Jimbo Fisher shares what he’s looking for during Texas A&M’s QB competition

Texas A&M is ranked No. 6 in the AP Top 25 preseason poll, but it also still doesn’t have a starting quarterback. With Kellen Mond gone, the Aggies are trying to decide who will be under center for them this fall.

There are 2 options: redshirt sophomore Zach Calzada or redshirt freshman Haynes King. And they’re currently battling it out in Texas A&M camp.

How will head coach Jimbo Fisher decide who wins the job? Well, he broke down exactly what he looks for during a preseason quarterback competition during an appearance on College Sports on SiriusXM Radio while talking with EJ Manuel and Jacob Hester, two of Fisher’s former players.

“You know this and you hear me say it a zillion times, quarterbacking still gets down to two things: decision-making and accuracy,” Fisher said. “I mean, at the end of the day, you’ve got to be able to make decisions with the ball based on down and distance, based on time on the clock, based on field — you know, the same play, EJ, and all those different scenarios based on down and distance, field position, time on the clock could mean three different things.

“And being able to process the information, manage the game and then, I don’t care what kind of arm you got, can you hit what the heck you throw at? Can it be complete and is it catchable? And then you get into the other things — how competitive is he? He’s intelligent and he can make decisions, but is he competitive? How does he affect his teammates and the processing of information? And then you get into does he have athleticism and can you use that? Is that something else you can use?”

While every player is different, Fisher believes that being a successful quarterback comes down to many of the same traits it always has. But he also thinks his opinion of the player isn’t the only one that matters.

“If those qualities exist, you put them into your offense,” Fisher said. “We have a large volume of offense, as you know, but the reason I do it is I like to have different things, try to feature different players based off of their strengths and weaknesses. …

“But at the end of the day, it’s decision-making and accuracy and how does he affect his teammates? Offensively and defensively, how do the guys feel about him? I say the team picks the quarterback most of the time, I don’t. I mean, how they play and who they want in there and what they do.”

?The CFB offseason brings us position battles and @AggieFootball has a good one at the QB spot. What does Head Coach Jimbo Fisher look for?

He discussed with two former players of his, @EJManuel3 and @JacobHester18#GigEm ? pic.twitter.com/rZJUVCvtt8

— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) August 17, 2021

Either Calzada or King will be the Aggies’ starting quarterback when the 2021 season begins. Texas A&M is set to kick things off with a home matchup against Kent State on Sept. 4 at 8 p.m. ET on ESPNU.

Jake Rill

Jake Rill contributes to news coverage for Saturday Down South. He has covered the SEC since 2016.