COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Haynes King will start for the sixth-ranked Texas A&M Aggies in their opener against Sam Houston State Saturday.
Coach Jimbo Fisher announced Monday that King had won the job after vying with Max Johnson and Conner Weigman during camp.
“We felt Haynes had a great camp and puts us in a great spot to be successful going in right now,” Fisher said. “That’s what we believe. There’s no one thing. It’s a multitude of things on a daily basis. From on-field, off-field, throwing, running, reading, checking.”
King won the job last year and threw for 292 yards and two touchdowns in Texas A&M’s season-opening 41-10 win over Kent State. But he broke his right leg in the first quarter of the team’s second game against Colorado and missed the remainder of the season.
Zach Calzada started the rest of the season before transferring to Auburn.
Receiver Ainias Smith said he’s seen a lot of growth in King from last year to now.
“I can definitely say he’s matured a lot,” Smith said. “That leadership role that he’s stepping into definitely changed. He’s not going to be the type of person to sit back and stay quiet.”
Fisher said Johnson, who was the starter at LSU last season before transferring to A&M, would back up King. Johnson, the son of Super Bowl-winning QB Brad Johnson, threw for 2,815 yards with 27 touchdowns and six interceptions for the Tigers.
Weigman, a five-star prospect and one of the stars of Fisher’s top-ranked recruiting class, will be the team’s third quarterback.
Fisher said it was a tough decision because all three quarterbacks performed well in camp.
“It took a while because you had guys that were matching each other,” he said. “Guys played very well off of each other and kept pushing each other. But we had to make a decision for the first game.”
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