Texas A&M football entered the 2018 season with a ton of returning experience on defense from the season before. Although Kevin Sumlin’s last couple of recruiting classes weren’t as high profile as those that came before, several of the younger players saw playing time on that side of the ball from their freshman and sophomore years in 2016 and 2017. Although not particularly deep, the starting defense was talent-heavy at all three levels in Fisher’s first year, especially in the front seven.
The defense was always an issue in Sumlin’s tenure as head coach. He went through multiple defensive coordinators and not even the great John Chavis with elite talent could turn the Aggies into a defense capable of competing in the SEC.