Jimbo Fisher praises special teams ace Sam Mathews following breakout game

Sam Mathews has been a mainstay for Texas A&M on special teams the last two years, but he had his breakout game on defense last week against Florida with six tackles amid so many injuries. Jimbo Fisher certainly noticed — and he wasn’t surprised at all.

Fisher raved about the work Mathews does on special teams, which doesn’t always show up in the box score. Now in his second year with the Aggies, he’s become a key part of that attack.

“Sam’s busting his tail, man,” Fisher said. “He’s done a great job on special teams. He busts his tail on everything he does, gives effort, toughness. Has just the desire to be good and help his teammates in every way shape or form. It’s great to see him get rewarded and do a good job.”

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Mathews still has one more year left if he wants it, and Fisher thinks he could be in consideration for the 12th Man to wear the historic No. 12 jersey.

“Very much so,” Fisher said. “He’s on all the special teams and the things he does. The guy’s an athlete. He can run. You get in our GPS, he’s up there with those guys in the top five, 10% of the guys on the team that can really run. He’s got good speed.”

Jimbo Fisher defends Texas A&M strength and conditioning staff in light of injury issues

Texas A&M is dealing with multiple injuries entering the final month of the regular season, and Jimbo Fisher has said he’s never had so many injuries. He’s not blaming the strength and conditioning staff, though.

The Aggies were down 25 players last week against Florida — some due a flu outbreak, but many others due to injuries. However, Fisher said that’s not a result of issues with strength and conditioning. He said there are some other factors that can be in play with the injuries Texas A&M is dealing with right now.

“When you break bones, that’s not strength and conditioning,” Fisher said. “When the knee goes, that’s not strength and conditioning. Your pulls, your hamstrings, those types of things. We have an excellent strength and conditioning program and what we’re doing is excellent. We’re state of the art, which we study everywhere. What the guys are doing, how they’re doing it, we reinforce that as being done that way.

“Some of these injuries are — you break a thumb when you hit a helmet. You have a turf toe. That could be shoe-related, that could be equipment-related. We have three guys out with turf toes. You’ve got things like that. You have a knee, you break an ankle. Those aren’t strength and conditioning.”