COLLEGE STATION – The Texas A&M Aggies kicked off their first fall camp under head coach Jimbo Fisher Thursday in College Station. Fisher left Florida State for A&M this past winter, reportedly agreeing to a 10-year, $75 million contract.
"For the most part, I thought effort -- passion to play -- I saw a lot of want-to," said Fisher after practice.
"We gotta get better in execution, but a lot of the older guys you saw had a lot better feel on day one than they did in spring."
A&M is hoping Fisher -- who led FSU to the 2013 national championship -- can help return the Aggies to upper echelon of the SEC. TAMU hasn't finished higher than fourth in the SEC West since 2012 -- the year Johnny Manziel won the Heisman Trophy.
Just like their rivals in Austin, one of the biggest stories in Aggie camp will revolve around starting quarterback. Fisher acknowledged redshirt sophomore Nick Starkel and sophomore Kellen Mond are ahead of the rest of the group right now, and will split first-team reps evenly for the time being.
"They gotta win the team," Fisher said about what it will take for either Starkel or Mond to claim the starting job.
"They gotta win the team and get the team to have confidence in them that that's who they want to be their quarterback, and then play with great consistency, and make plays with the ball and take cae of it when they need to."
The Aggies begin the 2018 season Thursday, August 30th at Kyle Field against FCS Northwestern State.