Mike Elko explains how Texas A&M can replace production of Le'Veon Moss after injury

Losing Le’Veon Moss for the season means that No. 15 Texas A&M will be without their leading rusher for the final three games due to a knee injury.

Earlier this week, Mike Elko addressed how the Aggies would go about making up for his absence from the backfield now. He didn’t want to share everything but noted that there are several options, both with certain players as well focuses within the offense, for them to consider now that they’ll be missing Moss.

“Yeah, I think, again, we continue to talk about this. I continue to try to be vague because you try to get me to give away the game plan,” said Elko. “But, yeah, I think we’re gonna – a lot of things are on the table. I think we’ve got to, obviously.”

“Losing Le’Veon is a big loss. That’s a lot of touches,” Elko continued. “We’re going to have to figure out the right way to handle that and I think there’s a lot of different opportunities and options for us to go about it.”

Elko mentioned that Texas A&M could lean some more toward the passing game as one way. Still, as for the rushing game, Amari Daniels (94 carries for 466 yards and six touchdowns) and EJ Smith (33 carries for 107 yards) would be next on the depth chart. It may also mean even more running options at quarterback with Marcel Reed (68 carries for 334 yards and five touchdowns)

“Amari is certainly one, EJ is certainly one. There’s other ways that we can do that…There’s other people we can use. So, I think all of that is very much on the table moving forward,” Elko said. “I think just the way we look at it is, you know, we’ve got to produce, got to replace a lot of production. I don’t think you can replace it the same way. We certainly don’t have a back that’s going to step in and be what Le’Veon is to kind of go along with what we had from Amari and what we had from EJ already. So, we’ve just got to figure it out. A big part of it is going to fall on Amari and then we’ll see where the rest of it goes.”

“(Marcel) is certainly an option. I think we’ve utilized Marcel and his legs, you know,” added Elko. “Even when Conner plays, I think we utilize his legs to some degree as well.”

Even with a bye week, most teams can’t just make up for a rusher like Moss who had been posting 85 yards per game and scored 10 touchdowns, especially since that production made him one the top rushers both in conference and nationally this season.

However, Texas A&M has to do so and expects to do so with what they’ve planned going into the final quarter of their year.

“I think what we’ve got to do is we’ve got to figure out how to replace Le’Veon and all of his carries and all of his yards,” said Elko.

“I think you look and try to figure out, okay, here’s what we have now. How are going to effectively move the football?…Take our weapons, take who we have, and figure out the best plan to utilize them to be effective and score points and help us win football games,” Elko said. “We lost a big weapon but the goal is still the goal, right. So now we’ve got to go back to the drawing board. We’ve got to figure out a different way to move the ball and score points. We’ll do that.”