Bohls: As signs point to a rebound, is Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher's seat all that hot?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — If a grumbling fan base and recent on-the-field results are any indication, the sky may be falling at Texas A&M.

If it hasn’t already fallen, that is.

The concerns are prominent.

Jimbo Fisher’s not on a hot seat, but a nuclear one as the man with a $77 million buyout tries to fulfill the expectations of him. Where’s Devon Achane when you need one of the best running backs in the league? Phil Steele’s preseason magazine didn’t list a single Aggie among his first-team All-SEC offense and defense and had only two on his second team. Fisher’s still looking for double-digit victories after four seasons of four losses or more in five years. The Aggies didn’t even sniff a bowl game last year. Dare we mention the name Appalachian State?

That said, all that is so yesterday.

So we should all slow down before you start predicting the end of Fisher’s regime because there are enough strong signs that he could reverse the Aggies' recent downward trend.

This is 2023, and while maybe not all sins are forgiven — the least of which are last year’s 5-7 season and five-game losing streak — the future for A&M should be as promising as ever. Hey, the Aggies did crush West Division champion LSU 38-23 in the season finale.

For all the hand-wringing by their own fans, the demise of the Aggies has probably been vastly overstated. It’s important to remember it was not all that long ago this young decade that they were the No. 4 team in the country and on the fringe of reaching their first College Football Playoff in 2020 until they were edged out by brand name but less deserving Notre Dame.

Quite clearly Fisher’s sixth A&M team is flying under the radar, even though he doesn’t seem to mind and slightly disputes that notion.

“In the SEC, you’re always on the radar,” Fisher told a small private scrum of reporters Monday on the first day of SEC media days. “And whether I’m on the radar or under it, we don’t ever approach it any differently. You have pressure, and you deal with it.”

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That said, Fisher did suggest his Aggies have the proverbial “chip on the shoulder” and not surprisingly said: “We’re a team that has something to prove. I like the dynamic of our team.”

He should. And there is plenty to prove after losing to App State at home and struggling to wins over stumbling Miami and UMass.

There’s a lot more positive than negative for the Aggies these days, even if perhaps some outsiders — and Aggies — need reminding. Never mind that they haven’t won a conference title since 1998 in the Big 12.

Their coach has won a national championship, one of just five active coaches with one on their résumé, even though he’s in a league with two of them — Nick Saban and Kirby Smart.

They do still play in the Lone Star State, the hotbed of all recruiting hotbeds. And with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma in the league next fall, the Aggies probably won’t play Alabama every year as a permanent rival but every other year.

Those all have to be considered pluses, but a likely nine-SEC game model in 2025 and beyond allows for only three permanent rivals, and the Aggies figure to line up against Texas, LSU and Mississippi State annually.

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At Texas A&M it's maroon and white and lots of NIL green

If A&M isn’t in the top five of all colleges in NIL distributions, it’s in the top 10.

Bobby Petrino might be one of college football’s sketchiest characters, but he is a good offensive mind and has been hired by Fisher to be the play-caller, although most will believe the head coach will give up those duties when they see it.

Somewhere around 20 starters return to the team, including the entire offensive and defensive lines.

The Aggies are in a good place at quarterback with Conner Weigman. They went through three of them last year and have former LSU Tiger Max Johnston back, but Weigman threw 132 passes without an interception and passed for eight touchdowns.

“Hey, he could have been a second- or third-round baseball draftee as a shortstop,” Fisher said. “He’s that gifted.”

Texas’ entry into the SEC remains a year away, but the Aggies were asked about it. Ainias Smith, A&M’s electric wide receiver, was complimentary about the Longhorns and Sooners and said he remembered the rivalry with Texas.

“They’ve shown they’re at the top of their conference. I hope I’m not still around (because he’ll be NFL draft-eligible). But if I am, all I’ve got to say about that is …” Smith said, playfully flashing the Horns down.

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A&M might not be at the top of the college football mountain, but it’s sure not at the bottom. Some might argue that the top is even visible from the Aggies’ perch, but it’s been a long minute since 1939, when the school won its only football national title.

“A lot of people are not saying much about us right now,” said wide receiver/punt returner Ainias Smith, an electric player who complements sophomore Evan Stewart as a great one-two punch. “And I like that, when you’re under the table.”

All signs point to a bounce back up

It won’t be a shock to anyone if the Aggies successfully navigate the first half of the season with games against New Mexico, Miami, Louisiana-Monroe, Auburn and Arkansas and start out 5-0. That might be enough to elevate a sure-fire Top 25 team into the top 10 and once more raise expectations that Fisher might or might not meet.

Some do question his long-term commitment to the job. The aloof and at times prickly coach missed out on a session at the Texas High School Coaches Convention on Sunday, due to a “family commitment” that wasn’t explained further, and hasn’t exactly embraced the Houston Touchdown Club.

For now, he’s the Aggies' boss, and he continues to bring in talent, like the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class two years ago, even though a horde of the school’s plum crops have since left. Still, there’s plenty of talent on campus, and maybe A&M will make hay when less is expected of it.

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“Me personally, I’ve always felt like I was always the underdog since high school,” Smith said. “That always brought the tenacity out of me. But being an underdog is almost like a slap in the face to me. I like to just go ahead and prove people wrong.”

Hey, all three of the Aggies players on hand broke out the dark shades for their interviews, uh, indoors at the Grand Hyatt Hotel.

“You come here, you got to have some swag,” defensive tackle McKinnley Jackson said. “You look good, you feel good. You feel good, you play good.”

And the Aggies were feeling it Monday.

Covering SEC media days

All 14 schools are participating in the annual SEC media days this week in Nashville, Tenn. Follow the weeklong coverage of American-Statesman staffers Kirk Bohls and Thomas Jones on hookem.com.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Fisher looking to appease fans, restore winning ways after losing year