Jimbo Fisher screams. He chides and derides. He rarely subsides.
Transforming Texas A&M from a football team geared for finesse to one of physicality is his top priority. Last spring he started the process of toughening up the Aggies.
Fisher cursed. He demanded. He reprimanded.
He did everything but take the Aggies to Junction. He even used the ultimate football insult. He branded the 7-6 team he’d inherited as “soft.”
“It was eye-opening and made me want to practice even harder than I had been.” Texas A&M junior Erik McCoy said on Monday to a throng of reporters at Southeastern Conference Football Media Days. “You don’t have an option besides to believe it. We had to take that to our minds and to our hearts and we had to want to be tougher. I never thought of myself as soft, (but) we’ve come a long way under coach Fisher and we’re still making strides in the toughness part of the game.”
Apparently, great strides were needed.
In recent seasons critics like college football analyst Booger McFarland often derided the Aggies as talented, but soft.
“I told Jimbo point-blank — the same thing I told you guys about Texas A&M the last several years — A&M is a soft program,” McFarland said last February on the Paul Finebaum Show. “Jimbo looked me in the eye and was like, ‘You know what, you’re damn right. We are soft, but I’m going to change that.’”
Fisher appeared to deny that when asked about it on Monday. “I just said we're going to play tough,” Fisher said in a Media Day press conference. “How they played (last season) I have no idea. I have no idea and again did not refer to anything back.”
Fisher probably didn't intend that statement to be made public. Coaches rarely criticize their predecessor’s program. McCoy, though, confirmed Fisher thought the Aggies were soft. Apparently, Fisher thought it almost daily last spring.
“He told us that after every practice,” McCoy said. “He told us we were soft and that we have no option but to get tougher.”
Whether or not Fisher thought A&M was soft is really irrelevant. What’s important is whether he thinks the Aggies can toughen up this season. A&M faces Clemson and Alabama in September. Road trips to Auburn and Mississippi State loom later, and they’re still looking for their first SEC win over LSU.
At least, A&M doesn’t have to face Georgia. Well, not until 2019, anyway.
That’s a lot of tough competition. If the Aggies are just as tough they could make a legitimate run at nine victories or more this season.
If not, they could stay mired in their recent mediocrity.
“We have to play with tremendous physicality,” Fisher said. “I think the teams in this league that win, the teams that win national championships, and the success we had at Florida State, that's how we played.
“You’ve got to be able to run the football in this league, and you got to be able to stop the run. You have to be able to create big plays. You have to be tough and skilled. Because you're tough don't mean you can't be skilled. Because you're skilled doesn't mean you can't be tough. I think there's a great combination there to be able to learn and be able to do that.”
That’s hard to argue.
It’s no coincidence that national champion Alabama, SEC champion Georgia and West Division winner Auburn all ranked among the Top 5 in SEC rushing offense and rushing defense. Meanwhile, A&M was 10th in rushing offense and ninth in rushing defense.
“We get caught up because of all of the spread stuff and going fast and all of this,” Fisher said. “You still have pads on. You still have to tackle. You still have to block. You still have to be physical in how you run routes and how you catch balls and how you just do everything. I think there's a toughness factor that you have to have and a level that we have to get to.”
Fisher’s players got the message.
“The things that coach Fisher put into place — toughness, effort and discipline — we’re going to start building on those things and build together as brothers and have a great season,” junior running back Trayveon Williams said. “He makes practice tough. He makes workouts tough. We had a tough spring and a tough summer. We have our hardest days during the week so on Saturday it’s going to be easy.
Well... “easy" might not be the correct adjective.
“In this league every week you’re going to play somebody that’s mean, nasty and violent,” McCoy said.
The Aggies must be just as mean, nasty and violent. Fisher demands it.
“Practice that way. Live that way. Work out that way," Fisher said. "A man don’t think he’s tough, a man don’t live tough, a man won’t play tough. It’s that simple.”
This is not the same as when Sumlin first came here. Nice try. Sumlin had nowhere near this mentality of toughness.who?mikejones said:
You could just recycle all the articles from all new coaching changes.
Its the same stuff for every change at every program every time.
who?mikejones said:
Yeah, sumlin didnt address toughness as much as other coaches but...
Larry jackson. Black death. Etc. There were many articles about how jacksons training would end collaspes and so on. Its in the same vein as toughness but with a slightly different spin.
david1968 said:
Sumlin talked a lot about stamina, and Sherman's teams having second half collapses. Maybe not a "soft versus tough" story line, but certainly its first cousin.
who?mikejones said:
I dont disagree one bit about sumlin.
My only point is that at this time of the year journalists could simply reuse any article from any year and it would practically the same. i bet you could go back to when mack brown left and charlie started, remove their names and team names and you wouldnt be able to guess of it was about the horns or the aggies. The only give away would be core values.
Coach and media speak in the preseason cover maybe 5 or 6 topics. Even less if its a new coach.
