Jimbo Fisher is building an FSU-like champion at Texas A&M.

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You can be an Xs and Os genius, you can have infallible schemes and put players in position to win games. But if you don’t’have Deshaun Watson or Trevor Lawrence or Cam Newton or Joe Burrow (and a bunch of other elite players), you’re more than likely not beating Saban and Alabama – and being a former assistant has nothing to do with it. But Fisher changed that dynamic this season. He beat Saban without a boatload of elite players.

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Hugh Freeze beat Saban twice – in back-to-back seasons! – but couldn’t recruit well enough to back it up (or without breaking NCAA rules), and now coaches at Liberty.

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If Fisher does it right, if he turns Texas A&M into a version of Florida State, he’ll get the Aggies to the College Football Playoff, and when playing for the national title, nearly every single player on the starting 24 will either be drafted by an NFL team or will have been on an NFL roster (like it did at FSU in 2013).

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Then there’s Kirby Smart, who has done nearly everything right since taking over at his alma mater Georgia, and no matter what he does – with the better team or with similar talent – he can’t beat Saban.

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Now, the kicker: Fisher beat an Alabama team that more than likely will win its second straight national title – and did it without the benefit of a similar or better roster. What happens when his recruiting catches Alabama?

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Because building means recruiting, and Fisher’s past 3 recruiting classes have all been among the top 10 according to composite rankings at 247Sports. His class this season – the class that will be nearly complete after the early signing period this week – could be the best in the nation. Better than Alabama, better than Georgia, better than Ohio State. So good, in fact, it more than likely was the reason he turned down a stupid-good offer from LSU to coach the Tigers. According the Action Network, LSU athletic director (and Fisher friend) Scott Woodward offered Fisher a fully guaranteed $125 million deal to leave Texas A&M for LSU.

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