Months after Alabama's Nick Saban accused Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher of buying "every player" in his No. 1-ranked recruiting class, Fisher appears to be taking a stand against college football's ever-evolving system of transfers and name, image and likeness (NIL) deals.
A day after National Signing Day left Texas A&M with only the 14th-highest rated recruiting class according to 247 Sports, Fisher railed against the current reality of acquiring talent.
"It's an absolute joke that's ruining college football," Fisher said of the system he labeled "play-for-play." He alleged tampering by other schools in the transfer portal.
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Fisher pointed to recent comments by UTSA coach Jeff Traylor, who asked publicly how he can report major programs for trying to "poach" his players.
"All of a sudden everybody's robbing (UTSA's) players, taking their players," Fisher said, calling the system "utterly ridiculous."
Fisher isn't the first coach this week to make accusations of tampering. Both Pitt's Pat Narduzzi and North Carolina's Mack Brown accused multiple schools of offering millions of dollars to Tar Heels QB Drake Maye in an attempt to convince him to transfer.
Both Narduzzi and Brown refused to name the schools they believed were tampering, but contacting Maye would have been a violation of rules since he never entered the transfer portal.
Fisher likewise didn't accuse any school speifically of tampering, but he did hit back at Saban in May by implying he had violated rules.
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"Go dig into his past, or anybody who's ever coached with him. You can find out anything you want to find out — what he does and how he does it. And it's despicable," Fisher said.
Saban made headlines in the spring when he took a direct shot at Fisher's integrity, saying, "A&M bought every player on their team. Made a deal for name, image and likeness. We didn’t buy one player."
It's not difficult to see how these accusations work. Saban accused Fisher of wrongdoing when Alabama's recruiting lagged behind Texas A&M, and Fisher is now accusing others of wrongdoing when Texas A&M's recruiting lags behind many other prominent programs. The Aggies went 5-7 this past season despite their talent.
While Fisher flatly denied paying anyone in his top-ranked recruiting class, The Athletic reported in April that Texas A&M had formed a collective called "The Fund," which is "run by some of Texas A&M's biggest donors" to help the Aggies keep up with other programs in luring talent through NIL deals.
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While schools aren't supposed to directly make offers that include NIL deals, it's nearly impossible to police the system. Fisher's gripe seems to be along those lines; he said Wednesday the biggest problem is there is "no consistency" in the rules.
Texas A&M signed only one five-star player in the 2023 class, according to 247 Sports, running back Rueben Owens. The Aggies landed eight five-star players in 2022.
