Jimbo Fisher shares biggest takeaways from scrimmage

With just over two weeks until the Aggies’ season opener, Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher likes what he sees. On Monday, Fisher shared his biggest takeaways from the team’s intrasquad scrimmage.

“I thought physicality was good,” Fisher said. “You always want more consistency and you’re putting some young guys in. Some of our older guys we scrimmaged for a certain number of plays and got them out to see other young guys.

“Up front, on both sides of the ball, I thought we had good physicality. Defensive line and offensive line, I was very pleased with a lot of their movements. The offensive line, I really think is emerging some guys that are coming on really well.”

Texas A&M must improves in the trenches this season. On offense, the team allowed 2.08 sacks per game last year, tying for 71st in the country. On the flip side, the defense was even worse. The Aggies created just 1.58 sacks per game, ranking outside of the top 100 nationally.

Texas A&M’s record reflected the subpar statistics. In 2022, the program went 5-7 overall and 2-6 in conference play, posting its first losing season since 2009. Consequently, A&M lost 31 players to the transfer portal this offseason, including four former four-star recruits.

Despite the concerning waves, Fisher isn’t deterred. The veteran head coach brought in offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino this offseason to help turn the tide. Evidently, Fisher is already seeing the fruits of his labor.

“[The offense] took care of the ball very well. On defense you want to create turnovers, but offense, the quarterback’s decision-making was good,” Fisher said. “We dropped a couple of balls at receiver and did some little things that I wished we wouldn’t have done, but the quarterbacks for the most part I thought the decision-making was very good. Running backs. It was a good first scrimmage, but I’d like to see more consistency. But I liked the physicality of it.”

That extra physicality will be the difference between fantastic success and miserable failure. Last season, A&M lost five games by six points or less. Players like quarterback Conner Weigman will be the ones to fix this glaring issue.

As a freshman, Weigman made five appearances and started the final four games of the season. In his limited time, the 6-foot-3 QB recorded 72 completions for 896 yards and eight touchdowns. With fresh leadership and promising reviews, hope is on the horizon in College Station.