Texas A&M football: 2019 team still earning all kinds of respect

Texas A&M football has been one of the most hyped teams this offseason, and another publication put them among teams who could win the 2020 playoff.

Ever since the hire of Jimbo Fisher away from Florida State, where he routinely recruited top ranked classes and won a national championship in 2013, Texas A&M football has been one of the more hyped teams in the country. Aggie fans have driven this hype train, believing Fisher would take the talent Kevin Sumlin recruited and actually develop them into an excellent roster.

The Aggies were pegged by some in the media as a dark horse contender in the SEC for the 2018 season. Nobody was picking them to win it outright, how could they with so much talent on Alabama’s roster, but most recognized Fisher would be able to get more out of the roster than Sumlin ever did.

Fisher went 9-4, beating LSU in tremendous fashion and dominating in a bowl game victory over NC State, and this momentum has carried over into the offseason. Everywhere you look, the way-too-early Top 25 has the Aggies in the Top 15, and some have them in the Top 10. The latest publication to fuel the hype train was Bleacher Report, which put them in a list of 10 teams that could win the playoff in the 2019 season.

Here’s a snippet of what they said:

"Coach Jimbo Fisher’s youngsters went toe-to-toe at Kyle Field against Clemson in 2018, and they will travel to take on the Tigers in South Carolina early in ’19, as well. If they win that game, it could catapult them to massive things.Yes, that’s a massive “if,” but Clemson will be breaking in a lot of new defenders, and A&M with quarterback Kellen Mond will be a problem for a lot of teams next year.. . .This is a budding program, and while it may not be quite ready to do the biggest of big things in 2019, it’s also one that has enough talent to make a run."

The biggest obstacle of making the playoff is Texas A&M plays the (almost) consensus Top 3 teams in the country in 2019, two of those on the road. They could win at Clemson if they are catching them at the right time, but then they have to face Alabama and finish the season at Georgia and at LSU (who could be a Top 10 team as well).

Even if the 2019 roster is improved, it would take a special effort to get through that slate undefeated or with just one loss.

Kevin Sumlin wasn’t able to get Top 10 recruiting classes in his last three years and Fisher obviously could not in 2018 as he was picking up the pieces from Sumlin’s departure. As much as development plays a part in creating a championship roster, accumulating talent is massively important as well, and the likes of Alabama, LSU and Georgia have done it for years.

Fisher is playing catch up from a talent stand point. He signed the highest rated class in Aggie history in his first full recruiting cycle and has some elite talent committed for 2020 as well. The talent is coming.

The 2019 team could be one of the best in the country, and winning the whole damn thing is certainly possible, but it would take a herculean performance with this year’s schedule.