With spring football only 12 days away, Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher said there will be a few changes to look out for.
One of Fisher’s biggest points of emphasis was the change in offense. According to the 2017 media guide, the offense under Sumlin’s basic offense was listed as ‘multiple’. Thursday, Fisher said his offense will run primarily as a pro-style offense.
“We will do everything they did,” Fisher said. “There’s just going to be a lot more involved with them with run checks, pass checks and the amount of knowledge they have to pertain on a play. It’s an NFL offense. It’s what you do on Sunday’s, which I believe in. Most of those guys who were in those championship games — if you go look at the last 10 years — were mainly in those kinds of offenses.”
With 55 players returning — 19 of which were starters — Fisher said one of the keys to finding success come SEC play in the fall starts with the off-season workout programs. In January, Fisher announced the hire of Jerry Schmidt who would serve as the director of athletic performance.
Prior to accepting the position at A&M, Schmidt served as the director of sport enhancement at Oklahoma. Schmidt coached players like Barry Sanders in 1988 while at Oklahoma State and Sam Bradford and Baker Mayfield at OU during his 19-year tenure with the Sooners.
Fisher said in the few weeks that Schmidt has been at the head of the program, he has seen the difference in his players.
“I’ve done a lot [evaluating players] in our off season work outs and our fourth quarter work outs,” Fisher said. “The kids have done a great job. Body has changed… cut a lot of fat and put up a lot of muscle. Schmidty has done a tremendous job with those guys. You can see it physically and not that there was anything bad [before].”
Heading in to spring football, Fisher said not to expect anything out of the ordinary. However, he did emphasize that he and his coaching staff will limit the amount of tackling that will be done in order to limit injuries and preserve the bodies of the players.
“We’ll have our typical three ‘shorts days’ and your partial and full days,” Fisher said. “We’ll only tackle on the scrimmage days. I’ve never been a big tackle guy. We’ll hit, thud and be physical every day, but we have to try and keep the bodies off the ground because that’s where all piles and the knees get [injured], but it will get physical.”
Last season, returning redshirt sophomore quarterback Nick Starkel and sophomore Kellen Mond both saw a lot of action on the field as starters. However, Fisher said he structures his practice with the goal of making sure all players — regardless of where they are on the depth chart — maximize their practice time.
“When we practice, everybody will get the same amount of reps.” Fisher said. “We go ones and threes on one field and twos and fours on the other. I make a depth chart and I say, ‘It’s not really a depth chart at two and four’, you just have to do it. We will rotate because the whole key is making sure they get equal time, reps and opportunities.”
With the increase of injuries, Fisher said it is important to implement this kind of system, that way everyone will develop at the same time and would be ready to go into the game in the middle of the season if necessary.
Fisher said every position is available for the taking, including the starting quarterback job.
“It’s wide open,” Fisher said. “Everything is wide open. Listen, even if I was coaching here last year, it would still be wide open. How players develop yearly, you don’t ever know, the best players play.”
Texas A&M will begin spring practice March 20. A&M’s spring football game will be nationally televised on SEC Network, kickoff is set for 4 p.m. at Kyle Field.