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ACADEMY TEXAS BOWL: OKLAHOMA STATE VS TEXAS A&M

December 8, 2019

Jimbo Fisher

Houston, Texas

Q. Mike Gundy just had a conference call with the media, and he was asked about playing you, and I'm going to read you his quote. He said, "I think they are the best 7-5 team in the history of the NCAA in my opinion. They have lost to No. 1; they have lost to No. 1; they have lost to No. 1; they lost to No. 4; and they lost to No. 12. That's their five losses. They are definitely a top 20 team." What do you think about those thoughts coming from Mike?
JIMBO FISHER: Well, I mean, we had a very tough schedule but you are what your record is and we've got to find a way to win those games but I do think we have a good football team and I appreciate Mike saying that, but at the same time we have to win those and get over those.

Like I say, they have a heck of a football team himself. He's built a great reputation there and a great winning tradition. He's won a lot of football games and had a lot of great years and I think one of the top coaches in the country ask is going to be a heck of a challenge to play them in the game. He does a tremendous job preparing his team for those.

Q. Are you going to be healthy?
JIMBO FISHER: We're fine. We're fine, relatively. We should expect everybody that is playing here and should be ready to go. There's no injuries that should cause anybody to miss any of the game.

Q. What do you think about playing in Houston where you get a lot of your recruiting in this area?
JIMBO FISHER: I think it's great. I think it's a great opportunity for our fans because it's very close. We can hopefully put a lot of Aggies in the stands, which I think would be awesome but also for our players and their families. That's not hard travel, even some of the guys from Dallas or different parts of Texas.

We have so many Texas kids, you know, that's very easy to travel down to Houston and be able to come see their kids play because sometimes when you play those Bowl games they have to go across the country and sometimes that's tough on families having to pay all those travel fees to get to see their children play.

But it's a great opportunity for us also to keep building our brand in Houston. It's very important, Houston. It has become one of the top cities in all of America as far as football players and recruiting and everybody in the world is down there recruiting. It's very important for us to play well and always recruit there and always have a great presence there.

Q. For people who live a hundred miles from Houston, it's not a very sexy destination, so how did you bring this up with your team to keep them from maybe overlooking it or being disappointed in the destination?
JIMBO FISHER: I don't think they are disappointed at all. I think Houston is one of the top three cities in this country. It's one of the three largest cities, a ton of things to do. A lot of kids have never been to Houston. Got to remember some of our kids are from Houston, but a lot of them aren't. I've been -- just like when we were in Florida. For us to go play in Miami or us to go play in Tampa or us to go play in Jacksonville, always had guys from there, but our kids were excited to play in any Bowl game.

Did they ever do it in a city as [sic] Houston with so many things to do for them pregame and before the game and opportunities for them to enjoy, but also to play in front of their home fans and play in a stadium like NRG and all that right there, I think those are all tremendous opportunities. We are not disappointed one bit.

We very excited and encouraged and you'd better be because you're playing a very good opponent in Oklahoma State.

Q. You've obviously seen a lot of great individual talent in SEC play, but Chuba Hubbard is one of the leading running backs in the country. What do you make of him and what makes him such a hard guy to go against?
JIMBO FISHER: Well, I think he has all the things. He has great balance, body control, explosive, great pad level, has the ability to make you miss and hit home runs and he can catch a football. He's a complete guy and he blocks well, and he's done it the whole time he's been at Oklahoma State.

He's going to be a tremendous challenge and they know how to you use him and utilize him and get him in space and do the right things; so it will be a huge challenge for our defense.

Q. How much of an advantage do you think it will be with Josh Henson on the staff and having been so fresh at Oklahoma State and having such good knowledge of what they have got?
JIMBO FISHER: I think as far as his ability to know players and what they can and cannot do, but players change. I've always found this true, there's always guys in this league that know about your players because somebody has always crossed over and coached and you had them for a year or two and they know the guys.

Sometimes knowing too much is detrimental, too, because guys change and players play and people can do that against you, too. I mean, it is, as far as Josh knowing the players and the people and all those things, I think it will be -- it's another good asset to have but you've got to be careful relying on that too much.

Q. To follow up on Josh Henson, can you talk about what it was that drew you to him when you had a vacancy to fill and what kind of job he's done this year?
JIMBO FISHER: And I've known him before, I've coached on staffs with him. He's very big picture oriented. Did a great job, coached tight ends, worked with line when I was at LSU when we were together and he worked with tackles and tight ends and things like that. Very knowledgeable himself. He was a lineman himself, has done a tremendous job at Oklahoma State.

They have won a lot of games and he's been a big part of that. He was a coordinator at Missouri and they went to two conference championships and so did a really good job and he's a really knowledgeable guy, not only for a line guy, but to understand the big picture of what's going on.

Q. One of the things Mike Gundy said at the end, he was asked about, I guess being nostalgic and the fact A&M used to be in the Big 12, and he made the comment, he wishes they were still in the Big 12; that they were a good fit in that conference. Obviously you've got a lot of history in the SEC. I'm guessing you feel pretty strong about Texas A&M and the Southeastern Conference?
JIMBO FISHER: Yeah, I do, but I understand where Mike's from because his whole time growing up A&M was there and this was a rivalry for him -- by location and everything here, it is a good fit. But I think getting to the SEC has been beneficial for A&M. It's let us grow and expand and not only expand there, asked and answered recruiting and expand a lot of different avenues which I think for the future and where this organization will go can be really beneficial, but both conferences are great conferences.

We love being in the SEC. Tremendous challenges. You know our schedule and who we play week-in and week-out just like the Big 12 is a great conference. It's still a good thing for us to be in the SEC.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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