Head Coach Jimbo Fisher held his first press conference of the spring on Thursday.
Head Coach Jimbo Fisher held his first press conference of the spring on Thursday, visiting with the media in advance of spring drills (start Monday, March 29) and Pro Day (Tuesday, March 30).
The Aggies will hold the Maroon & White Game, presented by St. Joseph Health, on April 24 at Kyle Field.
Opening statement …
It’s great to be back, it’s great to be talking with you. It’s great to be back in the football frame of mind as far as x’s and o’s and being on the field. We’ve had lots of meetings, lots of workouts. The team has done a really good job in the offseason. I think we are in good condition, I think we have worked hard. I think the standard of excellence in which we have set and believe in, and incorporating the new enrollees and getting them acclimated has been a good transition. Some of the older guys have done a good job helping them and the young guys are working hard. The older guys have done a great job lifting, running, getting things in position to where they can have a very good spring. They understand the importance of spring ball for us and the development.
We have a new football team. Everyone wants to talk about building from last year. You can build on it, but you have a new team. Every team has its own personality, it has a one-year life-expectancy. A team is only together for one year, so it has to develop a work ethic, a standard. We talk about the culture of the organization, we have that up there, but you have to get everyone on the same page. That’s part of the leadership and culture, that’s on us as coaches and the leaders on our team. Hopefully each of those guys will accept that and they will develop a tremendous winning culture and a tremendous attitude and a relentless competitiveness that won’t let them fail. When you get down to what championships are made of, there are a lot of things that go in, but at the end of the day it’s a lot of sweat, hard work and a lot of guts. It comes down to how important it is to you and how you are able to prioritize – personally, academically, athletically – and develop yourself as a person. The guy you are off the field is the same guy you are on the field. Learn to get good at things you don’t always like. It makes you grow as a person and as a player, and helps you be better at the things you do like. Hopefully those traits are coming into place and we’ll see as we develop. We are excited to get the guys on the field, we are ready to get out there.
Defense we have a lot of guys back, hopefully the experience there will pay off. Experience is one thing, but you have to go make plays. They can expand and get better at the things they’ve done and bring the new guys along. Offensively, we have a few more holes to fill. We have an offensive line we lost a lot of guys on, but I feel really good about the young, talented players we have there. They are going to have a chance to get out there and work at different positions and develop that chemistry on the o-line. Quarterback is another one, we had a three-year starter [in Kellen Mond] and we have a great competition going there. We have a great group of guys that can lead and take over this team. We have a lot of returning guys at other positions at tight end, receiver, running back. Hopefully those guys can help the other two groups by expanding their roles and doing what they are supposed to do. Our specialists are all back again too. Our snappers, punters and kickers. I thought we did a really nice job in the kicking game last year. Need to keep working with our returners and keep becoming a good special teams team. You have to be good in all three phases to have a good football team.
On Devon Achane …
He's a hard-working young man. He’s very quiet, but he does his job, hustles and I think he can be an excellent player. I think he can be an excellent player in a lot of different ways and I think we are just scratching the surface of things he can do. The thing that makes him unique is, I believe, he’s a football player that runs track, not a track guy that plays football. He has a natural ability to play the game of football. When you watch, there are a lot of guys that are really, really fast and have a tendency to do everything fast. He doesn’t. He is under control, he has a good pace, he understands he’s a natural runner and he applies it when he has to. He’s very strong. He catches the ball well, and he’ll block you. He’ll put his nose on you, right in the middle of you. The things that really impressed me about him weren’t only his running, but his ability to be a blocker, a pass blocker.
On the quarterback room …
Haynes King, from the day he got he has done it. Zach [Calzada] is a very talented guy who, the calls now, the things he does, the questions he asks in meetings and walk-throughs, I think he has it down. Haynes does, and Eli Stowers, I’ve been amazed how quickly he has picked everything up. He was like Haynes when he walked in. He’s a guy that you give him something, tell him something once he keeps it right in there and understands it. It’s not just memorizing it, but understanding it. I think from an intelligence and learning standpoint, I’m extremely pleased with all three of those guys. Their knowledge of not only the pass game, but run game and protections. It’s not cliché just trying to talk up all three guys, I think all three guys have done an outstanding job in that regard.
On Jayden Peevy …
Jayden is another guy that came back and, I think, made an outstanding decision. I think he really grew as a player last year and also as a leader. He has really come out of his shell. He has been a very good leader. His length and size as a three technique guy, an edge guy, a 4-I guy, a 5 guy, being so athletic. He played basketball. I think he has grown tremendously and we have high expectations for him. He should be right there playing tons of ball and being a good leader on this football team. He is a very good football player.
On the defense …
You can never have enough depth. The ceiling for this group will be determined by how prioritized they are on being dominant and taking over. You have to be able to do that. You have to have that mentality and that thought process going in. Hopefully their fundamentals and basic things they do, they will execute. The greatest defenses I’ve ever been a part of, the only thing they all did was doing ordinary things better than anybody else. It wasn’t spectacular things, it was the ordinary, day-to-day things and plays that they made consistently, which allowed them to be successful. They had one mentality, the other team didn’t score and we are going to put as much of our physicality on you as we possibly can.