Aggies' Jimbo Fisher Giving Carries To 'Winning Football' Tailbacks
The Texas A&M Aggies will have their third new starting running back in as many years in 2023.
Former Aggies running back De'Von Achane has moved on to the NFL and now head coach Jimbo Fisher's job is finding his replacement. But, that doesn't mean he will turn to one specific player to carry the load, and while he would like depth, Fisher said sometimes you need to ride the "hot" hand.
"It's determined by how many guys deserve to play and have earned the right to go play and not just play, but play winning football," Fisher said. "Sometimes you have two, three, maybe even four. Sometimes you'll have one and maybe possibly two. It's all based off the guys you have."
He's also had a 1,000-yard rusher in four of the five seasons he's been at the helm with Isaiah Spiller's 2019 campaign falling 54 yards short of the millenary mark.
Last season marked the first in Fisher's tenure that at least two tailbacks didn't tote it at least 70 times. He's fed multiple backs because of the depth and physicality of Southeastern Conference defenses.
Fisher pointed to running backs' variability in workload capabilities as another reason he could feel the need to use multiple ball-carriers, differentiating between carry counts of his old players like Trayveon Williams, DeVonta Freeman, Dalvin Cook and Achane among others.
"It varies," Fisher said. "But, you'd like to have a bunch of them because nicks and knacks and getting banged up at that position kind of goes with territory."
Amari Daniels, Le'Veon Moss and Rueben Owens are the three candidates to take the reins in Achane's absence, but how many carries each will get has yet to be seen.
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