Jimbo Fisher shares how Texas A&M's struggles impacted recruiting

2022 was a year from Hades for Texas A&M football. Though the Aggies inked the top recruiting class in 2022, the play on the field took a massive step back in the fall. A&M limped to a 5-7 record which featured a home loss to Appalachian State while some fans started calculating how to afford Jimbo Fisher’s $90 million buyout.

Alas, Fisher will be back, rest assured. But he’s not coming into next fall with quite the same level of recruiting class as he did a year ago. Is that a result of a lack of success on the field this season? According to Fisher, nope.

Here he was when asked that very question, whether the disappointing 2022 season was one of the root causes of the slight recruiting decline:

“It never really did, because the program — like I said, you have bad years. But I think our program’s in a good position. I mean, you look at the returners. Look at the catches we have returning. Evan Stewart to Moose Mohammed to Noah Thomas — those receivers alone, those three, the tight ends, we have catches. The quarterbacks we have back the production. The tailbacks, now you had No. 4 and No. 22 coming back.

“But I think they are going to be outstanding players along with great guys. So I think offensive line — how many guys started all year? So I mean we were outstanding at defensive line. Everybody, I mean, some freshman started, we had 12 returning guys in that group that can make plays. And with what else we add to it — linebackers, you saw at the end of the year, those guys are developing.”

For Fisher and most coaches around the country, the football season is about more than simply winnin’ and losin’ football games. That’s why he outlined how well a lot of his younger players throughout the roster developed this season. Texas A&M got better at certain positions and fostered some growth for its future stars.

Sure, it’s still a failure of a season by A&M standards, but what Fisher is saying is that the team didn’t completely fail, since they saw major growth by plenty of future playmakers. It’s a marathon, and Jimbo Fisher believes recruits will buy into the long-term rather than act rashly over one rough season.

“So it is as far as your wins and losses. But you look at where we had the injuries we had and the kids saw. I think, in recruiting, no one panicked. We want to come in and contribute and play and end up being good. So it never really never affected anything.”

There you have it. The season didn’t affect a darn thing on the recruiting trail. Must be some other explanation for the Aggies dropping from first to 15th in the 2023 class rankings.