Tag: Jimbo Fisher

Texas A&M Aggies Transfer Portal Tracker

Transfer Portal season is upon us and you can stay up to date on any moves with our portal tracker

The college football portal opened for the Aggies as soon as Jimbo was given his walking papers. Anytime there is a coaching change the thought is that there will be a lot of work by the new staff to work on keeping who they fit and grabbing who is available.

With the transfer portal essentially being a free agency for college athletes, programs have their work cut out for them. Like any new coach, I expect Mike Elko to try to keep coach Elijah Robinson on staff by any means necessary to help prevent some of the players on the fence from leaving. Also, to use the portal to his advantage as any coach should in this modern era to bring some players that fit what he wants to do.

The Aggies hopefully will be players in the offseason and could use experience at the Lineback position and should also poke around at the cornerback position to add more competition on the back end. As long we don’t see a mass exodus from Aggieland, they are a deep team with only a few positions of need.

We’ll track all transfers in or out right here for you to stay up to date!

Former Texas A&M OC reveals Jimbo Fisher’s offensive flaws

After just one year as Texas A&M’s offensive coordinator, Bobby Petrino has spilled the beans regarding Jimbo Fisher’s need to control the offense.

It felt like just yesterday that Texas A&M made media waves after hiring controversial yet productive coach Bobby Petrino as the program’s new offensive coordinator, as then-head coach Jimbo Fisher was essentially forced to give up play-calling duties to save his Aggie Career.

With Jimbo Fisher out the door, new Aggies head coach Mike Elko has already made several staff changes, including the dismissal of Bobby Petrino after just one season. However, blaming Petrino for any issues that plagued the Aggies offense this season is unfair, as Fisher’s need to maintain complete control over the playbook hindered any significant progress.

After leaving the program, Petrino received an offer from Arkansas and head coach Sam Pittman to return to Fayetteville after over a decade. Yes, this transition is ironic, but it might be a perfect fit, as Pittman will surely hand over the offense to Petrino.

On Wednesday, in his first interview with Hogs Plus, Petrino finally revealed what many of us already suspected regarding Jimbo Fisher’s need to maintain offensive control in 2023:

“Jimbo wanted to keep his terminology, and I did not sleep for months. It was hard. It was studying every night, trying to figure this out — why are we calling it this way?”

What’s becoming clearer day after day is that if Fisher were to hire an above-average offensive line coach and a special teams coordinator, coupled with turning the offense over to Petrino in its entirety, he might have just saved his Aggie coaching career.

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Former Texas A&M Football players react to the hiring of Mike Elko

Former Texas A&M Football players show immense support for the hiring of Mike Elko as the next head football coach.

Mike Elko is the hire, and former players came out of the woodwork to praise the move to the former Aggie defensive coordinator.

When it was announced that Duke’s Head Football coach would return to Bryan-College Station, multiple former players spoke with TexAgs or just dropped a note on social media to voice their approval of hiring a familiar face.

Elko is in a unique position where he still knows numerous current players and a handful of the staff, making the transition feel more like a homecoming than an introduction.  When asked about returning here is what he had to say:

“There are not many times you go into a first team meeting and 50 of the guys come up to give you a big hug. It was a unique start.”

A new era in Texas A&M Football is starting, and we’ll be here to help navigate the fan base through all the changes that will no doubt be announced over the next few weeks.

Below, you can check out what a number of the Former Aggies football players thought about the hire.

‘Our recipe is that we have to be able to perform under pressure’ Mike Elko and Ross Bjork take questions at press conference

Everything Ross Bjork and Mike Elko had to say about Elko’s hiring as the 30th head football coach at Texas A&M

The A&M football program is headed in a new direction, and former Aggie DC Mike Elko will lead it.

Elko spent the last two years at Duke, where he won ACC Coach of the Year and back-to-back winning seasons. As a head coach, he is 16-9 with a bowl win, and before that, he spent about two decades as an assistant coach.

Ready for the challenge, Mike Elko knows that he is expected to win and build a strong identity for the football program:

“If you want to chase the highest prizes in this sport, it’s going to come with high expectations and high pressure.” “You embrace who you are. I’ve embraced my process as a head coach… I believe in who I am, and I believe in my process for making decisions.”

You can listen to everything they had to say during the entire press conference below:

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‘We will represent this university with pride’ Everything new Texas A&M HC Mike Elko had to say during his Introductory Press Conference

Texas A&M officially names Mike Elko as the new head football coach at the Ford Hall of Champions

The Ford Hall of Champions was the venue selected to introduce the 30th head coach of the Texas A&M Football team. A&M President Mark Welsh and Athletic Director Ross Bjork gave the new head coach a glowing introduction before Elko took the podium.

The theme of the introductory press conference was blue-collar work ethic and offensive innovation. Coach Elko knows a thing or two about hard work, from growing up in a trailer park in New Jersey to winning an Ivy League championship as a player at the University of Pennsylvania.

Elko will bring accountability and culture to a program that seemed to be lacking these characteristics over the last few years. Holding on to Elijah Robinson would be a great first step at keeping some of the positive attributes he brings to the team.

Lastly, while it might not be the “headline” hire some might have wanted, it is now the correct hire for this team. We look forward to watching Coach Elko build his staff and getting the program in the position to take the next step forward.

Its Official: Mike Elko will be the next head coach for Texas A&M

After an interesting weekend, the Aggies the officially have their new head coach in Mike Elko

After a whirlwind of a weekend for the Texas A&M multiverse, the Aggies finally have their guy after having their guy.

At one point this weekend it looked as if Ross Bjork was able to take Mark Stoops to a much-improved Kentucky team. Now I don’t want to say that social media pressure made both sides pull back, but the outrage was loud and in abundance. Low and behold, a few hours later Mark Stoops announced that he would be staying at Kentucky.

Luckily The Aggies had a “backup” plan and quickly pivoted to Mike Elko which had a much warmer reception from fans and pundits alike. For this type of hire, Elko is the right hire. His connections with the University and current roster should make the transition smooth. All you have to do it scour the internet for twenty minutes to see the relief in the fan base that Elko will be the actual choice.

Former Aggie linebacker Buddy Johnson has been pounding the table for Elko as well and sounds very excited about the future of the Aggies football program:

“Excited for my guy to be back! This means more than people understand because he recruited a lot of guys in the locker room. So that’s a huge security blanket for all the talent that’s in that locker room. I’m fired up about this decision!”

Elko and Bjork arrived in Bryan-College Station late last night and are prepping for team meetings and press conferences.

A new era in Texas A&M Football is starting and we’ll be here to help navigate the fan base through all the changes that will no doubt be announced over the next few weeks.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Jarrett Johnson on Twitter: @whosnextsports1.

Photos: Texas A&M’s regular season finale against LSU

Photos: Texas A&M drops final game of the regular season to the LSU Tigers 42-30

Texas A&M gave LSU all they could handle early on Saturday before the Tigers could pull away late for a 42-30 victory at Tiger Stadium.

Elijah Robinson and Bobby Petrino were aggressive early and often converted multiple third and fourth down plays on their way to an early 24-21 lead. However, Jayden Daniels showed the Aggies why he is a favorite to win the Heisman, with 355 total yards and four touchdowns in the win.

Here is some of what Coach Robinson said after the LSU loss.

“It’s a resilient group, and I’m thankful for how they responded. Once this transition happened, they could have packed it in. They didn’t back down from anything. They didn’t look back. They fought forward for the last two weeks.”

Below, you can check out the best photos from the game on Saturday.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Jarrett Johnson on Twitter: @whosnextsports1.

Social Media Reacts to Texas A&M’s season finale loss to LSU

Social Media reacts to the Aggie loss to the LSU Tigers in the season finale

Texas A&M was able to hang with the high-powered LSU offense led by Jayden Daniels, through about two and a half quarters before the Tigers started to pull away.

Jaylen Henderson finished the day going 25/35 for 294 and a touchdown. On the defensive side of the ball, All-SEC linebacker Edgerrin Cooper had eight tackles and one sack in the loss on Saturday.

Aggie QB Jaylen Henderson on the loss

“In the first half, we were clicking on all cylinders. I was precise with the reads and things. They changed some things up in the second half… Hats off to them.”

For the second year in a row, the Aggies will lose five games and finish .500 or worse in the SEC. However, there is change coming with the college football world expecting coaching news in Aggieland over the coming few weeks.

Here are some of the social media reactions during Texas A&M’s 42-30 loss in Baton Rouge on Saturday.

How to watch: Texas A&M vs. No. 14 LSU football game

Texas A&M will close out the regular season with a road game against the No. 14 LSU Tigers

Texas A&M (7-4, 4-3 SEC) will play No. 14 LSU (8-3, 5-2 SEC) at Tiger Stadium on Saturday morning in Baton Rouge, LA at 11:00 a.m. CT.

Over the past six years, the Texas A&M / LSU rivalry has blossomed into a very intriguing matchup that rivals one of the best games in the season’s final week. The series has bounced back and forth between the teams, with the Aggies pulling off a 38-23 upset last year.

If Texas A&M wants to break the current trend, they will need to another upset and mistake-free game to keep this one close. With Evan Stewart not making the trip, Moose “Sleeves” Muhammad has another opportunity to send Tiger fans home upset for the second year in a row.

Texas A&M’s 2023 regular-season home schedule has contests against ULM, Auburn, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi State, and ACU.

The Aggies’ Road schedule features games at Miami, Arkansas, Tennessee, Ole Miss, and LSU.

2023 Texas A&M Aggies football schedule: Downloadable smartphone wallpaper

Below is gameday, television, and radio information for Saturday’s Texas A&M – LSU game at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge.

According to The Athletic, Jimbo Fisher ignored character concerns while recruiting top talent

According to The Athletic, now-former Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher readily ignored character concerns when recruiting top talent.

Now-former Texas A&M head football coach Jimbo Fisher has been relieved of his duties for nearly two weeks as the Aggies 2023 football regular season ends on the road Saturday vs. No. 13 LSU.

While Texas A&M Athletic Director Ross Bjork is hard at work during the expansive coaching search, Fisher’s underwhelming six-year tenure is still being examined with a fine-tooth comb, as The Athletic (Subscription required) writers, including Sam Khan Jr., Bruce Feldman, and Max Olson recently wrote yet another in-depth look at what when wrong in College Station under the West Virginia native.

From Fisher’s undeserved massive contract extension to his blatant lack of quarterback development after the departure of former Kevin Sumlin recruited signal caller Kellen Mond, it was Fisher’s ignorance when recruiting some of the top classes year after year, most notably the historic 2022 recruiting class.

Known to the public and mentioned in the article, since singing the 2022 class, then director of player personnel Marshall Malchow departed to join Oregon head coach Dan Lanning in Eugene, leading to the hiring of Kevin Mashack from Indiana, who barely lasted a full year before his sudden dismissal back in June.

As Ross Bjork noted, this position is vital in the raucous transfer portal environment that will likely impact the Aggies once the portal officially opens on Dec. 4. With the lack of stability hindering any actual progress, Fisher reportedly took the same approach most college football fans take when researching their favorite team’s recruiting success, while completely ignoring any red flags tied to the various five-star rated prospects in the 2022 cycle.

“But the pursuit of the top-ranked 2022 class, which is the highest-rated in the modern era, became an obsession for Fisher and his staff, to the point that Fisher inquired about the 247Sports Class Calculator and how certain commits would affect A&M’s recruiting ranking. The former A&M recruiting staffer said Fisher ignored character questions if the recruits were five-star prospects.”

“He’s like, ‘Nope, he’s a five-star, we wanna take him,’” the staffer said.

Four of the seven players who left the program from the 2022 cycle were indefinitely suspended at various times last season, while wide receiver Chris Marshall entered the JUCO ranks after being dismissed from Ole Miss, cornerback Denver Harris is no longer on LSU’s active roster after both transferred last offseason.

Texas A&M has not dealt with the same suspension-based issues during the 2023 season. Still, more than anything, the close losses, nine-game road losing streak, and insufficient on-field development were the final straw for a program needing an infusion of new blood at the top of the mountain.

Ranging from vast resources to fan support, everything is in place to be successful for whoever succeeds Fisher in the coming days or weeks; a new era of Texas A&M Football is finally coming in 2024 and beyond.

Texas A&M will take on 14th-ranked LSU on Saturday, Nov. 25 at 11 a.m. CT., and ESPN will carry the game.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.