimed only by Alabama or Georgia since 2011. College football’s powers took notice.

“You don’t like that we’re coming on?” Fisher said on signing day. “Get used to it. We ain’t going nowhere.”

Inking 18 national top-100 players put Texas A&M in an elite club, one whose members are stocked with the talent required to compete for national championships. The Aggies defeated Alabama in 2021 and would enter this fall ranked No. 6.

But baseless accusations that a $30 million war chest — via name, image and likeness deals — was largely responsible for A&M’s recruiting success irritated Fisher, who called the claims “garbage.”

And irritation turned to anger in April, when Alabama coach Nick Saban publicly claimed that the Aggies “bought every player on their team.” Fisher called an impromptu news conference the next morning and lambasted Saban, calling him a “narcissist,” “despicable” and alleging recruiting skeletons in Saban’s closet. (Bjork told The Athletic that day that most of A&M’s signing class did not yet have NIL deals).

Yet Texas A&M’s program-wide obsession with constructing the No. 1 overall class and its tepid approach to the transfer portal would prove problematic. Depth gaps from past recruiting misses that could have been filled by experienced transfers instead went to underclassmen.

 

Player availability became a primary issue. Whether because of injury, illness or suspension, the Aggies seemed perpetually shorthanded.

“We were decimated by injuries,” former Texas A&M offensive coordinator Darrell Dickey told The Athletic shortly after his departure. “Getting guys hurt played a big, big role. And I know people do not want to hear that, but it’s a fact.”

Expected A&M starters missed at least 86 combined games this season because of injury or illness, and all three quarterbacks who started missed at least a game. The offensive line was hit hardest, where starting center Bryce Foster missed eight games and five players started at left guard.

As a result, true freshmen and redshirt freshmen accounted for 72 combined starts. The line of scrimmage saw the biggest influx of youth, with freshmen starting 27 combined games across the offensive line and 15 combined on the defensive line.

In November, Fisher was asked if strength and conditioning had become an issue. Aggies head strength coach Jerry Schmidt left in the offseason to join Brent Venables’ Oklahoma staff. Fisher dismissed that idea and chalked it up to bad luck.

“When you break bones, that’s not strength and conditioning,” Fisher said, citing turf toe injuries and quarterback Max Johnson’s broken thumb. “When a knee goes, that’s not strength and conditioning. … We have an excellent strength and conditioning program.”

Player discipline also impacted A&M’s weekly lineup. Before the Week 3 win over Miami, four freshmen were suspended for the game for a violation of team rules: defensive backs Denver Harris and Smoke Bouie and receivers Evan Stewart and Chris Marshall. Later in the season, Harris, Marshall and two other freshmen, offensive tackle PJ Williams and defensive end Anthony Lucas, were suspended because of a locker room incident at South Carolina, in the middle of A&M’s losing streak, and missed the final five games.

Williams was arrested Nov. 19 and charged with a felony count of marijuana possession after police reported finding 7.7 ounces of marijuana in a bag that had a Texas A&M football name tag attached. Receiver Yulkeith Brown missed the final five games for non-injury related reasons, according to Fisher.

After A&M’s 13-10 loss to Auburn in November, the Aggies’ sixth in a row, sophomore receiver Moose Muhammad III — A&M’s second-leading receiver this season — tweeted that he was benched for wearing arm sleeves.

 

Fisher declined to elaborate on the matter two days later. With the team at 3-7 and mired in a historic losing streak, everything seemed to be falling apart.

Because of all the young players in key roles, maturity issues bogged down the Aggies. One parent of a current A&M player, who was granted anonymity in exchange for candor, told The Athletic that the narrative that Fisher lost the locker room was a misconception, but noted that many of the young players struggled to adjust to the demands of college life, particularly off the football field.

Freshmen or sophomores who spent some of their final high school years in pandemic-induced hybrid or remote learning situations were slow to adapt to the regimen required of college football players, including meeting punctuality, making curfew and maintaining academic responsibilities, the parent said. The Aggies weren’t alone in the sport in dealing with this, but the prevalence of young players in the lineup magnified it at A&M.

“I think they bought into, ‘Yeah, I want to play and I want to win,’” the parent said. “’But am I willing to do all the (off-the-field) things right?’”

The myriad off-field issues kept coaches busy, sometimes detracting from football, the parent said. An athletic department source, who declined to speak publicly about Fisher’s performance, said the lack of accountability fell in part on Fisher, who often didn’t have enough time to build the offensive game plan and make sure players who committed minor offenses were dealt with in a way that discouraged repeat behavior.

The more serious matters interrupted Fisher’s game-planning. The South Carolina incident occupied much of Fisher’s time while he and the staff were also trying to prep true freshman quarterback Conner Weigman for his first career start.

---

After an up-and-down 2021 season, in which the Aggies were good enough one night to beat Alabama but struggled in losses to Arkansas, Mississippi State and Ole Miss, there were numerous questions about the offense.

From quarterback play to Fisher’s effectiveness as its offensive coordinator — he game plans, calls the plays and coaches the quarterbacks — questions multiplied. Had Fisher lost his touch? He was asked in July, given the ever-increasing responsibilities placed on head coaches, whether he would consider giving up play calling.

Fisher has called plays his entire head coaching career, including when Florida State won the 2013 national championship, made the 2014 College Football Playoff and when the Aggies went 9-1 and finished fourth in the polls in 2020. It’s a point of pride.

“That’s why I’m here,” he said. “That’s the job I did to get here. The success … that was my expertise of things I did well, so I still love that.”

When asked if he could envision not calling plays, Fisher said “Could that happen? Yes. But not right now.”

Though Fisher retained control over the offense, he moved Dickey from quarterbacks coach to tight ends coach, tight ends coach James Coley to receivers coach and receivers coach Dameyune Craig to quarterbacks coach.

The timing seemed curious. Typically, staff changes happen before spring football, allowing players and coaches to get acclimated. Fisher explained the move in August as “the dynamic of how we do things and where we want to go.”

Looking back, it may have been a sign of A&M’s coming offensive dysfunction.

“(As we) had the previous four years, we all had different sections that we were in charge of in terms of game planning and that didn’t change a lot,” Dickey said. “I don’t think there was anything negative that came out of it.”

The alarm bells on Texas A&M’s 2022 season first rang on Sept. 10 and they were deafening. The No. 6 Aggies, who were 17.5-point favorites over Appalachian State, were limited to a measly 38 offensive snaps and seven offensive points in a 17-14 home loss.

Suddenly, a program thought to be trending toward elite status had major questions in Year 5 of the Fisher era. The biggest ones surrounded the head coach, whose offense generated a miniscule 180 yards against a Sun Belt team that went on to finish 6-6.

“We did not execute and play at the level we needed to,” Fisher said, “and that’s my fault.”

App State held the ball for a whopping 41 minutes and 29 seconds.

“I felt like A&M was a little bit like, We’ll roll the ball out there, beat you guys and shake hands after,” an App State staffer, who was granted anonymity to speak freely about his experience against the Aggies, told The Athletic. “It wasn’t like these guys had a ton of tenacity. … You’ve got the No. 1 signing class and all these big-time dudes. They look good and they’re pretty and they’re gonna be great players, but at the end of the day, it’s a dogfight and you’ve got to go win games.”

Said Dickey: “It made us realize that we need to grow up fast.”

A quarterback change from Haynes King to Johnson after the loss helped the Aggies win consecutive low-scoring affairs over Miami and Arkansas the next two weeks, but the problems were far from solved.

Play calling and offensive strategy became a weekly battleground. The Aggies would put on an underwhelming display and Fisher would be peppered with questions about why the offense wasn’t working. As the losses mounted, Fisher grew more irritable by the week.

After a 42-24 loss at Mississippi State, asked if confidence in his offensive system was shaken, Fisher said no.

“The plays are there and we’re there,” he said. “That system is the same system a lot of people use.”

Why wasn’t it clicking?

“We’re not executing.”

The snapshots of the Aggies’ futility were plentiful. The incomplete pass in the end zone of a 24-20 loss at Alabama. A scoreless second and third quarter in a three-point October loss to Ole Miss. A scoreless second half in a home loss to Florida. A 10-point showing against Auburn and a meager 20 against UMass, which finished 1-11.

Fans grew to loathe the images of Fisher shuffling a stack of papers thick enough to make one wonder if he was calling plays or doing his taxes. The Aggies called multiple timeouts to avoid penalties because they weren’t ready to snap the ball. Fisher maintained a firm grip on the offensive operation through it all.

When questioned about the struggles, Fisher often came back to one word that became the bane of A&M fans’ existence: execution.

After the loss to Florida, it was a consistent refrain.

“We had a chance on it, just didn’t execute.”

“Got to execute and, again, find the inches.”

“Guys were in a good place with what we were doing, thought we had a good plan … got to execute and coach it better.”

By season’s end, the numbers were damning. Against FBS teams, the Aggies averaged only 348 yards per game, 97th in the country and 12th in the SEC. Their 22 points per game against FBS competition also rated 97th nationally and 13th in the conference. Texas A&M finished 102nd in third-down conversions, succeeding only 34.2 percent of the time against FBS teams, and last in the SEC. The Aggies’ red zone touchdown percentage vs. FBS ranked 12th in the conference. They endured a more than yearlong stretch where they failed to reach 30 points against a Power 5 team.

On his morning radio show, “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning” on WJOX-FM in Birmingham, ESPN and SEC Network analyst Cole Cubelic ranted in October about A&M’s lack of offensive creativity for everyone except Alabama.

“Texas A&M’s offense will go, two, three, four-game stretches and you’ll see almost no motion, almost no pre-snap movement, almost no different formations, and almost no uneven formations, and then they get in the Alabama game, and it’s a motion on every play,” Cubelic said. “And it’s uneven formations on almost every play. And it’s pre- and post-snap movement … on almost every play.

Jordan Rodgers, a former Vanderbilt quarterback and SEC Network analyst, charted how much pre-snap motion the Aggies used in the first half of the season. In four of the first five games, A&M used it on less than 25 percent of snaps, including 18 percent against App State. Against Alabama, where the Aggies were a play away from a possible upset, it shot up to 43 percent (50 percent if excluding end-of-game two minute offense, which rarely involves motion because of the time crunch).

“How and why can you save something that works for one team every year?” Cubelic wondered.

An opposing SEC assistant concurred, telling The Athletic that he didn’t see the Aggies use much creativity or a variety of formations that would create conflict in opposing defenses and ease the burden on the quarterbacks.

During A&M’s six-game losing streak, the Aggies used 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end, three receivers), at more than an 80 percent clip five times and 76 percent once, according to TruMedia. A&M used 11 personnel less than 70 percent of the time in six games — which translated to more variety — and the Aggies went 5-1.

As the struggles persisted, calls for a quarterback change grew louder from fans. Five-star quarterback recruit Weigman waited in the wings and Fisher consistently said the true freshman could handle the offense and play well if called upon.

When that time finally arrived Oct. 29 vs. Ole Miss, Weigman dazzled, leading consecutive touchdown drives to open the game.

But A&M went scoreless in the second and third quarters before Weigman triggered a 14-point rally in the fourth. The common denominator in those scoring spurts? The Aggies pushed the offensive tempo, something Weigman did a lot of at Bridgeland High.

Weigman succeeded in hurry-up looks in A&M’s season-ending win over LSU also, raising questions as to why the Aggies didn’t do it more often.

Fisher bristled at the suggestion.

“We’re so caught up in tempo,” he said. “Name me a tempo team that’s won the national championship. … There ain’t one. Tempo ain’t won a national championship, all right?

“So teams line up and play good football. You can run tempo and you can have parts of it and use tempo off and on. But pure tempo teams haven’t won one.”

In the win against LSU, some of the creativity absent before suddenly sprouted. The Aggies used two-back formations on 24 of 68 snaps (35.3 percent) according to TruMedia. In the previous 11 games, A&M used it on just 40 of 689 snaps, only 5.8 percent of the time.

Against the Tigers, A&M displayed multiple two-back formations, including 22 personnel (two running backs, two tight ends), which the Aggies hadn’t used since the Alabama game. A&M only used 22 personnel in four games: Miami, Arkansas, Alabama and LSU, four of the five ranked teams they played.

 

(Michael Chang / Getty Images)

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The transfer portal opened Monday and 20 Aggies have entered since. Only two started double-digit games at A&M: linebacker Andre White Jr. and receiver Chase Lane. Two of the four 2022 recruits who entered played significant roles: cornerback Denver Harris and receiver Chris Marshall. Losing two five-star prospects is noteworthy, but given their suspensions this season, neither was unexpected.

Most of the entrants were reserves or saw limited snaps — eight of them played two or fewer games in 2022. Young receivers Muhammad and Evan Stewart look like they’ll be back. A group of freshmen defensive linemen — including defensive linemen LT Overton, Shemar Stewart and Walter Nolen — who contributed to a solid, though not perfect 2022 defensive performance, remain despite overtures from other programs.

The portal will be open for 41 more days and reopens in May, but confidence is high that the best of the talent Texas A&M accumulated will remain in College Station. And the Aggies received good news on Wednesday night, when five-star 2023 running back recruit Rueben Owens announced his commitment to A&M, the first offensive skill position player in the recruiting class.

In November, Fisher privately articulated a plan to fix the offense that included staff changes. But after defeating LSU with the Aggies’ best performance of the season, he created a brief panic by saying publicly, “There’s nothing wrong with what we’re doing.”

Leadership can make every suggestion it wants, but with $86 million guaranteed still due to Fisher, there’s little it can do to force his hand.

The concerns were short-lived. Since the season ended, Fisher fired Dickey, the Aggies offensive coordinator in name only since 2018, on Nov. 28 to clear the way for a new OC. People within Texas A&M’s program and in the coaching agent community have said Fisher is telling prospective hires that he intends to hand over the reins of the offense to whoever gets the job.

Behind the scenes at Texas A&M, the message is that Fisher realizes the time has come to give up play calling and wants to concentrate more on the CEO duties that continue to consume more of his time every year.

“The messaging is right,” an A&M source told The Athletic. “He’s (telling candidates) ‘It’s your show.’”

Meanwhile, coaches throughout the country are wondering two things: Who will Fisher hire, and will Fisher stay out of the play calling once the games begin?

Outside the program, coaches will believe it when they see it.

“I wouldn’t take that job unless they offered to pay me what they’re paying Jimbo,” said a Power 5 coordinator who is not a candidate for the job.

Hyperbole aside, money won’t be an issue in the offensive coordinator hire. Administration and donors are eager to help Fisher fix the problem.

“We’re all being supportive of coach,” Bjork said. “We’re all in this. We’re going to provide him the resources to compete at the highest level.”

 

Edited December 8, 2022 by NoName

[TexasTroll 454]

9 hours ago, Vermin said:

Got the inky

Looks real stinky

[ShowmeyourTDs 1140]

11 hours ago, Horn Dog said:

[ShowmeyourTDs 1140]

9 hours ago, Vermin said:

Is that how many carries and yards he will have?

Edited December 8, 2022 by ShowmeyourTDs
Autocorrect

[BullSprig-Work 19]

15 hours ago, satyanash said:

It's interesting to contrast this with how Herman's recruiting and support flat-out died on the vine after the disappointment of the 2019 season and the Ewers fiasco. NIL (on in this case, lots of plain ol' $$$) really does change everything.

Goes back to how A&M is willing to get dirty in ways other schools won't touch with a ten-foot pole.

 

 

aggy is also buying off the family..

see Dindy from the last cycle. aggy built the Dad a frackin' church and made him Director of _______ at aggy

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mannewers 549]

28 minutes ago, NoName said:

“I wouldn’t take that job unless they offered to pay me what they’re paying Jimbo,” said a Power 5 coordinator who is not a candidate for the job.

What a dream it is to hope all P5 coordinator's feel this way.

[MH BEVO 1264]

1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

To date, Hildebrand and Dell have provided a combined $0 to anything related to Texas NIL. 

I get that we are the only school associated with Dell and that he has slapped his name on a few things… but didn’t he only attend UT for a year? 

[closetojumping 62141]

11 minutes ago, MH BEVO said:

I get that we are the only school associated with Dell and that he has slapped his name on a few things… but didn’t he only attend UT for a year? 

He runs one of the largest employers in Austin. He went to Texas. He's had opinions on sports with people over the years. Guys like that wind up contributing in most situations. If you're trying to make excuses for why a guy worth $25+B wouldn't put company largesse or his own for $500k to $1M that is tax deductible and negligible to his overall earnings, congrats, I guess. 

[Fondren & Main 6665]

1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

To date, Hildebrand and Dell have provided a combined $0 to anything related to Texas NIL. Same for former walkon Cal McNair and 1969 national title member Jim “Mattress Mac “ Mcingvale. Credit to Mattress Mac, though, as he’s committed millions to UH NIL. 

Quite frankly, the billionaires associated to UT do not appear to give one fuck as it pertains to winning sports for the school. They damned sure want their names on shit though. That’s their victory. 

Mattress Mac appears to be a Mean Green Eagle.  Are you confusing him with someone else?

Nevermind:

 

 He drew on his personal experience, telling the team: “I played football at Texas in ’69 and ’70. I quit my sophomore year during spring practice because I wasn’t getting to play. I was disgruntled and transferred to North Texas. Don’t get me wrong. I had a great, great time at North Texas playing for Hayden Fry.”

Edited December 8, 2022 by Fondren & Main

[closetojumping 62141]

Just now, Fondren & Main said:

Mattress Mac appears to be a Mean Green Eagle.  Are you confusing him with someone else?

No. What the fuck? Mattress Mac played on the 1969 team. He's always made his affiliation with Texas clear when it has suited him.

[Napoleon 8600]

8 minutes ago, MH BEVO said:

I get that we are the only school associated with Dell and that he has slapped his name on a few things… but didn’t he only attend UT for a year? 

He made his mark on the back of UT alums happy to take less than the going rate to stay in the Austin area and work for Michael vs moving back to Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, wherever…

if it weren’t for an over-educated Longhorn talent pool willing to take less than market value, Michael would have either had to move his company or he wouldn’t be where he is today. 

You could also add UT Business School professors & alumni (EDS’s Mort Meyerson for example who was on his board) guiding him to where he is today. He may have only gone to UT for one year, but his entire adult life was like it was due to UT. (His initial customers were UT students.)

Show us the money, Mickey D!!

[UncleBuck 6444]

Just now, Fondren & Main said:

Mattress Mac appears to be a Mean Green Eagle.  Are you confusing him with someone else?

He played a year at Texas. His brother also. Won a championship. Still a UT guy deep down. 

[Fondren & Main 6665]

I edited the original post after more research.

[UncleBuck 6444]

1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

But yes, they’ve talked to and met with McNair. They might as well have spent that time in a bar or at a strip club. Either of those things would have been more productive. 

TBF, the guy is paying three head coaches right now. smh

[closetojumping 62141]

I do want to be clear that I do not feel entitled to judge how another person or entity spends its money legally. I just wish they'd be spending some of it in UT NIL's direction. 

[Enchubben 5509]

29 minutes ago, UncleBuck said:

He played a year at Texas. His brother also. Won a championship. Still a UT guy deep down. 

He is but his big charity work is involvement in his direct community, Houston and surrounding areas. He does a TON for the area where he lives and works. He just chooses not to do it in Austin.  I think he's seen that good favor has done him well in business and made him a local god. In return people buy from him like crazy. I don't think he's solely driven by the return from good publicity, but what is the incentive for him to do it for UT and not for UH?

I think the corporate stuff would be awesome for companies like Dell or Tesla or the multitude of other large businesses in the area.

[kevwun 15608]

Probably for the best that McNair isn't involved because then he would want input and he's arguably the worst owner in the NFL.  He is an absolute moron when it comes to football.

Edited December 8, 2022 by kevwun

[SydneyCarton 47836]

5 minutes ago, UncleBuck said:

TBF, the guy is paying three head coaches right now. smh

 

Just now, closetojumping said:

I do want to be clear that I do not feel entitled to judge how another person or entity spends its money legally. I just wish they'd be spending some of it in UT NIL's direction. 

I'm mostly with you at the last one, but it's frustrating. That being said, demanding The Longhorns play multiple games in Houston at Reliant is certainly one way to demonstrate you're more interested in what Texas can do for you than what you can do for Texas. 

[HtownHorn 14468]

36 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

No. What the fuck? Mattress Mac played on the 1969 team. He's always made his affiliation with Texas clear when it has suited him.

Right now, it suits him to affiliate himself with the UH basketball program (outside the Astros, they are the best sports team in the city). He's betting on UH basketball, just like he did with the Astros. So, it makes sense that he's involved with their NIL, at least, for the basketball team, where he has commercials running during the games.

Edited December 8, 2022 by HtownHorn

[UncleBuck 6444]

3 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

Right now, it suits him to affiliate himself with the UH basketball program. He's betting on UH basketball, just like he did with the Astros. So, it makes sense that he's involved with their NIL, at least, for the basketball team, where he has commercials running during the games.

Fella's selling furniture in Houston. It suits him to invest in all of the local teams. It makes sense, but yah it sucks he can't be bigger for UT. 

[MH BEVO 1264]

41 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

He runs one of the largest employers in Austin. He went to Texas. He's had opinions on sports with people over the years. Guys like that wind up contributing in most situations. If you're trying to make excuses for why a guy worth $25+B wouldn't put company largesse or his own for $500k to $1M that is tax deductible and negligible to his overall earnings, congrats, I guess. 

Not making excuses. Just trying to take your previous advice and not spend other peoples money. 

[closetojumping 62141]

5 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

Right now, it suits him to affiliate himself with the UH basketball program (outside the Astros, they are the best sports team in the city). He's betting on UH basketball, just like he did with the Astros. So, it makes sense that he's involved with their NIL, at least, for the basketball team, where he has commercials running during the games.

Yeah, I know quite well what his logic is, as well as where things stand offline on this stuff in regard to his view. 

[Napoleon 8600]

16 minutes ago, Enchubben said:

I think the corporate stuff would be awesome for companies like Dell or Tesla or the multitude of other large businesses in the area.

Indeed it would be nice!

 

[TheAuditor 1030]

3 hours ago, closetojumping said:

I wasn’t expecting Elton John to show up in a thread on the recruiting forum, but here we are.  

New Aggie Recruiting Pitch:

What have I gotta do to make you love me?
What have I gotta do to make you care?
What do I do when lightning strikes me?
And I wake up and find that you’re not there

[Schulz2.0 28761]

3 minutes ago, TheAuditor said:

New Aggie Recruiting Pitch:

What have I gotta do to make you love me?
What have I gotta do to make you care?
What do I do when lightning strikes me?
And I wake up and find that you’re not there

I look forward to the team's new intro song "The bitch is back."

[Pam Cummings 9560]

1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

That’s not really the role I’ve played. But yes, they’ve talked to and met with McNair. They might as well have spent that time in a bar or at a strip club. Either of those things would have been more productive. 

To be fair to Cal, he might not have a lot of spare change laying around. He's currently paying Rick Smith, Brian Gaine, Bill O'Brien, David Culley, and (possibly soon) Nick Caserio something like a combined $50m to not work for him.

 

God damn, i should get a job with the Texans.

[Fud 9545]

Just now, Pam Cummings said:

(possibly soon) Nick Caserio

nah

[Pam Cummings 9560]

2 minutes ago, Fud said:

nah

I don't think it would be the smartest move either, but Jason La Canfora mentioned it as being more possible than we thought. He hired two pretty horrible coaches, but he wanted McCown, so he wasn't able to land who he wanted due to the Flores lawsuit. But still pretty questionable that he would want McCown in the first place. But i do agree with the thinking of you can't just fire another guy after two years. No serious candidates would probably want to work for you after that.

 

Cal just seems really not smart overall.