Texas A&M Football: Should Jimbo Fisher be utilizing the transfer portal more?

The Texas A&M football team, at least in recent years, has been known as one of the best recruiting destinations in the country. The Aggies have had top ten class after top ten class, capped off with the nation’s top class in 2022.

But one area that has been lacking for Jimbo Fisher and his staff has been the transfer portal, where A&M hasn’t brought in too many players in recent years. The sole incoming transfer to Texas A&M in the 2022 class is Max Johnson, LSU’s starting quarterback from 2021.

And while there hasn’t been a clear downside to this, it raises the question — should the Texas A&M football team be utilizing the transfer portal more effectively?

The transfer portal has completely changed but the Texas A&M football team’s philosophy has not

Realistically, there’s no reason to worry about the transfer portal right now. Texas A&M’s 2022 freshman class may finish as the greatest in recorded college football history — what is there to worry about, really?

The short answer is “nothing.” That said, it’s the offseason — what else are you going to do, read a really well-written article about the Senior Bowl?

The longer answer to that question is that we don’t know. Now that players are able to transfer and play immediately, the game has completely changed. Look at Michigan State’s Mel Tucker, who added 14 transfer players to his roster between the 2020 and 2021 seasons. This elevated his team to an 11-2 season after finishing just 2-5 a year prior.

For the sake of this article, I pose a simple question — what if the Texas A&M football team falls to eight or nine wins again in 2022?

At some point in time, Jimbo Fisher would have to modernize his philosophy. And in a sense, he has. There isn’t a team in the country that is making better use of new Name, Image, and Likeness rules than Fisher. According to some sources, Aggie boosters have spent upwards of $30 million on the team’s 2022 recruiting class.

But all of this is still in the experimental stage. Buying your way to the top may not be sustainable; A&M will figure out whether or not it is soon. If not, it may be time to reload and try using the transfer portal.

That said, there’s no reason to worry now. To answer the question posed in the title — no, not yet.