Jimbo Fisher shares plan to use transfer portal to fill out roster

Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher has to put a better product on the field in 2023 after a very disappointing 2022 campaign. In order to do that, he’ll need some help from the Transfer Portal, where the Aggies have already signed several exciting newcomers but could be looking to add more during the spring window.

During a recent press conference following spring practice, Fisher was asked if he plans to actively pursue more transfers in the portal given that there’s about to be more guys enter. Plus, A&M still has a few scholarships to burn, although they’ll only use them on players they truly believe are worth having on the team.

So here was the Aggies head coach on how he uses scholarships and what his plan is for using his last few in the portal:

Jimbo Fisher on spring transfers

“I mean, like I said, we’ll go into the portal, we’ll see what goes on when the portal opens up Saturday. We’ve got our eyes on guys and guys that are in the portal and things are going — we’ll be very active in it and have been with some of the visits and the other guys coming in and we’ll go where we go. But, you know, usually I hate to say that. Like I said, the whole time at Florida State, the most we ever had was 81. We usually stayed between 78 to 80, 80 to 82, and we would always, if guys we thought were really legit, and sometimes your walk-ons earned those spots too. But if we go to 85, we’ll go to 85. That depends on how the portal goes.

“Our philosophy is…get the best players on the field and create the most competition within your team and the best players play. I mean, it’s that simple. And also, when you get into the transfer portal, you get into a lot of things. Do they fit you? Another thing is…how many experienced guys do you have in a position or how many starters coming back? Because most guys that transfer, while they transfer, they want to play well. If you got guys that are playing and have returning starters, you have multiple returning starters, it makes it tough at different positions. But you have to show them the opportunities that, you know, you can have more.

“So I mean, you don’t need starters. You’ll need guys that can that can fill in and compete every day. And I think other thing you got with transfers, you got also the academic parts of things when you get into transfers and guys haven’t graduated or you have to get into majors of what your graduate students are when they’re coming. Does your school accept that many hours and make them eligible? Do they get ineligible? See, that’s a big factor no one talks about. Some schools don’t accept others. I mean, a lot of hours.

“So when the guy’s so far along in his degree and he has to be at 75 or 80 percent and your school doesn’t accept that, you can’t take them. I mean, there’s facets of that too that go into transfer portal guys that people don’t talk about, especially when you’re a very high academic school. A&M is a very good academic school. So I mean, those are all facets that go into transfers and what you’re trying to do.”