Texas A&M football: Projecting the 2019 quarterback depth chart
By Jeff Shull
Texas A&M football has a few moving pieces at quarterback in the offseason; here is the projected depth chart for the position in 2019.
Jimbo Fisher was a hot commodity in his final years at Florida State thanks in part to the fact he won a national championship as a head coach, but also for his years of demonstrating the ability to get everything and more out of the quarterbacks he is coaching. This no doubt played a major role in Texas A&M football‘s interest.
After coaching quarterbacks for Terry Bowden at Auburn and at Cincinnati, Fisher joined Nick Saban at LSU in 2000. While there, the Tigers won a national championship in 2003 with Matt Mauck. Although he left after the 2006 season, Fisher had his hand in coaching up Matt Flynn for four years. Flynn went on to win the 2007 National Championship with the Tigers.
Although a highly touted recruit, Fisher also won a national championship as a head coach at Florida State with Jameis Winston. He also coached Jamarcus Russell, Christian Ponder and EJ Manuel, each of whom became first round picks in the NFL Draft.
All these quarterbacks have one thing in common: they didn’t succeed in the NFL. Whether it’s the simple fact college quarterbacks don’t always translate to the NFL, or these players were actually much better with Jimbo coaching them, they couldn’t cut it without Fisher. He is known as a quarterback whisperer of sorts. It is for this reason Fisher will likely attract some of the better quarterbacks high school has to offer.
Fisher choosing Kellen Mond to start the 2018 season over Nick Starkel was a mild surprise. Starkel seemed perfect to drop right into Fisher’s pro-style system and hit the ground running. It became clear when the season started how much Mond had progressed as a passer and obviously offered way more as a runner.
The fallout from this decision was Starkel putting his name in the NCAA transfer portal this week. He will graduate in June and play out the final two years of his eligibility elsewhere. It clears things up for the Aggies in 2019, but leaves a potentially huge gap in talent from starter to backup.
Here’s how I see the quarterback depth chart playing out in 2019.