Fisher sheds light on decisions of Blades and Tucker to opt out – 247Sports

Earlier this week, Texas A&M cornerback Elijah Blades announced that he was opting out of the 2020 college football season. It was a bit of a curious move as the NCAA has ruled that this season does not count toward eligibility.

Blades was set to be a senior this coming season but, with the NCAA rule, he still could have returned for a fifth year in 2021 due to this year not costing anybody elibility. Because of that, there did not seem to be a clear reason that the 6-foot-2, 180-pound defender was opting out. In making the announcement on social media, Blades said that he planned to return for the 2021 campaign in Aggieland, so the opt-out did not seem to be in preparation for a transfer, either.

On Thursday afternoon, Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher held his weekly press conference via Zoom. He was asked about Blades' decision and cleared things up a bit.

"I wouldn't say I was surprised (by the decision)," Fisher said. "You wish they were there but you understand the things that are going on and that's between us...Elijah was just coming off a shoulder surgery. He had practiced most of the practices, almost the whole time. We'd give him a little break. He was coming back. He would have been full-speed here shortly. But, there's other issues and things going on."

Texas A&M is entering the season with a battle for the starting job at both cornerback spots. Four players were in the mix in Blades, senior Myles Jones, junior college transfer Brian George and true freshman Jaylon Jones. Blades and the elder Jones are the lone players with experience and both started a year ago. That number is now down to pretty much the three players competing for the two spots.

"It doesn't help depth but, at the same time, some of our younger guys are really playing good and we feel comfortable with what we have," Fisher said.

"There's open competition," he added. "We're getting ready for the first scrimmage this weekend and those guys have all done well and continue to do well."

Blades played in seven games a year ago before missing the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury. He finished his shortened season with 19 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and three pass breakups.

In the class of 2019, Blades was a four-star prospect when he signed with Texas A&M as a junior college transfer. Originally from Pasadena, Calif., he played his junior college ball at Arizona Western C.C. Blades was actually a longtime Oregon commit before switching to the Aggies right before the Early Signing Period.

Texas A&M had another member of the secondary opt out this week as well, though he was not expected to be as big a part of the depth chart as Blades. Fourth-year junior safety Derrick Tucker announced on Tuesday evening that he would be foregoing the season.

"I know Tuck's said he's going to step back and do a lot of things for Black Lives Matter, which is tremendous," Fisher said. "Because, like I say, there's things out in the world right now that he thinks are very important and we think are very important and giving him the opportunities to do that."

Tucker played in four games a year ago before asking to be redshirted. The NCAA allows players to see action in up to four games now and still preserve their redshirts and, with Tucker not seeing a ton of playing time, he wanted to save his. While others that made the same request transferred in the offseason, the 6-foot-1, 200-pounder returned to Aggieland this fall.

Tucker actually made seven starts as a true freshman in 2017 after coming in as a four-star recruit out of Manvel, Texas. He was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week that year after his performance against Ole Miss when he had 14 tackles, a tackle for loss, a forced fumble and an interception. He also had double-digit tackles against LSU. However, Tucker took a step back as a sophomore in 2018. He saw action in 10 games but did not start. He finished the season with 27 tackles and a pass breakup, a year after recording 55 and 5 of those, respectively.

As for both defenders, Fisher says both should be back on next year's roster.

"We expect both those guys back," he said. "There hasn't been anything to the contrary to say they wouldn't be back....We love those guys and we'd love to have them back."

The lone other Aggie to opt out of the season is third-year sophomore quarterback James Foster. The former four-star prospect from Alabama was third on the depth chart a year ago. He is currently in the NCAA Transfer Portal but chose to stay in Aggieland this fall.

See the original post here:
Fisher sheds light on decisions of Blades and Tucker to opt out - 247Sports