Swings and misses have made Jimbo Fisher a quarterback whiffer at Texas A&M

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Jimbo Fisher arrived at Texas A&M nearly five years ago with the reputation of a quarterback whisperer. That repute has unraveled into more of “quarterback whiffer” five scholarship quarterbacks into his A&M tenure, with another potential redeemer grasping the status of To Be Determined.

A large part of Fisher’s current mess is his misevaluation of the players he’s pegged to run his complex offense, a smaller part is plain poor luck. In the summer of 2021 Fisher pledged that he had two future pro quarterbacks to choose from in Zach Calzada and Haynes King.

“Zach is an NFL talent, (and) Haynes is an NFL talent,” Fisher vowed.

King has thrown eight interceptions to six touchdowns in four career starts entering Saturday night’s A&M game at top-ranked Alabama. The erratic Calzada has since transferred to Auburn, where he is a backup.

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Fisher inherited the quarterback he’s had the most success with to date at A&M: Kellen Mond, who’s in his second season as a backup in the NFL. Mond started a season under then-A&M coach Kevin Sumlin in 2017 and started Fisher’s first three seasons at A&M, in leading the Aggies to a 9-1 record and No. 4 ranking in the final Associated Press poll in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

A&M fans began learning perhaps not to take Fisher’s gleaming reviews of the quarterbacks he’s recruited to College Station to heart with the addition of James Foster a short time after Fisher arrived from Florida State in December 2017. Fisher brought Foster onboard from Montgomery, Ala., in the class of 2018.

“He not only has physical ability, but an ability to impress his will upon others,” Fisher said at the time.

Foster redshirted in 2018, played sparingly in 2019 and opted out of the 2020 season. He’s now trying to impress his will upon others as a backup quarterback at Charlotte.

Fisher a year later again bypassed in-state talent to nab Calzada from Sugar Hill, Ga., but only one moment of the Calzada era was especially sweet for the Aggies: He led A&M to a 41-38 upset of then-No. 1 Alabama a year ago at Kyle Field.

Besides that top moment of Fisher’s five-year run at A&M, the Aggies finished out of the AP top 25 at 8-4 last season with Calzada ranked 13th in the 14-team SEC in completion percentage and 12th in the league in passing yards and quarterback rating.

Enter King, who in August 2021 beat out Calzada in what Fisher described as a tight quarterback competition. Alas, King broke his leg in Week 2 of last season against Colorado in Denver and was replaced by Calzada.

King again won the quarterback battle in August camp this year, this time over Max Johnson, a junior transfer from LSU, where he started last year. But King was largely ineffective in cranking up the A&M offense to start this season, and a desperate Fisher replaced him with Johnson in Week 3 against Miami and following a stunning Week 2 home loss to Appalachian State, the low point of the Fisher tenure.

Johnson, son of Super Bowl-winning quarterback Brad Johnson, showed the most poise and fire of any quarterback leading the Aggies since Mond, and directed the Aggies to narrow victories over Miami and Arkansas when both were ranked in the top 15.

Johnson, too, is the first A&M quarterback since Mond to visit with media covering the program and provide insight into what a quarterback learns from Fisher, who is the quarterbacks coach and who also calls plays on offense. Calzada repeatedly declined and King has declined interview opportunities — and the chance to be a face of the offense and of the program.

Johnson struggled last weekend while trying to engineer Fisher’s intricate offense in the Aggies’ 42-24 loss at Mississippi State, however, and suffered a hand injury in the fourth quarter. Fisher replaced Johnson with King, who guided the Aggies on two touchdown drives while also throwing two interceptions in the final quarter of the blowout loss.

Johnson might be out for the rest of the season, while King has been unpredictable like Calzada before him. Meantime, the class of 2021 quarterback signee, Eli Stowers, has dealt with a shoulder injury while at A&M and has drifted between quarterback and tight end in the program.

That’s where true freshman Conner Weigman perhaps comes in — as Fisher’s first five-star recruit at quarterback since coming to A&M. Jameis Winston was a five-star signee with Fisher at FSU in 2012, and wound up leading the Seminoles to the 2013 national title while winning the Heisman Trophy, the primary highlights of Fisher’s quarterback whisperer résumé.

Weigman had not earned any snaps entering Saturday night’s game at Alabama, but he’s considered the future of the program (just like Foster, Calzada and King before him).

“He’s knowledgeable and sits right by me on the plane when we travel,” a glowing Fisher said of Weigman, the No. 22 overall player in the nation in the class of 2022 via 247Sports. “He’s … really progressing and understands everything; what we’re doing and how we’re doing it and is getting better and better. He’s going to be a very good player.

“We feel comfortable with him in the game, and can play very well with Conner.”

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