Since Jimbo Fisher arrived in College Station, Texas A&M has slowly become a favorite team to hate among fan bases outside the Texas Longhorns. After the Aggies signed what is still considered the most significant recruiting class of all time in 2022, the hatred grew tenfold.
Well, usually, the reason a program is historically disliked is due to their consistent success on the field, so after the Aggies’ 5-7 (2-6 SEC) 2022 season, all Fisher could hear, both literally and figuratively, was laughter based in ridicule outside of the fanbases utter disbelief, so heading into what a pivotal 2023 season, all eyes will be on the Maroon and White this fall.
This week, a portion of Athlon Sports’ 2023 preseason preview focused on the collective voice of various SEC football coaches’ thoughts and opinions on every one of the 14 conference teams ahead of the season, and for Texas A&M, nothing, and I mean nothing was left out concerning A&M’s enormous potential to either succeed or fail once again in the always brutal SEC schedule.
Texas A&M’s immensely talented roster featured notable returned veterans on offense and defense. Yet, the slightly controversial hiring of Bobby Petrino as the new offensive coordinator has remained the primary talking point of most of the media and, apparently, every SEC coach.
“The (Bobby) Petrino experiment (at offensive coordinator) is absolutely a must-watch in the coaching community. We’re all dying to see how those two dudes work together. Or not. Jimbo (Fisher) told all the candidates for the OC job they’d actually be play-calling, so let’s see if he can hold off and not try to manage the book. Offensively, they were awful last year when you think about the talent have. … Defensively, they’re really strong. DJ (Durkin) is really impressive and has built a really strong unit there, and even with the turnover, we think they’ll be strong. This is a roster where everyone talks about NIL as a bad thing. They have culture issues and it shows on their sideline in games.”
Where I agree: Jimbo Fisher’s assumed transition to more of a game manager role while handing off most (hopefully all) of the play-calling duties to Petrino is the right move and should result in consistent offensive production. And yes, Durkin’s new role as linebacker coach should do wonders for a group that woefully underperformed last season, while the defensive line and secondary are highly competent units.
Rising sophomore star safety Bryce Anderson’s post-Maroon and White Spring quote completely squashed the “rotten culture” argument. Anderson eloquently stated that certain members who disrupted the program’s positive team philosophy have left through the transfer portal.
“Cause I feel like that this team is committed… like last year some of the young guys were kind of like ‘loose in the head’ they weren’t really focused. But I feel this year, we coming out, everybody’s ready to practice, everybody wants to practice like it’s a whole different mindset this year.”
Trust the players who play the game, and know that before the 2022 season’s rollercoaster ride, they made us all sick; culture was never an issue, and from everything we’ve seen so far in the offseason, this team is ready to prove every doubter wrong from start to finish.
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