re: Jimbo Fisher Staff Thread

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Liucci 7:40p

And now it's officially 'go time.' As Jimbo Fisher assembled his staff, he slowly but surely added one known commodity after another - proven, oftentimes big-name veterans from power programs known for both their recruiting prowess and ability to develop talent. The Aggie head coach could have gone the same route with his final staff hire, as the Ags interviewed and talked with several interested secondary coaches from some of college football's biggest programs...from the Pac-12 to the SEC and several stops in between. However, the assistant who impressed Fisher and newly-hired defensive coordinator Mike Elko most of all was Minnesota's Maurice Linguist. He interviewed in College Station this weekend and wowed the Aggies to the point that the first-year A&M head coach saw enough to end his coast-to-coast search, hiring the Mesquite, Texas native officially completing his staff.

Linguist is different than most of Fisher's hires in that he's not a big name from a power program. Rather, he's a young, up-and-coming assistant who arrives in College Station with the reputation as an outstanding recruiter with strong Texas ties and an extremely knowledgeable, high-energy defensive backs coach. That combination is why the former Baylor defensive back (he was the Bears' Defensive MVP as a senior strong safety in 2006) has made a rapid ascent up the coaching ranks over the past three seasons and why many believe he'll be a P5 defensive coordinator in relatively short order.

After serving as passing game coordinator at Buffalo in 2013, Linguist made the move to Iowa State, where he served in the same role during the '14 and '15 seasons. He left for Mississippi State in 2016 to coach safeties and, after just one season, was hired by first-year head coach P.J. Fleck at Minnesota to coach the Gopher secondary. Last month, Fleck added the 'Assistant Head Coach' title to Maurice's increasingly-impressive resume.

Today, he's officially an Aggie and will hit the ground running this week, as Fisher and Co. hope to close out the 2018 recruiting cycle with an attention-grabbing closing kick.

Because the Aggies seem on track to reel former commit and Cy-Springs standout Leon O'Neal back in shortly and Isaac Taylor-Stuart is the only other defensive back currently on the A&M radar, where Linguist's presence on the recruiting trail will really begin to be felt is with the Class of 2019, when the Mesquite High product should prove to be a real asset in the D-FW and East Texas regions while sporting the Maroon & White.

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up and comer on the staff

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