A Position of Leadership - Part Three | The Test

PART 3: THE TEST
Jimbo Fisher arrived in Tallahassee in time for Florida State's 2007 season.  As the offensive coordinator, he'd work with another Bowden, the legendary Bobby, who was in the waning years of his illustrious career.

After a year with the Seminoles, Fisher was tabbed 'Head Coach in Waiting'.  The wait ended after the 2009 season.

Fisher and the Noles went 19-8 in his first two seasons at the helm, winning a couple bowl games, and appearing in an ACC Championship Game.

Jameis Winston, a high school phenom quarterback from Bessemer, Alabama, stepped on campus for the 2012 season.  New to Florida State, he was immediately quizzed with a question Fisher had been asking for ages.
 
"One of the most significant teachings he bestowed on me was always know why," recalls Winston.  "No matter what you do.  I wanna know why you threw a touchdown, why you threw an interception, why were you sacked.  Always have an answer for why."

Fisher asked it early and often with Winston.

"My true freshman year we had EJ Manuel," Winston recalls of the 1^st round pick who started before him.  "(Jimbo) put me in with the ones.  I threw a touchdown.  He sat me back down because I couldn't tell him why.  I couldn't tell him why I did it."

Winston started to find the answers.  Enough of them to lead Fisher and Florida State to the national title in 2013, and to the College Football Playoff the next season.
 
After Florida State, Winston was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the first pick of the 2015 NFL Draft.  Because he was often put to the test by Fisher, he was well prepared.

"My system here at Tampa Bay, the only thing that's different is the terminology," says Winston.  "The same concepts and the same plays I ran at Florida State, I just had to learn different verbiage.  His system is an NFL system."

Today, Fisher puts the Aggies on the practice field for the first time.  He'll ask a lot of his quarterbacks.  Whether its Starkel, Mond, Blumrick or another, they'll often be asked why.  He'll put them through an exam that repetitively requires different answers to the same question.

"If you don't know why, if I call it again in a crucial moment, how are you going to execute it," asks Fisher.

Winston says he'd also tell the Aggie quarterbacks one more thing when it comes to Fisher this spring.

"Be prepared to match his intensity."

That's a nod to Fisher's true passion for the position.  He'll be active with them, while carrying high expectations. 

They'll have to pass the test.  They'll have to answer why, over and over.

Winston found the answers at Florida State.  It won him a Heisman Trophy and made him the first pick of the draft.  The Buccaneers' QB will always love the Seminole program.  But, he claims he'll follow Fisher wherever he goes.  There's no bitterness over Fisher's exit from Florida State to come to A&M.

"That's my coach.  It doesn't matter what alma mater I have, that's my coach," states Winston.  "I love Jimbo.  I fully support him."

He's clear about his love for both, Florida State and Fisher.  But, he closes with 'I'd do anything for Jimbo.'

The quarterback position has influenced Jimbo Fisher, and he has influenced several quarterbacks as a coach.

It all starts with one question.  Why? 

So, why does he ask it so often?

"There's a consequence for everything you did, good and bad.  You have to live it.  More importantly this team has to live it.  And you have to take that responsibility very seriously."

Fisher has risen to the top of college football.  And now he's in charge of the Aggies.  It's clear, though, he'll run the program with a signal caller's soul.

After all, from his early days in West Virginia, he was destined for a position of leadership.