In the blockbuster coaching move of this college football season, Jimbo Fisher is leaving Florida State for Texas A&M. What’ll that mean for both programs?
Jimbo Fisher had huge talent advantages over most of the ACC. Look at his schedule now.
Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Georgia ... and Clemson too?
Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports
It’s hard to say now. But for Fisher himself, it’ll mean playing in a different league and tapping into a different recruiting base. We’ll have to wait to see how that goes.
The coach at FSU “gets to play an ACC schedule with SEC players,” one college coach told Tomahawk Nation.
Overseeing one of two ACC programs in Florida — and one of the most prestigious programs in the country — Fisher’s been able to load up his FSU rosters with the type of athlete who’s available in far higher supply in and around Florida than anywhere else. The Noles had pulled ahead of Florida and Miami in recent years as the state’s top recruiter, by far.
That’s been a huge part of FSU’s success for years. The Noles are more athletic than almost anybody, and it’s not a coincidence that the teams to beat them before their 2017 downturn have been the ones to catch up to them in speed and open-field agility. Clemson’s roster is very SEC-quality, and South Florida’s own Lamar Jackson has been crucial to Louisville beating FSU the last two seasons.
And it’s not just that Florida has better skill-position weapons than other states. Florida just has better players. It’s just about dead even with Texas in total blue-chip recruits over the last five years, and those two have produced more than any other state.
Now, Fisher’s going to have much less of a talent edge.
Texas A&M is one of the better recruiting teams in the country, but it’s not the same perennial top-five talent accumulator that FSU has become. Fisher will take over about the No. 15 roster in the country, according to the 247Sports Team Talent Composite.
But while FSU was long the best recruiter in the ACC, A&M isn’t close to that in the SEC.
- Alabama’s Alabama.
- Auburn and LSU generally are ahead of the Aggies, too, and that’s just on the West side of the conference.
- Fisher’s A&M has to go to Georgia in 2019. Georgia and Florida are going to field uber-talented teams every year under Kirby Smart and Dan Mullen.
- Oh, and Fisher’s not even getting away from Clemson. The Aggies have a home-and-home series with the Tigers set for the next two seasons.
In 2018, he’ll have to face Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney in mid-September alone.
That doesn’t mean this won’t work.
It just means Fisher won’t go into every season as one of two or three favorites to win his league. He’ll still have tons of talented players and plenty of chances to build a legacy, but he’ll have to go through a handful of the best programs in the country every year to do it.
His work is cut out for him.
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