The clamor for Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher to start Conner Weigman grows stronger every week. With good reason; the Aggies are last in the SEC in total offense, generating an average of 333.5 yards per game. That’s 112th nationally out of 131 FBS programs. It’s no surprise then that they also sit last in the conference in scoring offense, averaging 21.5 points per game, which ranks 111th in FBS.

The offense is not good, that much is obvious. There is no replacement for Ainias Smith. That also is obvious.

No, it’s not all on the quarterback, though by far it’s the position that stirs the drink – using tailgate jargon. So, naturally, if things aren’t going well on offense, the focus is on the quarterback. Or more specifically, his potential replacement.

Fisher indicated early this week that Haynes King is good to go for Saturday at South Carolina. King suffered a minor foot injury in the loss to Alabama, the Aggies’ most recent setback in their current 2-game losing streak that has evened the overall record for 2022 at 3-3 (1-2 in SEC play).

With the bye week, the redshirt sophomore has had time to heal and prepare for a Gamecocks team that is riding a 3-game winning streak and playing their best football of the season. It’s a classic matchup of 2 teams going in opposite directions.

So, King is good to go on Saturday. Sounds like we’ll have to wait a little longer to see what the 6-2, 208-pound 5-star recruit from Cypress, Texas can do at the college level.

I still maintain what I said nearly a month ago that if the Aggies go into the bye week at 3-3 and Fisher continues to use youth as a big reason (which he has), then it’s the perfect time to go all in on that youth and hand the quarterback duties over to Weigman.

Well, here we are, in that very scenario, but it doesn’t look as though Fisher agrees. Though he hasn’t made it official, by all indications, it looks like King will start Saturday and Weigman’s patience will be tested for another week.

King nearly pulled a Zach Calzada-like miracle in Tuscaloosa, coming up just 2 yards short of upsetting the Tide on their home field. He completed a career-high 25 passes, in 46 attempts, also a career-high, for 253 yards and 2 touchdowns with only 1 interception.

He looked like a leader on the field, and that as much as anything is what you want out of your quarterback. He certainly knows the system better than Weigman or LSU-transfer Max Johnson, who remains sidelined with a hand injury. This is King’s 3rd year in the system, though injuries have prevented him from carrying out the starting roles he has earned at the beginning of the past 2 seasons.

So, the “veteran” appears to be getting his chance to execute Fisher’s gameplan while Weigman continues to learn it. And maybe that’s not a bad thing for the true freshman given the inconsistent play of an offensive line that aside from redshirt junior RG Layden Robinson consists two-deep of freshmen and sophomores.

Fisher is doing a precarious juggling act with King and Weigman. We’ve seen what can happen in a quarterback room that’s one day filled with superior talent and the next day is left bare.

It was at the end of the 2015 season when superstar Kylar Murray followed Kyle Allen out the door. Two stud QBs transferred from Texas A&M within days of each other. It effectively marked the beginning of the end of the Kevin Sumlin era.

And that was before the introduction of the transfer portal, an era where we currently see players come and go like it’s a drive-through oil change.

So, Fisher must choose wisely here in his usage of both QBs. It’s not an easy task. Fisher has been around long enough to understand the situation. He’s also been around long enough to be considered “old school,” which could also work against him. Even Nick Saban had the vision to “upgrade” his philosophy of offense to keep up with today’s game.

It’s the game within the game on Saturday and through the final 5 games of the 2022 schedule. It will be interesting to see how Fisher handles it.