Mike Elko further explains decision to play Conner Weigman vs. Missouri

Mike Elko took a chance with Texas A&M’s quarterback spot by going back to Conner Weigman over Marcel Reed this past weekend. Still, he trusted that pick completely by the end of last week.

Elko expounded on that decision between the two during a press conference earlier this week. Their choice only came down to whether or not Weigman was fully healthy and good to go. If he was from what they saw, he was going to be, and eventually was, the starter for the Aggies.

“I think the conversation for us was, you know, we wanted to see Conner at 100%. We felt like Conner at 100% gave us our best chance to win,” Elko explained. “If we felt like he was going to be there, that was the direction that we wanted to go. We went into practice trying to discern whether that’s what we would be able to get.”

Still, Elko said that was nothing against Reed or how he had played for them over their past three games.

“Certainly had all the confidence in Marcel if that’s the direction we chose or had to go as well. We just felt like that was the way to go,” Elko added.

It wasn’t just a performance thing either, though, for Weigman. He actually had to come into the head coach’s office and make his case as to why he was prepared to return to the lineup for A&M.

“I made him come in my office and convince me that he was ready. So we had a conversation on Thursday afternoon,” said Elko. “In that conversation, I got a really strong feeling that he was in the right frame of mind and ready to go.”

Elko also wasn’t worried about the live-action aspect of getting Weigman back in. At some point or another, he would have been receiving those kinds of reps again.

“You know, no matter what, he was never going to get to play in a live game until he played in a live game for the first time. So, no matter how many weeks of practice we gave him, at some point, he was going to have to go back into a live game again for the first time,” said Elko. “I don’t know that that part of it factored in.”

That chance paid for Texas A&M as Weigman was very efficient in the 41-10 win over Missouri. He didn’t throw for a touchdown but had season-best numbers by going 18-22 (81.8%) for 276 yards in the 31-point win in conference play against a Top-10 opponent.

Elko could have made a mistake had Weigman been back too early, especially with the team on a bye this week anyway that would have given him two weeks to be absolutely ready. It was the right call for them, though, with where they felt that he was in his recovery.

“We just felt like, at the end of the week, we were going to get the best version of Conner. We felt like that was something that was going to give us our best chance to win,” said Elko.