With the LSU Tigers being crowned national champions over a month ago, you would think that the college football world would be at a standstill right now. But in an industry that brings in millions of dollars annually, the grind never truly stops. Since the national championship game on January 13 in New Orleans, there has been the final push for the final recruiting rankings, numerous coaching changes, and several star players declaring for the NFL draft. Instead of trying to encapsulate a busy start to the 2020 year in a formatted article, I decided to just publish a string of semi-coherent thoughts about what might be in store for the Aggies and college football in general in 2020.
- LSU capped off their 15-0 perfect season just about 90 minutes from their campus in spectacular fashion. Their incredible run has to be mentioned in the conversation as one of the greatest teams/season ever. While the defense was not dominant, the offense was incredible and could not be stopped by anyone. And the defense played its best from mid-November on as they only allowed 18 points per game over their last five contests (two of which were against top five offenses in Clemson and Oklahoma). With the departure of Heisman winning quarterback Joe Burrow, offensive mastermind Joe Brady (Carolina Panthers), longtime defensive coordinator Dave Aranda (Baylor head coach), and 16 starters either graduating or declaring early for the NFL draft, Coach Ed Orgeron will have his hands full trying to replicate the success of 2019. Did he catch lightning in a bottle with a perfect blend of Joe Burrow and Joe Brady? Or will he take a step back now that all that is left from this dream team he assembled is his elite recruiting skills and incoherent Cajun babbling?
- There have been 23 coaching changes from the middle of the 2019 season until now. With how much money is invested in the sport and the amount of revenue a college can see from a successful football program, athletic departments are quicker to pull the trigger on a failed coaching experiment (like Chad Morris at Arkansas). For the 2020 season, there will be four new head coaches in the SEC. The most surprising to me is the fact that Arkansas gave Sam Pittman the job with no experience beyond being simply a position coach. He jumped up at least two rungs on the career ladder as he went from offensive line coach at Georgia to head coach at Arkansas. The Razorbacks are hoping that this move will bring them success like it has with Clemson (Dabo Sweeney) and LSU (Ed Orgeron) who were promoted from position coaches straight to head coaches. I think it will be rough sledding in Fayetteville for Hog fans for the foreseeable future. I think my favorite hire (besides Mike Norvell to Florida State from Memphis) was Mississippi State finally giving Mike Leach a chance at a big time college with great resources. It will be interesting to see how his Air Raid offense translates to the SEC and if he can recruit well enough to turn things around in Starkville. I don’t think he can take the program to quite the heights that Dan Mullen had it, but this was a great response to the splash hire that arch-rival Ole Miss made by nabbing Lane Kiffin from Florida Atlantic. Will the folks in Starkville be content with 7-5 or 8-4 seasons (occasionally making a run at 9-3) if it means beating Ole Miss more often than not?
- Speaking of coaching changes, Jimbo Fisher had quite the overhaul on his staff since the Texas Bowl victory about six weeks ago. The departed coaches include linebackers coach Bradley Dale Peveto, running back coach Jay Graham (same position with his alma mater, Tennessee), defensive backs coach Mo Linguist (same position with the Dallas Cowboys), and tight end coach Joe Jon Finley (same position at Ole Miss). Throw in the fact that the head coach for the Aggies lost his director of recruiting (Austin Thomas took a general manager job with Baylor’s athletic program) and that is quite a bit of coaching turnover. Jimbo also had to hold off Penn State courting defensive line coach Elijah Robinson to come back to his alma mater. The key difference between Fisher and previous regimes in Aggieland however, is the fact that he views these coaching changes as unique opportunities to upgrade his staff. He quickly filled his linebacker coaching vacancy with Tyler Santucci, the linebackers coach from Wake Forest. He is recognized as a young up-and-comer (similar to Mo Linguist and Elijah Robinson) and was a longtime assistant for current defensive coordinator Mike Elko. Jimbo then backfilled the defensive backs coaching vacancy with T.J. Rushing from Florida State (came over with Mike Norvell from Memphis). The two best hires this offseason though both come from a Georgia football program that has put together four straight top three recruiting classes and have been to four straight SEC championships. Jimbo reunited with James Coley, who coached under him on his national championship team at Florida State. Coley served as the offensive coordinator for Georgia this past season but will be the tight ends coach here in Aggieland. Most importantly though, he is especially known for his elite recruiting skills. Throw in the fact that Jimbo poached the director of recruiting (Marshall Malchow) from Georgia and it was a pretty decent offseason for the Aggies.
- The Maroon and White put an exclamation point on their sixth ranked recruiting class on National Signing Day by winning a head-to-head recruiting battle against Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide. The Aggies got the signature of borderline five star defensive tackle McKinnley Jackson out of Mississippi. By finishing the cycle with the sixth ranked class to join up with the third ranked class from 2019, the talent level is being upgraded in a big way. This year’s class might be better as the number of top-100 national prospects is actually greater in 2020 than 2019. The Aggies are right there in the thick of things in terms of recruiting talent that is on the level of Clemson, Alabama, Georiga, and Ohio State (you know, the playoff contenders year in and year out). And Jimbo is doing all of this off the back of a 9-4 season and an 8-5 season against a historically difficult schedule. Imagine what he can do once he starts winning 10+ games most years.
- The way-too-early 2020 rankings have Texas A&M once again ranked in the top 15 (still behind Texas in most rankings, imagine that). A large part of this has to do with the Aggies returning somewhere around 18 starters next year and having a much easier schedule. Each year, Bill Connelly of ESPN does a great write-up of returning production and predictive analysis based a number of different factors (returning offensive yardage percentage, returning defensive metrics, etc.). With a senior quarterback and so many returning starters, the Aggies rank 16th in terms of returning production, higher than any team on our schedule next season. Our two toughest game next year are the last two games, but, LSU checks in at 127th (out of 130) and Alabama is 88th. Now these two programs have been recruiting at an elite level for several years and Alabama is used to just reloading with top tier talent every year, but they will both be replacing the best quarterbacks in their school’s history. The other difficult game on our schedule will be Auburn in week seven. They have to replace all five offensive lineman and several starters on their stalwart defense. With all the talent we have returning, this is the year Aggie football needs to take that next step. It is time for Jimbo Fisher to begin turning these lofty recruiting rankings into wins on the gridiron. In my way-too-early record prediction for 2020, I would lean more towards 9-3 for this team due to inconsistent QB and offensive line play. Shore those two areas up (which some fresh faces that bring speed to the offense might help) and the Aggies might be able to win 10 regular season games for the first time since 2012, when Johnny Manziel was the quarterback.
Quick Whits 