Texas A&M’s Struggles Are Testing Jimbo Fisher’s ‘QB Whisperer’ Reputation

Fisher’s ability to develop passers is under fire as the Aggies’ lackluster offense has them underachieving in 2022.

The attention of the college football universe was supposed to be in Tuscaloosa this weekend. Alabama–Texas A&M is both a rematch and a payoff of a preseason war of words. CBS will use its once-a-season doubleheader on the Aggies vs. Crimson Tide, but the network’s suits are no doubt experiencing buyer’s remorse. ESPN’s College GameDay is spiritually as far away as humanly possible, at a Kansas game instead. There is only one reason why: The Aggies did not hold up their end of this supposedly big-game bargain. What attention remains on this SEC West matchup is pointed at A&M—for what the folks in maroon and white would say are the wrong reasons.

Texas A&M’s offense currently stinks. It’s 63rd in offensive SP+ rating, 95th in standard down success rate, 63rd in yards per play, 95th in third-down conversion rate, 89th in red zone touchdown percentage and 90th in offensive available yards gained (on non-garbage-time possessions vs. FBS opponents). In four games against FBS teams, Texas A&M’s offense has only scored more than 17 points once (a garbage-time touchdown in the loss to Mississippi State made the score 42–24). In their other three games the Aggies scored:

• 14 points in a loss to App State, seven of which came via a kick return.
• 17 points against Miami, seven of which came on a 28-yard drive after the Canes muffed a punt.
• 23 points against Arkansas, seven of which came on a defensive score.

A&M ranks 108th in scoring offense so far in 2022, averaging 21.8 points per game.

Jerome Miron/USA TODAY Sports

There are plenty of places to assign blame, but the quarterback position is always the first when an offense struggles.

Zach Calzada, the author of A&M’s upset of Alabama as a 19-point underdog last season, transferred to Auburn in December. Due to a shoulder injury, we won’t get to know this season how Calzada will look in a different system by comparison, but neither Haynes King nor Max Johnson have been able to elevate a struggling A&M offense so far this season. Nothing is easy for these Aggies in terms of production. Now that wide receiver Ainias Smith is out for the season, the most reliable option to generate an explosive play is simply getting the ball to running back Devon Achane and hoping for the best.

Jimbo Fisher’s job (and that of any college coach) is to win on Saturdays, point blank. But when you’re a coach who played quarterback, coaches quarterbacks, calls the plays on offense and has put multiple quarterbacks into the NFL over the years, you become a quarterback whisperer. That makes the Aggies’ current struggles even more confounding.

Quarterbacks these days have thrown more by the time they get to college than ever before, via the recruiting camp circuit and 7-on-7 competition. It’s possible (although not advisable) to have a young man play football all year long, and with the advent of the private QB training industry, athletes can even get hands-on coaching from skilled teachers outside of their high school programs. But the literal position is a much different proposition than it was 20 years ago, when Fisher really began to make his name as a “QB guy.” It makes assigning credit (and blame) an even trickier exercise, and that doesn’t even get to how the NFL’s QB prospect mania pushes up the draft position of passers who may not have been graded as high as they’re actually selected.

As Fisher got his career in major college football going at Auburn in the 1990s and later at LSU in the early 2000s, Dameyune Craig, Rohan Davey, Josh Booty and Matt Mauck all had a cup of coffee in the NFL. The preternaturally-arm talented JaMarcus Russell was taken No. 1 in the ’07 draft and compared to John Elway by analyst Mel Kiper Jr. moments before he walked across the stage. Fisher is certainly in no way to blame for Russell’s lack of pro success, but Russell’s draft selection began Fisher’s true ascension into QB whisperer territory.

Fisher was Florida State’s offensive coordinator by the fall of 2007, but Matt Flynn, the understudy to Russell who was developed by Fisher, took over at LSU that season and led the Tigers to a national title. Flynn went on to have a seven-year NFL career mostly spent as Aaron Rodgers’s backup. In ’10, when Fisher took over for Bobby Bowden as permanent head coach in Tallahassee, Christian Ponder was entering his third season as the starter and went on to be selected No. 12. Ponder gave way at FSU to EJ Manuel, whose two years as a starter ended up getting him selected 16th. And then there was Jameis Winston, whose playing career as a Seminole earned a Heisman Trophy and a national title before making him the second No. 1 pick Fisher tutored.

Fisher’s offense is complex postsnap in an era when many good college offenses appear as simple as possible. He certainly was a QB tutor cut out for the modern era of the sport, but is that part of his skill set cut out for this particular moment? At what point do you cease to be a “QB whisperer” and become simply a good coach who used to churn out great signal-callers?

Fisher and Winston won a national title together at Florida State.

Bob Donnan/USA TODAY Sports

The post-Winston list of quarterbacks quickly becomes ignominious at best when looking at the passers the Noles signed out of high school. John Franklin III, J.J. Cosentino and Bailey Hockman never saw significant snaps in Tallahassee at QB. De’Andre Johnson and Malik Henry both left FSU following off-field issues. Those who did remain and start for FSU in that time period included Sean Maguire, Deondre Francois (who suffered a season-ending injury in the 2017 opener), James Blackman and Notre Dame transfer Everett Golson. None were effective as the Seminoles slipped from championship level due to various other on- and off-field problems in the program, and Fisher’s relationship with Florida State soured to the point that he left for College Station.

But the quarterback production at Texas A&M has left a ton to be desired as well. An A&M passer hasn’t thrown for 300 yards since Kellen Mond did it on Oct. 10, 2020. Mond was the QB Fisher inherited from previous coach Kevin Sumlin, and while he did end up being drafted in the third round, he was cut after his rookie season by the Vikings. Minnesota coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters: “You can put a lot of pressure on a player if he’s not ready. In my personal opinion, I still think Kellen’s got tremendous upside but to ask him to be that No. 2 quarterback, being a snap away on a team we feel very strongly about competing. I didn’t think that was fair to Kellen.”

Now, Fisher and Sumlin have the same record through their first 53 games in College Station, and the Aggies will not come close to meeting their lofty preseason goals. There will be snickers about Fisher’s giant contract, initially a 10-year, $75 million pact that the Aggies reupped and extended through 2031 at escalating amounts that reach nearly $10 million over the life of it.

As talking heads begin to discuss a failed tenure, by the letter of the contract, Fisher’s buyout number would shatter the existing high mark of Gus Malzahn ($21 million) if he’s fired in any year up to 2029. Per the contract, his buyout would pay out 25% of it within 60 days and the rest over the life of the deal.

The contract can be viewed as an anchor or an opportunity unique in today’s elite rung of college football programs. Simply because the amount is so prohibitively high, it could mean that A&M can’t fire him so there’s time for the very real roster-building to continue in College Station. Any Aggies fan or Fisher proponent will point to a No. 1 recruiting class just finalized in February 2022. Any detractor could say that Fisher—like any coach in the country experiencing a rough year—will have to rerecruit his entire roster due to the transfer portal looming in the background.

But that class also features the quarterback that Aggies fans hope is next in line: five-star recruit Conner Weigman. If he hits near his potential, then Fisher will be worth every pretty penny Texas A&M is paying him, and we’ll look back on his post-Winston era as a journey through the wilderness that ended up in the land of milk and honey. But if he doesn’t, he’ll add to the list that will further distance Fisher from the QB whisperer moniker he used to hold so tightly.