With the college football season just around the corner, there’s no question about which team is being chased in the SEC. But when it comes to Texas A&M, is the media placing their faith in the Maroon and White or hedging their bets on success in 2023?
On3’s Jesse Simonton placed the Aggies at the No. 5 spot in his latest preseason SEC power rankings. The Maroon and White sit behind Georgia (1), Alabama (2), LSU (3), and Tennessee (4). While the top of the rankings should come as no surprise to any SEC football fan, Simonton’s fifth-placed ranking of Texas A&M illustrates his belief in the talent on paper.
Still, that doesn’t mean he has reservations about the Jimbo Fisher-led team heading into the new season, particularly about the discussion, or lack thereof, of whether Fisher or Bobby Petrino would be in control of the playcalling duties.
Jimbo Fisher continues to squirm every time he’s asked about Bobby Petrino’s role on Texas A&M’s offensive staff. And although it remains unclear exactly how the marriage will unfold, the talent is there for the Aggies to make a seismic leap this fall.
Conner Weigman and Evan Stewart should blossom as sophomores, and Texas A&M’s defense — from a front-four stocked with 5-stars to a talented secondary — could emerge as one of the Top 5 units in the league if it plays with more consistency. The pressure is on Fisher to deliver a major bounce-back season.
The phrase “Jimbo Fisher continues to squirm” illustrates that not everybody is fluent in the language of the Aggies head coach, namely during talkin’ season. Yes, Fisher has not and likely will not reveal who has the definite playcalling duties until it’s time to take the field. But in reality, why would he?
This is par for the course for Jimbo, who, like any other football coach, would be remiss to give away any indicator of how Texas A&M plans to operate on the field this season. This debate has become exhaustive at this point, and to everyone that is obsessing over this, fear not because your questions will be answered come the first game of the season.
Simonton’s points about Texas A&M’s returning production, from the promising tandem of Conner Weigman and Evan Stewart to a star-laden front-four that leads the defense, is undoubtedly warranted. Those returning four and five-star prospects exemplify why the Aggies should be ranked ahead of Arkansas or Ole Miss in the preseason, who sit in sixth and seventh, respectively.
The heavyweights sitting ahead of the Maroon and White are rightfully placed given their recent track record of success, and that’s the type of confidence that Fisher and this team will look to reclaim heading into the fall.
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