2018 Texas A&M Player Spotlight: Jace Sternberger

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Beware the man who turns the wrong direction to find the ball on a practice field with head coach Jimbo Fisher. Jace Sternberger was that man during the early portion of a practice this spring. Fisher brought the drill to a halt.

“Come back and do it again,” the new head coach shouted.

He did.

The next rep was filled with the tentative steps of a new player in a new program thinking about what he was doing, unable to fully rely on instinct, but it’ll come eventually.

“You install it and you practice it. If they don’t do it, you do it again. If they don’t do it, you do it again. If they don’t do it, you do it again. You do it until they do it right,” Fisher said. “Then you do it until they can’t do it wrong and they learn to like it.”

A coach doesn’t hassle a player without potential, and in the spring, few Aggies turned heads as much as Sternberger. In Kevin Sumlin’s spread offense, Sternberger may have barely warranted a roster spot. In Fisher’s pro-style offense, set to employ more traditional fullbacks and tight ends, he may take on a starring role. He exited spring as the team MVP and caught eight passes for 147 yards and two scores in the spring game. For Nick Starkel and Kellen Mond, two young quarterbacks still learning Fisher’s offense, he could prove to be a valuable safety blanket when the season kicks off.

Texas A&M announced Fisher as its new head coach on Dec. 4. Less than a week later, on Dec. 10, he had his first commit for the 2018 class. It was Sternberger, the nation’s No. 2 junior college tight end. The Kingfisher, Okla. native began his career at Kansas, but thanks to his work on special teams, ended his brief career as a Jayhawk with more tackles (2) than catches (1). He left the program and spent a season at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in Miami, Okla.

Now, in his first year at A&M, he could be a building block for the Fisher Era in College Station.

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