Jimbo Fisher goes in-depth with analysis of Haynes King’s performance

The performance of quarterback Haynes King in Texas A&M’s opener against Sam Houston State — a 31-0 win — was destined for further scrutiny. It’s the nature of the position. It was far from a perfect outing, but head coach Jimbo Fisher likes what he saw from the sophomore.

King was aggressive with his decisions passing on Saturday with mixed results. He went 20-for-31 for 364 yards and three touchdowns as he sprayed and pushed the ball to the Aggies’ array of dangerous skill players. The aggression didn’t come without folly, though, as King also chucked two interceptions. Fisher pointed out those risky plays backfiring can just be a cost of doing business when you’re being aggressive.

“And I tell him, ‘You’ve got to have aggressive intelligence.’ You’ve got to play aggressively intelligent. Listen, you can sit there and say ‘Don’t throw interceptions’ all day but we hit as many big plays as we’ve hit in a long time, too. There was a lot of balls down the field that were hit, there were a lot of catches down the field. And now we just gotta clean up,” Fisher said.

Both of King’s interceptions came on long-developing plays and involved him pushing it downfield.

The first pick came midway through the second quarter as Texas A&M held a 7-0 lead. Just across the 50, the Aggies called up a post route for freshman Evan Stewart. King launched an arcing ball that a safety ran under and intercepted right by the goal line.

“Like I said, on 1st and 10 when they were in a two-Tampa look,” Fisher said, “we got the free pull but he’s high and he spun back. You’ve got to keep that ball really vertical, a little more than — you can’t pull him as much – or just check it and say ‘Eh, I don’t want it.'”

The second, late in the third quarter, came on a cross-field throw around midfield. From the right hash, King threw a corner route to the opposite side intended for Ainias Smith, but needed to wait a beat for the space to clear out. Instead, it turned into his second interception of the game.

“And the other one, same thing,” Fisher said. “We had a corner fade and the corner’s trying to middle both, and did a good job, gotta let it clear just a little bit more, another half second, which is tough sometimes in the pocket, but he’s gotta do that, or dump it down. And that was it.” 

As Fisher noted, he was glad to see the ball pushed down the field despite the miscues. Moreover, he was pleased with the way King responded on the ensuing possessions.

“But then both drives afterwards, which I was happy about, was the ability not to let it affect him and he came right back with touchdown throws, if I’m not mistaken, on both drives,” Fisher said.