“I expect it’s going to be pretty close to normal”

  Texas A&M Head Football Coach Jimbo Fisher remains optimistic he will see mask-wearing crowds at Kyle Field when the Aggies take the field against the Abilene Christian Wildcats on Sept. 5.

  “I am very encouraged because our governor has opened up outside sports to 50 percent now, I mean this early” Fisher said. “I expect it’s going to be pretty close to normal.”

  Fisher told Chancellor John Sharp the players are as “ready to go as I’ve ever seen them,” after they returned to campus June 9 for the first time since the pandemic struck.

  Quarterback Kellen Mond is also optimistic, despite the lack of spring football and summer training.

  “Obviously, we would have liked to go through spring ball and not miss some of these summer workouts. But like I said, you can control what you can control, and I think we will be ready to go by Week 1,” Mond told 12th Man Production’s Will Johnson.

  Fisher and Mond are joined on the latest episode of “COVID-19: The Texas A&M University System Responds” by Athletic Director Ross Bjork, lead team physician Dr. JP Bramhall and Dr. Ryan Pittsinger, director of counseling and sport psychology. They each offer a unique perspective on how the pandemic has affected Texas A&M’s elite athletes.

  The show will air at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 18, 2020 on KAMU-TV in College Station and on other Texas public television affiliates. (Check local listings in Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Waco and Amarillo.) It also will be available on the The Texas A&M University System’s YouTube channel, https://www.tamus.edu/system-videos/

About The Texas A&M University System

  The Texas A&M University System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation with a budget of $6.3 billion. The System is a statewide network of 11 universities; a comprehensive health science center; eight state agencies, including the Texas Division of Emergency Management; and the RELLIS Campus. The Texas A&M System educates more than 151,000 students and makes more than 22 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year. System-wide, research and development expenditures exceeded $1 billion in FY 2019 and helped drive the state’s economy.